NHL-Highlights of Thursday's NHL games

(Adds later games) March 27 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights of Thursday's National Hockey League games: - - Blues 5, Wild 1 Right wing T.J. Oshie recorded the first hat-trick of his career to lead the St. Louis Blues to a 5-1 win over the Minnesota Wild. Oshie scored two goals in the first period, including one on a breakaway when the Blues were short-handed, and then added his third when he deflected a shot by defenseman Jay Bouwmeester at 7:18 of the third period. Oshie has scored a career-high 21 goals this season and is the fifth Blues player with 20 or more. St. Louis recorded their 50th win of the season, one short of tying their franchise record and have 107 points, one ahead of Boston in the race for the best record in the NHL. - - Bruins 3, Blackhawks 0 Center Patrice Bergeron scored twice and fellow center Carl Soderberg once for the Bruins as they beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-0 for their 13th win in the last 14 games. Boston goalie Tuukka Rask stopped 28 shots for his league-leading seventh shutout of the season. Bergeron scored his 24th goal of the season in the first period and then scored again in the third, just 13 seconds after Soderberg's 14th of the season. Chicago, playing without injured forwards Patrick Kane and Bryan Bickell, could have clinched a playoff spot with a point but remain in second place in the Central Division. - - Kings 3, Penguins 2 Defenseman Drew Doughty scored the game winning goal early in the third period to help the Los Angeles Kings to a 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Center Jeff Carter and defenseman Alec Martinez also scored for the Kings, who have eight games remaining in the season and hold an eight-point lead over the Phoenix Coyotes for the third and final playoff spot from the Pacific Division. Left wingers Chris Kunitz and Taylor Pyatt scored for Pittsburgh who hold a comfortable lead in the Metropolitan Division but have won just two games in their last eight. - - Canadiens 5, Red Wings 4 Center Tomas Plekanec scored twice and left winger Thomas Vanek had a goal and two assists to lead the Montreal Canadiens to a 5-4 win over the Detroit Red Wings. Center David Desharnais added a goal and an assist and left winger Max Pacioretty also scored for Montreal. Detroit's left winger Tomas Tatar scored twice, center Riley Sheahan a goal and an assist while right winger Johan Franzen also scored. - - Lightning 3, Islanders 2 (SO) Defenseman Sami Salo scored for the Tampa Bay Lightning before goalie Ben Bishop made a glove save on Johan Sundstrom to give the Lightning a hard-fought 3-2 win over the New York Islanders in a marathon shootout. The shootout went 13 rounds where the Islanders made shots in the bottom of the third, seventh and 11th rounds to keep the game alive before Salo made a nifty flick past Islanders' goalie Evgeni Nabokov and Bishop closed out the win with the save. - - Hurricanes 3, Panthers 0 The Carolina Hurricanes, extreme long shots to make the NHL playoffs, got a much-needed 3-0 win over the Florida Panthers. The Hurricanes (73 points) have just nine games left and started the day nine points behind the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Center Jiri Tlusty had two goals and center Jeff Skinner added one to lead Carolina, while goaltender Anton Khudobin posted his first shutout of the season. - - Coyotes 3, Devils 2 (SO) Left winger Mikkel Boedker scored in the first round of the shootout to help lift the Phoenix Coyotes to a 3-2 victory against the New Jersey Devils. Center Kyle Chipchura and defenseman Chris Summers scored in regulation for the Coyotes. Coyotes goaltender Thomas Greiss stopped 26 shots and all three he faced in the shootout. Center Adam Henrique and left winger Ryane Clowe scored in regulation for the Devils while goaltender Martin Brodeur made 25 saves. - - Predators 6, Sabres 1 Rookie centers Colton Sissons and Calle Jarnkrok scored their first NHL goals in a four-goal first period as Nashville thrashed the Buffalo Sabres 6-1. Defenseman Shea Weber added two goals for the Predators. It was the 11th loss in 13 games for Buffalo, who have scored a league-low 139 goals in 73 games. - - Jets 4, Sharks 3 Defenseman Tobias Enstrom's power-play goal with 3:36 remaining enabled the Winnipeg Jets to beat the Sharks 4-3. With center Logan Couture off for lifting a puck over the glass on a previous penalty kill, Jets right winger Blake Wheeler backhanded a feed to Enstrom, who slotted his ninth goal of the season. - - Avalanche 3, Canucks 2 (OT) Defenseman Tyson Barrie scored 55 seconds into overtime to help the Colorado Avalanche beat the Vancouver Canucks 3-2. Center Matt Duchene had a goal and an assist and left winger Gabriel Landeskog also scored for Colorado. Barrie scored the game winner when he redirected a pass from Duchene past goaltender Eddie Lack. Defenseman Yannick Weber and right winger Zack Kassian scored for Vancouver. The Avalanche moved to within one point of Chicago for second place in the Central Division, with Colorado having a game in hand. - - (Compiled by Ben Everill)