Senators 1 at Hurricanes 2
Rod Brind’Amour and Anton Babchuk scored third-period goals, and Cam Ward made 21 saves to help Carolina win its season-high fifth straight game and match the club record of with its ninth home win in a row.
Rod Brind’Amour tied it at 3:15 of third, and assisted on Babchuk’s power-play goal with 6:01 left. Ryan Shannon scored for the Senators, who were denied their season-high sixth straight win. They had won nine of 10 to move within nine points of the East’s eighth playoff spot, but fell to 12-19-4 on the road.
Panthers 3 at Sabres 5
Jason Pominville had a goal and two assists during a 2:07 span of the third period, leading the Sabres to a comeback victory over Florida.
Tim Connolly scored the go-ahead goal to cap the surge and added an assist for a Buffalo team that overcame a 3-1 deficit and won for only the second time in eight games (2-5-1). Clarke MacArthur, Craig Rivet and Maxim Afinogenov also scored for the Sabres, who needed a win to avoid falling further out of playoff contention.
With 78 points and nine games left, Buffalo remains in 10th place in the Eastern Conference standings, but moved within five points of eighth-place Montreal.
The ninth-place Panthers not only squandered a two-goal lead, but also an opportunity to move into a tie with idle Montreal.
Brett McLean had a goal and assist, and Richard Zednik and Michael Frolik also scored for Florida, 1-4-3 in its past eight games.
Wild 6 at Islanders 2
Marian Gaborik had two goals and two assists, Andrew Brunette and Owen Nolan each scored once and set up two others, and Minnesota snapped a five-game road losing streak.
Martin Skoula and Antti Miettinen added goals, and Niklas Backstrom made 32 saves for his 33rd victory. Minnesota jumped over St. Louis and tied ninth-place Nashville with 78 points in the Western Conference playoff race. The Wild were 2-7-2 in their previous 11 road games — averaging only two goals per contest.
Bruno Gervais and Andy Hilbert scored for New York.
Sharks 5 at Blackhawks 6 SO
Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews scored in a shootout, and Chicago goalie Nikolai Khabibulin turned away Jeremy Roenick on San Jose’s final attempt.
San Jose overcame a 4-1 deficit to force overtime, tying it at 5 on Joe Thornton’s goal with 2:08 left in the third.
Andrew Ladd had two goals for Chicago, Toews added his 30th, and Martin Havlat and Dustin Byfuglien also scored. Chicago moved out of a tie with idle Vancouver for fourth place in the West.
Ducks 7 at Avalanche 2
Corey Perry scored two goals, Andrew Ebbett had a goal and two assists and Anaheim won its season-high fifth straight game and moved into seventh place in the Western Conference, a point ahead of idle Edmonton.
James Wisniewski tied a career high with three assists, Erik Christensen, Teemu Selanne, Rob Niedermayer and Petteri Nokelainen added goals, and Jonas Hiller made 34 saves for Anaheim.
Milan Hejduk and Cody McLeod scored for Colorado, which has lost five straight.