NHL-Highlights of Saturday's National Hockey League games

March 22 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights of Saturday's National Hockey League games. - - - Penguins 4, Lightning 3 (overtime) James Neal scored a power-play goal with 3:33 remaining in overtime to lift the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 4-3 victory over Tampa Bay, their ninth straight victory over the Lightning. Neal scored from the right circle on a pass from Evgeni Malkin only 16 seconds after the Lightning were penalized for having too many men on the ice. It was Neal's 23rd goal of the season. Malkin had a hand in all of the Penguins' goals, scoring twice and assisting on the other two. Sidney Crosby had a goal and two assists. Steven Stamkos had a goal and an assist for the Lightning while Valtteri Filppula and Ondrej Palat also scored goals. Palat forced overtime when he scored with 1:22 remaining in regulation to make it 3-3. The Metropolitan Division-leading Penguins (46-19-5) won for only the second time in their last five games and snapped the Lightning's (39-25-7) five-game winning streak. - - - Flyers 4, Blues 1 Brayden Schenn scored the go-ahead goal in the second period, goaltender Steve Mason made 32 saves and the Philadelphia Flyers beat the St. Louis Blues 4-1. Scott Hartnell, Jakub Voracek and Wayne Simmonds also scored goals to help the Flyers (38-25-7) win their fifth straight game and move three points ahead of the New York Rangers for second place in the Metropolitan Division. Jaden Schwartz scored the only goal for the Central Division-leading St. Louis (47-16-7). Schenn put the Flyers ahead 2-1 in the second period with his 18th goal. Simmonds set it up with a nice play, going wide on goalie Ryan Miller and Schenn stuffed in the rebound before Voracek gave Philadelphia a two-goal cushion with 4:19 left. - - - Red Wings 3, Wild 2 Detroit center Gustav Nyquist's recent hot streak continued as his third-period goal helped the Red Wings win for the fourth time in their last five games. Nyquist scored his fifth goal in the past four games by threading a shot over the glove of Minnesota goalie Darcy Kuemper to snap a third period deadlock. David Legwand scored a power-play goal, and set up another for defenseman Brendan Smith, while goaltender Jimmy Howard had 28 saves for Detroit (33-24-13) in the Wings' only visit to Minnesota this season. The Wild (36-24-11) got a power-play goal from Mikko Koivu, and a penalty shot goal from Charlie Coyle. - - - Stars 3, Senators 1 Dallas claimed a much needed 3-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators thanks to three unanswered goals, including the eventual game-winner from defenseman Trevor Daley early in the third period. Daley's goal, his sixth of the season, came following a flurry of activity in front of the Ottawa net. After Stars left winger Ray Whitney was denied at the near post, Whitney regained possession and passed the puck to Daley, who converted with a shot that slipped in under the right shoulder of Senators goalie Robin Lehner. That gave the Stars their first lead, 2-1, at the 4:52 mark of the final period. Dallas improved to 33-26-11 to keep their playoff hopes alive while Ottawa lost their sixth straight. - - - Kings 4, Panthers 0 Trevor Lewis had a goal and an assist, and goaltender Jonathan Quick made 24 saves as the Los Angeles Kings defeated the Florida Panthers 4-0. Los Angeles (39-25-6) won for the second time on a five-game home stand and stayed well ahead of the Phoenix Coyotes for third place in the Pacific Division. With the game settled through 40 minutes, the Kings went into defensive mode to secure Quick's shutout and a victory that surpassed Rogie Vachon for the most wins by a Los Angeles goaltender with 172. Lewis opened the scoring while Mike Richards, Dustin Brown and Alec Martinez also tallied. Florida (26-39-8) lost their second consecutive game. - - - Rangers 2, Devils 0 Rick Nash scored from a tight angle in the second period and goaltender Henrik Lundqvist earned his 50th career NHL shutout as the New York Rangers won their fourth straight road game with a 2-0 win over the New Jersey Devils. Lundqvist (28-22-4) made 21 saves in winning his 30th career game against New Jersey, including his eighth shutout. He has five shutouts this season. Derek Stepan scored an empty-netter for the Rangers with 7.8 seconds remaining. The Rangers (39-29-4) have won 21 of their last 28 road games, while the loss put the Devils (30-28-13) a game closer to missing the playoffs for the second straight year. New Jersey have 73 points with 11 games to play and three teams with at least 77 points above them in the standings. - - - Hurricanes 3, Jets 2 The Carolina Hurricanes scored three goals in the second period and held on for a 3-2 triumph over the Winnipeg Jets. Badly outplayed in a scoreless first period but buoyed by the brilliant play of goalie Cam Ward, the Hurricanes finally got into gear after the Jets opened the scoring in the second period and potted three goals of their own to jump ahead 3-1. Rebounding from a tough 3-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks the night before, Carolina (31-31-9) got goals from Eric Staal, Jordan Staal and Riley Nash in less than three minutes of play to lead through 40 minutes. Bryan Little scored 1:27 into the final frame to pull the Jets (32-31-9) to within a goal, but that was as close as they got. - - - Canadiens 4, Maple Leafs 3 Tomas Plekanec delivered the winning goal as the Montreal Canadiens edged the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3. Plekanec scored after Leafs left winger James van Riemsdyk was assessed a controversial goaltender interference penalty. On the ensuing power play, Plekanec gave Montreal the lead, putting his shot in off Maple Leafs goalie James Reimer for his 18th goal of the season at 11:14 of the third period. Max Pacioretty, Rene Bourque and Brian Gionta had the other goals for Montreal (39-26-7). Joffrey Lupul, Tyler Bozak and Nazem Kadri scored for Toronto (36-28-8). - - - Bruins 4, Coyotes 2 Jarome Iginla tied the game early in the third period and Shawn Thornton redirected Daniel Paille's shot with 3:18 remaining as Boston won their 12th straight game with a 4-2 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes. Boston are two short of their record for consecutive wins, set in the 1929-30 season. The Bruins got on the board 3:25 into the game when Patrice Bergeron banged in the puck for a 1-0 lead. The Coyotes evened the score through Shane Doan before Phoenix defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson gave them their only lead of the game. Boston tied it when Iginla redirected defenseman Zdeno Chara's shot from the point early in the third period for his team-leading 27th goal of the season. Iginla added an empty netter for his 558th career goal, moving two past Johnny Bucyk into sole possession of 25th all time. - - - Flames 8, Oilers 1 The Edmonton Oilers hit rock bottom, or at least they hope they did. After losing 3-1 at home to the 30th place Buffalo Sabres in their last game, the Oilers were destroyed 8-1 at home by their provincial rivals, the Calgary Flames. The Flames (29-36-7) scored four goals in a 3:05 span in the second period to put the Oilers (25-38-9) out of their misery before the game was half over. The Oilers scored first, then disappeared. Mark Giordano, Mike Cammalleri, Matt Stajan, Paul Byron and Kevin Westgarth had goals and winger Curtis Glencross notched a hat-trick. - - - Capitals 3, Sharks 2 (shootout) Nicklas Backstrom's goal in the shootout gave the visiting Washington Capitals a 3-2 win over San Jose and delayed the Sharks from clinching their 10th straight Stanley Cup playoff berth for at least one night. The point earned enabled the Sharks to take a three-point lead over idle Anaheim in the Pacific Division and pull within three of the Boston Bruins in the race for the President's Trophy. Washington, who had the only five shots in overtime, extended thier points streak to five games (4-0-1). San Jose center James Sheppard scored his third goal of the season on a breakaway at 5:07 of the third period to break a 1-1 tie. But the Capitals scored their second goal off a Sharks' defender to tie the score at 2-2 at 12:30. - - - (Editing by Peter Rutherford)