NEWARK, New Jersey (AP) New Jersey overcame the late withdrawal of its leading scorer and beat NHL-leading Dallas 3-2 in overtime on Saturday, with John Moore scoring on the power-play 1:47 into the added period.
The point earned for going to overtime was enough for Dallas to push its points lead in the Central Division out to double figures.
Elsewhere, Florida ascended to the top of the Atlantic Division standings by beating the New York Rangers and stretching its winning streak to eight.
The Rangers missed a chance to make up ground on the two teams above them in the Metropolitan Division, after leader Washington lost in a shootout at Columbus and the New York Islanders were well beaten by Pittsburgh.
New Jersey suffered a setback when leading scorer Mike Cammalleri withdrew before the game, with the team unwilling to explain why, but went ahead 2-0 through second-period goals from Kyle Palmieri and Bobby Farnham.
Patrick Sharp and Colton Sceviour scored in the third period as Dallas overcame the deficit to force overtime.
With Dallas’ Jamie Benn in the penalty box for hooking, Moore intercepted a clearing attempt and fired the puck past Antti Niemi for the overtime winner.
Florida’s winning streak reached record proportions with a 3-0 victory over the Rangers.
Not only is the eight straight wins a franchise record, so is the six successive home victories, and they had the satisfaction of ending a run of seven consecutive losses to the Rangers.
Roberto Luongo stopped 39 shots for his third shutout of the season and his seventh straight win – breaking his own franchise record – while Brandon Pirri, Vincent Trocheck and Logan Shaw each scored for the Panthers.
The Rangers have lost eight of their past nine away games.
Columbus, which has the worst record in the league, provided the upset of the day by beating high-flying Washington 5-4 after a shootout.
Jack Johnson and Brandon Saad each had two goals and Ryan Johansen scored in the third round of the shootout. The victory was achieved despite losing goalie Anton Forsberg to injury at the start of overtime. Replacement Curtis McElhinney made six saves in the shootout for his first career win.
T.J. Oshie and Jason Chimera had power-play goals for Washington, and Marcus Johansson and Kuznetsov also scored.
Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby continued his form resurgence with two power-play goals to lead the Penguins to a 5-2 win against the Islanders.
After scoring just six goals in his first 32 games this season, Crosby is on a streak of five scores in as many games.
Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury returned from three weeks out with concussion and made 38 saves.
Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang both had three assists, while Phil Kessel, Patric Hornqvist and Matt Cullen all scored for the Penguins, who led 5-0 before allowing New York goals to John Tavares and Nick Leddy.
Los Angeles won a fifth straight game, beating Philadelphia 2-1.
Dwight King and Drew Doughty scored first-period goals while goalie Jonathan Quick made 29 saves.
Quick’s shutout bid – which would have given him the most ever by an American-born goalie – ended when Brayden Schenn scored a power-play goal against his former team in the third period.
The Flyers have lost five successive road games.
Tampa Bay’s Ryan Callahan scored the lone shootout goal to give the Lightning a 3-2 win against Minnesota.
Valtteri Filppula and Nikita Kucherov scored in regulation for the Lightning while Charlie Coyle and Jared Spurgeon netted for the Wild.
Rob Martell worked his 1,000th and final game as an NHL referee, and was honored in a pregame ceremony.
Toronto got its first home win over St. Louis in regulation time since 1998 by beating the Blues 4-1.
Nashville’s Mattias Ekholm scored with 1:51 left in overtime to lift the Predators to a 2-1 win over Carolina.
Detroit’s Tomas Tatar scored with 2:50 left to lift the Red Wings to a 4-3 win, consigning Buffalo to a fourth straight defeat.
Calgary continued its strong recent form with a 4-0 victory at Colorado, with Karri Ramo notching his first shutout of the season.
Winnipeg won on the road for the first time in seven attempts, beating San Jose 4-1, with Connor Hellebuyck making 27 saves.
Edmonton halted a four-game skid by beating Arizona 4-3 when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored in the third round of the shootout.
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