Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby (87) scores against Detroit Red Wings goaltender Alex Lyon, left, during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, April 11, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Matt Freed)
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Erik Karlsson scored 1:40 into overtime and the Pittsburgh Penguins bolstered their playoff odds with a 6-5 win over Detroit on Thursday night.
Sidney Crosby set up Karlsson’s winner to become the 14th player in NHL history to reach 1,000 career assists. Crosby finished with a goal and two assists to move past Hall of Famer Phil Esposito and into 10th on the NHL’s all-time scoring list.
The longtime Penguins captain assisted on Drew O’Connor’s first-period goal to reach 999 career assists. Crosby then redirected a beautiful pass from Bryan Rust in the second period to move into a tie with Esposito with 1,590 points. Crosby moved past Esposito in the extra period by feeding Karlsson.
Rust added a goal for Pittsburgh. Kris Letang and Jeff Carter both scored their 10th goals and Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 25 shots as the Penguins leapfrogged Washington to move into the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot with three games remaining.
FLYERS 4, RANGERS 1
NEW YORK (AP) – Bobby Brink scored the go-ahead goal early in the second period, Samuel Ersson made 24 saves and Philadelphia snapped an eight-game losing streak with a win over New York.
Cam York, Travis Konecny and Noah Cates also scored for the Flyers, who were 0-6-2 since defeating Boston at home on March 23. Ryan Poehling added two assists as Philadelphia stayed alive in the tight Eastern Conference playoff race.
The Rangers had won seven in a row against the Flyers and were 10-0-1 in their last 11 meetings with Philadelphia.
Ersson improved to 22-18-7 while allowing only a goal to Artemi Panarin.
The Rangers remained at 53 wins, one shy of a franchise record.
York opened the scoring at 4:21 of the first, rifling the puck past Jonathan Quick for his 10th goal.
SABRES 4, CAPITALS 2
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) – Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 22 shots and the Buffalo Sabres played the role of playoff spoilers with a 4-2 win over Washington.
Alex Tuch, Zach Benson, Jack Quinn and Dylan Cozens, with an empty-netter, scored for the Sabres playing their last home game of the season, and two days after they extended their NHL-record playoff drought to a 13th season following a 3-2 loss at Dallas.
It marked Washington’s second loss at Buffalo in nine days following a 6-2 decision on April 2.
The Capitals dropped to 1-5-2 in their past seven and squandered an opportunity to keep pace in a tightly contested race for the Eastern Conference’s eighth and final playoff spot. Washington, coming off a 2-1 win at Detroit on Tuesday, opened the day holding the eighth spot, with three teams within two points.
Connor McMichael and Tom Wilson had goals for a Capitals team that has not scored three or more goals in its past eighth outings, dating to a 4-3 overtime win over Detroit on March 26.
PANTHERS 4, BLUE JACKETS 0
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) – Sergei Bobrovsky made 25 saves to tie for the NHL lead with six shutouts, Sam Reinhart scored his 54th goal and Florida defeated Columbus.
Bobrovsky, who has 44 career shutouts, is tied with Arizona’s Connor Ingram and Pittsburgh’s Tristan Jarry for the most this season.
Matthew Tkachuk, Evan Rodrigues and Vladimir Tarasenko also scored for the Panthers, who moved within a point of the idle Boston Bruins for first place in the Atlantic Division. Defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson had two assists after missing Tuesday’s game against the Ottawa Senators to rest.
Florida has one fewer game on its schedule than Boston while holding a 40-35 lead in regulation wins, the top tiebreaker.
Jet Greaves stopped 42 shots for the Blue Jackets, who are mathematically locked into the fourth-best odds in the upcoming NHL draft lottery.
MAPLE LEAFS 6, DEVILS 5
TORONTO (AP) – Jesper Bratt broke a tie with 1:14 left with his second goal of the game and New Jersey beat Toronto, overcoming Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews’ NHL-leading 67th and 68th goals of the season.
Matthews has the most goals in the NHL since Mario Lemieux had 69 in 1995-96.
Bratt also had an assist, Timo Meier had two goals and an assist, and Erik Haula and Nolan Foote also scored for New Jersey Jake Allen stopped 27 shots. Luke Hughes had two assists.
John Tavares also scored twice for Toronto. David Kampf added a goal, and Ilya Samsonov made 14 saves.
With the teams tied at 4, Matthews took a tripping penalty in the third and the Devils capitalized when Bratt beat Samsonov with his 26th with 8:57 to go.
OTTAWA 3, TAMPA BAY 2, SO
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Brady Tkachuk had a goal and an assist in regulation and scored the only goal of the shootout as Ottawa beat Tampa Bay.
NHL points leader Nikita Kucherov had two assists for the Lightning to give him 98 this season as he looks to join Wayne Gretzky (11 times), Mario Lemieux (once) and Bobby Orr (once) as the only players with 100 or more assists in a season. The right wing has an eight-game point streak and 141 points this season.
Drake Batherson also scored for the Senators, who have missed the postseason seven consecutive seasons. Anton Forsberg stopped 24 shots.
The Lightning have the first Eastern Conference wild card secured and are five points behind Toronto for third place in the Atlantic Division. Toronto lost 6-5 to New Jersey on Thursday night.
ISLANDERS 3, CANADIENS 2, OT
NEW YORK (AP) – Kyle Palmieri scored at 1:17 of overtime and New York extended their winning streak to six games with a victory over Montreal.
Pierre Engvall and Casey Cizikas also scored, Semyon Varlamov made 13 saves and the Islanders inched closer to securing a playoff spot. Adam Pelech added two assists for New York, which is in third place in the Metropolitan Division with 89 points – three ahead of Pittsburgh with three games remaining.
Palmieri’s winner was his 28th goal of the season and extended his individual goal streak to four games.
Cole Caufield scored and had an assist and Sam Montembault made 30 saves, but the Canadiens lost for the fourth time in five games.
Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson left at 5:33 of the first period and didn’t return. Dobson is second on the team with 70 points (10 goals, 60 assists) and leads the Islanders by averaging just shy of 25 minutes of ice time.
