Alexis Lafreniere scored the deciding goal of the shootout to give the New York Rangers a 5-4 comeback win over the host Edmonton Oilers on Friday.
The Rangers trailed 3-0 and 4-1 in the first period, but chipped away and won their seventh straight game. New York also extended its point streak (8-0-1) to nine games. Chris Kreider had two goals and Mika Zibanejad had a goal and an assist. Adam Fox and Artemi Panarin each had two assists. Lafreniere scored the Rangers’ other regulation goal.
The Oilers are winless (0-1-2) in their last three games, but have still collected points in 13 of their last 14 games (9-1-4). Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a goal and an assist for Edmonton, while Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman each had two assists.
The Oilers scored four goals in the third period of their last game with the Rangers, a 4-3 victory on Nov. 26 in New York. Edmonton opened Friday’s contest with another four-goal period, taking a 4-1 lead into the first intermission before the Rangers scored one in the second period and two more in the third.
Islanders 5, Penguins 4
Zach Parise, playing in his 1,200th career game, scored the tiebreaking goal with 2:43 left for New York, which vaulted into an Eastern Conference wild-card spot by coming back to edge Pittsburgh in Elmont, N.Y.
Brock Nelson and Anders Lee each had two goals for the Islanders, who moved into a tie with the Penguins for the wild-card spots. Both teams have 63 points, one point ahead of the idle Washington Capitals and Florida Panthers. Pittsburgh has four games in hand on New York.
Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin made 40 saves. Rickard Rakell scored twice while Sidney Crosby and Jason Zucker had a goal apiece for the Penguins. Casey DeSmith recorded 23 saves.
Kings 6, Ducks 3
Viktor Arvidsson scored twice while Kevin Fiala tallied once in a three-point game as visiting Los Angeles beat Anaheim for its third consecutive victory.
Blake Lizotte and Anze Kopitar each collected one goal and one assist, while Adrian Kempe added a goal for the Kings. Starting goaltender Pheonix Copley stopped 16 of 17 shots before he was ejected with 23.3 seconds remaining in the second period for punching with his blocker during a dustup. Jonathan Quick made eight saves while recording the win.
Frank Vatrano collected one goal and one assist, while Kevin Shattenkirk and Mason McTavish also scored for the Ducks, who have lost four straight. Cam Fowler logged two assists, and John Gibson made 35 saves.
Wild 2, Stars 1 (SO)
Filip Gustavsson made 29 saves while Matt Boldy assisted on Minnesota’s regulation goal and scored in the shootout in outlasting Dallas at Saint Paul, Minn.
After more than 45 minutes of scoreless hockey, Mats Zuccarello redirected Boldy’s pass at 6:37 into the third period for Minnesota’s 11th power-play goal in its last 12 contests. However, Dallas knotted the contest when Jamie Benn converted an angled shot off a behind-the-net pass from Wyatt Johnston with 9:36 remaining in regulation.
In a spirited overtime, Gustavsson made big saves on the Stars’ Luke Glendening and Tyler Seguin. Meanwhile, Dallas netminder Jake Oettinger, who stopped 31 shots, came through when needed as well, notably stopping a streaking Kirill Kaprizov.
Blackhawks 4, Senators 3 (OT)
Andreas Athanasiou scored 2:52 into overtime to lift visiting Chicago past Ottawa, handing the Senators just their second loss in their last eight games.
The Blackhawks erased a two-goal deficit thanks to goals by Sam Lafferty and Patrick Kane in the third period. Lafferty converted a breakaway at 10:49 of the period, and Kane scored on an odd-man rush with 3:05 remaining to cap a two-goal performance.
Athanasiou ended the wild affair after depositing Tyler Johnson’s return pass from the doorstep to help Chicago snap a three-game skid. Max Domi and Jake McCabe each notched two assists, and Petr Mrazek made 28 saves for the Blackhawks. Shane Pinto, Claude Giroux and Brady Tkachuk scored for Ottawa, and Mads Sogaard also made 28 saves.
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