CHICAGO (AP) Chicago’s Marian Hossa threaded his shot through a screen 1:31 into overtime to give the Blackhawks a 4-3 win against New Jersey on Thursday, maintaining a four-point lead in the NHL’s Central Division.
The Blackhawks kept that buffer over St. Louis, which kept up its strong home form with a narrow win against Tampa Bay.
Among other notable results, Philadelphia won in overtime at Ottawa, while Jack Eichel led Buffalo to victory over the New York Rangers.
New Jersey came close to victory at Chicago, as Mike Cammalleri hit the post in overtime, and moments later Hossa’s shot through traffic from high in the slot got past Devils goaltender Cory Schneider to clinch the win. It was Hossa’s team-leading 12th goal of the season.
Travis Zajac had three goals for New Jersey, including the tying score at 8:49 of the third.
Artem Anisimov, Niklas Hjalmarsson and Marcus Kruger scored in the second period for the Blackhawks.
St. Louis’ Vladimir Tarasenko scored three goals as the Blues beat Tampa Bay 5-4, extending their run of home wins to six.
Tarasenko, who leads the team with 13 goals, recorded his fourth career hat trick. He scored twice in the game’s opening 9:37 to stake his team to a 2-0 lead.
Kevin Shattenkirk scored the other two goals for St. Louis.
Cedric Paquette scored twice for the Lightning, which has lost four straight games, while Nikita Kucherov and Tyler Johnson also netted.
Philadelphia’s Claude Giroux scored his second goal of the game 40 seconds into overtime, sending the Flyers to a 3-2 win at Ottawa.
Michael Del Zotto also scored for the visitors.
Mike Hoffman and Ryan Dzingel scored for Ottawa, which missed a chance to make up ground on Atlantic Division leader Montreal.
Buffalo’s Jack Eichel scored twice in the third period, lifting the Sabres over the Rangers 4-3.
Eichel, who missed the first 21 games with an ankle sprain. Upon his return, he had a goal and an assist in Buffalo’s win in Ottawa on Tuesday and has recorded a point in seven straight games dating to last season.
Johan Larsson and Brian Gionta also scored for Buffalo.
Ryan McDonagh, Rick Nash and Marc Staal scored for the Rangers.
Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby had a goal and two assists, leading the Penguins over Dallas 6-2.
Crosby scored his league-leading 16th goal in the second period and assisted on Conor Sheary’s sixth as Pittsburgh scored three goals in the final 4 minutes. Eric Fehr had the 100th goal of his career and Patric Hornqvist scored on the power play.
Tyler Seguin and Devin Shore scored for Dallas. Antti Niemi, playing in his 400th career game, stopped 34 shots.
Edmonton’s Mark Letestu and Leon Draisaitl each had two goals and an assist, powering the Oilers to a 6-3 win at Winnipeg.
The Oilers went 3 for 4 on the power play, including Letestu’s goals. Patrick Maroon and Benoit Pouliot also scored.
Jets rookie Patrik Laine had two power-play goals to lift his overall season total to 15, one behind Crosby. Bryan Little also scored for Winnipeg.
Florida’s Aleksander Barkov scored on a breakaway 2:04 into overtime, lifting the Panthers to a 2-1 win over Detroit and giving interim coach Tom Rowe his first victory with the team.
New York’s Shane Prince, Brock Nelson and Jason Chimera produced three goals in less than 4 1/2 minutes of the third period, leading the Islanders past Washington 3-0.
Boston’s Ryan Spooner and David Pastrnak scored in a shootout, lifting the Bruins past Carolina 2-1.
Anaheim’s Ondrej Kase scored his first NHL goal as the Ducks won 3-1 at Vancouver.
Columbus’ Boone Jenner scored the winning goal with 11:03 remaining in a 3-2 victory over Colorado.
Los Angeles’ Trevor Lewis scored off a turnover with 4:05 left and the Kings hung on to edge Arizona 4-3.
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