PITTSBURGH (AP) - Phil Kessel scored twice and the surging Pittsburgh Penguins moved within striking distance of a 10th straight playoff berth with a 5-2 win over the Nashville Predators on Thursday night.
Kris Letang, Patric Hornqvist and Nick Bonino also scored for Pittsburgh, which improved to 10-1 in its last 11 games. The Penguins will clinch a spot in the postseason if Detroit loses in regulation on Friday against Minnesota. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 22 shots to reach the 35-win plateau for the seventh time in his career.
James Neal and Ryan Johansen each had a goal and an assist for the Predators, who failed for a third straight game to wrap up a playoff bid. Pekka Rinne stopped 25 shots before sitting out the third period in favor of backup Carter Hutton.
PANTHERS 3, DEVILS 2
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) - Jonathan Huberdeau scored twice to move Florida back into first place in the Atlantic Division with a 3-2 win over New Jersey.
Jaromir Jagr had a pair of assists and Al Montoya made 23 saves for Florida, which broke a tie with Tampa Bay for the division lead. The Lightning lost to Montreal 3-0 Thursday night.
Mike Sislo and Blake Pietila scored for New Jersey, and Keith Kinkaid made 36 saves.
Huberdeau scored his second goal by skating in along the goal line left of Kinkaid and banking in a close shot for his 18th at 3:13 of the third period.
Jagr's assist on the play gave him 60 points this season, marking the 18th time he had accomplished the feat.
STARS 4, COYOTES 1
DALLAS (AP) - Jamie Benn scored his 40th goal, Antti Niemi made 31 saves and Dallas beat Arizona to move two points ahead in the Western Conference race.
Dallas (103 points) pulled away from second-place St. Louis (101). The Stars have four games remaining, and the Blues have five.
The loss eliminated the Coyotes from playoff contention.
Arizona's Martin Hanzal scored the game's first goal 17:07 into the first period, but Dallas tied it less than a minute later on Patrick Eaves' 10th goal.
The Stars' Radek Faksa scored 11 seconds into the second period. Benn's goal came 10 minutes later, and Patrick Sharp added a power-play goal into an empty net with 1:11 to play.
HURRICANES 4, RANGERS 3
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Victor Rask scored the go-ahead goal with 10:54 left, and Carolina rallied to beat New York in former captain Eric Staal's return to his old home arena.
Jeff Skinner, Patrick Brown and Justin Faulk also scored for the Hurricanes, who trailed 3-2 after two periods. Ryan Murphy had two assists and Cam Ward made 24 saves.
Chris Kreider, Mats Zuccarello and Rick Nash scored for New York and Derek Stepan had two assists during a three-goal second. Henrik Lundqvist finished with 24 saves for the Rangers, who fell to 27-2-2 when leading after two.
ISLANDERS 4, BLUE JACKETS 3
NEW YORK (AP) - John Tavares scored twice and Anders Lee got a power-play goal 5:23 into the third period to lift New York over Columbus.
Thomas Hickey also scored for New York, which improved to 42-25-9. The Islanders have won three straight to get to 93 points and have solidified their grip on the first Eastern Conference wild-card berth.
New York is 24-9-4 in 37 games at Barclays Center this season, and four of the Islanders' final six games are at their new home in Brooklyn.
Thomas Greiss stopped 21 shots as New York swept the five-game regular season series with Columbus.
Brandon Dubinsky, Brandon Saad and Boone Jenner scored for the Blue Jackets, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 23 saves.
CANADIENS 3, LIGHTNING 0
TAMPA, Fla, (AP) - Rookie Mike Condon made 26 saves for his first NHL shutout and Montreal beat Tampa Bay.
Tampa Bay started play tied with Florida for first place in the Atlantic Division at 93 points each. The Panthers beat the New Jersey Devils 3-2 on Thursday night.
David Desharnais, Torrey Mitchell and Phillip Danault scored.
Condon stopped Ondrej Palat's penalty shot with 11:08 left in the second. He also made a save on Nikita Kucherov's in-close backhander during a power play late in the period.
SENATORS 3, WILD 2
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Cody Ceci got a goal with 3:57 left that deflected off two Minnesota players to help Ottawa beat the Wild.
Ceci's ninth goal of the season bounced off Erik Haula and goaltender Devan Dubnyk's skate. Erik Karlsson and Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored, Craig Anderson made 23 saves and Ottawa won its second straight game a night after being officially eliminated from the playoffs.
Zach Parise scored his team-high 25th goal for Minnesota, which had its season-high six-game winning streak snapped. Haula tied it early in the third, but the Wild fell to 2-21-5 this season when trailing after two periods. Dubnyk made 19 saves.
SABRES 4, MAPLE LEAFS 1
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - Cal O'Reilly and Johan Larsson each scored twice and Buffalo extended its home dominance over Toronto.
Buffalo built a 3-0 lead and Larsson capped Buffalo's seventh straight home win over Toronto by scoring into an empty net in a meeting of two Atlantic Division rivals who have already been eliminated from playoff contention. The Sabres also improved to 17-1-1 in their past 19 home games against Toronto in a run that dates to Feb. 4, 2009.
Brooks Laich scored for Toronto and Tobias Lindberg set up the goal in his NHL debut. The Maple Leafs acquired Lindberg in a multiplayer deal that sent captain Dion Phaneuf to Ottawa last month.
Chad Johnson made 25 saves for Buffalo.