NHL-Highlights of Saturday's NHL games

Jan 18 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights of Saturday's National Hockey League games. - - - Sharks 5, Lightning 4 Tampa Bay winger Martin St Louis tied a franchise record with four goals, but San Jose's Joe Pavelski lifted the Sharks to a 5-4 win over the Lightning with a hat-trick of his own. Tampa Bay captain St Louis scored three times in the first period and again early in the second to stake the Lightning to a 4-2 lead, but Pavelski hit back with three goals in a six-minute span later in the same period. San Jose (31-12-6) survived a furious final minute assault as Tampa Bay (28-16-5) pulled goaltender Ben Bishop, but Antti Niemi made three crucial stops to finish with 25 saves and the win. - - - Jets 3, Oilers 2 (overtime) Rookie defenseman Jacob Trouba scored in overtime as the Winnipeg Jets beat the Edmonton Oilers 3-2, their third straight victory with Paul Maurice behind the bench. Blake Wheeler missed on a partial breakaway, but gathered the puck and fed a streaking Trouba, who scored his second goal of the game 1:10 into the extra period. The Jets improved to 22-23-5 while Edmonton dropped to 15-30-6. - - - Rangers 4, Senators 1 Backstopped by a 29-save performance from goalie Cam Talbot, the New York Rangers defeated the Ottawa Senators 4-1. The win was New York's fifth in six games. Scoring for the Rangers (26-21-3) were centers Brad Richards and Derek Stepan, as well as wingers Rick Nash and Mats Zuccarello. Senators (21-19-9) defenseman Marc Methot had the only reply. - - - Hurricanes 3, Panthers 2 Alexander Semin scored twice in the third period and goaltender Anton Khudobin stopped 37 shots as the Carolina Hurricanes continued their mastery of the Florida Panthers at PNC Arena with a 3-2 victory. Semin, with just three goals in his last 24 games, notched his seventh of the season, breaking a 1-1 tie with a quick wrist shot off a face-off won by Eric Staal 2:31 into the third. Semin then scored Carolina's (20-18-9) NHL-best ninth short-handed goal with 11:03 left. Florida (18-23-7) fell to 7-29-4 in North Carolina since the 1999-2000 season. - - - Flyers 6, Islanders 4 Michael Raffl scored the tiebreaking goal after line mate Jakub Voracek tied it, helping the Philadelphia Flyers beat the New York Islanders 6-4. Defenseman Andrej Meszaros had two goals and wingers Andy Hall and Matt Read also scored for Philadelphia (25-19-5). John Tavares, Brock Nelson, Cal Clutterbuck and Brian Strait had goals for the Islanders (19-24-7). - - - Maple Leafs 5, Canadiens 3 James van Riemsdyk scored the go-ahead goal late in the third period and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Montreal Canadiens 5-3 for their fourth consecutive win. Defenseman Cody Franson, Phil Kessel, Mason Raymond and Joffrey Lupul also scored for the Maple Leafs (25-20-5). Brendan Gallagher, Brian Gionta and David Desharnais scored for the Canadiens (27-17-5). - - - Blue Jackets 4, Sabres 3 (shootout) Ryan Johansen scored the only goal in the shootout to lead the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 4-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres. It was the sixth win in a row for the Blue Jackets, tying a franchise record from 2006. Brandon Dubinsky, Matt Calvert and David Savard scored in regulation for the Blue Jackets (24-20-4). Defenseman Tyler Myers, playing in his 300th career game, had two goals and Drew Stafford also scored in regulation for the Sabres (13-28-6). - - - Red Wings 3, Kings 2 (shootout) Tomas Tatar scored the only goal of the shootout to give the Detroit Red Wings a 3-2 come-from-behind win over the Los Angeles Kings. Henrik Zetterberg had a goal and an assist and defenseman Niklas Kronwall scored for Detroit. Mike Richards and Jeff Carter scored for Los Angeles. Kronwall tied the game and sent it to overtime with a disputed power-play goal with 49 seconds left in regulation. His shot was deflected and hit far up on the netting behind the net, bounced down and went in off goaltender Jonathan Quick's back. Neither referee saw the puck hit the netting to whistle the play dead and it was not reviewable. - - - Coyotes 3, Devils 2 Phoenix goaltender Mike Smith made his second straight strong start and fourth-line forwards Jason Szwarz and Jeff Halpern scored for the Coyotes in a 3-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils. Szwarz and Halpern scored in the first period to give the Coyotes some breathing room, and Smith permitted only a power-play goal until right winger Jaromir Jagr tipped in a shot with 2:14 left after the Devils pulled goaltender Martin Brodeur. Center Martin Hanzal also scored for Phoenix (24-16-9). - - - Ducks 3, Blues 2 Center Ryan Getzlaf scored one goal and assisted on another to lead the Anaheim Ducks to a 3-2 win over the St Louis Blues. The Ducks rebounded from only their second loss since Dec. 3 on Friday in Chicago behind rookie goalie Frederik Andersen. The Blues fell to a combined 1-7 in games against the three California teams, the Ducks, Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks. They have lost only three games in regulation to the rest of the NHL. - - - Wild 3, Stars 2 (overtime) Defenseman Nate Prosser scored in overtime as the Minnesota Wild beat the Dallas Stars 3-2. Prosser delivered just his second goal of the season and his second in as many games when he snapped the rebound of a Nino Niederreiter shot past Dallas goalie Kari Lehtonen from close range. Minnesota (27-19-5) won for the seventh time in the past nine games. - - - Canucks 3, Flames 2 (shootout) The Canucks and Flames opened their game at Rogers Arena with an old-fashioned line brawl. The Canucks won 3-2 thanks to a decisive shootout goal by left winger Chris Higgins but the story of the night was the rough stuff and Vancouver's head coach attempting to get at the Flames' coaching staff between the first and second periods. Calgary coach Bob Hartley and Vancouver coach John Tortorella started their fourth lines and the gloves dropped after the puck did. Calgary received 77 minutes in penalties out of the fracas, Vancouver 65 minutes and a two-minute power-play. Four players from each team were ejected with game misconducts, leaving each side with just four defensemen apiece. In all, the chippy first period ended with each team being handed 15 penalties for a combined 178 penalty minutes. Tortorella tried to get to the Calgary dressing room but was stopped at the door by a sea of Flames players and equipment staff and was on the receiving end of a hockey-glove face wash from Flames right winger Brian McGrattan. (Editing by Peter Rutherford and John O'Brien)