NHL-Highlights of Saturday's National Hockey League games

Oct 26 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights of Saturday's National Hockey League games. - - - Maple Leafs 4, Penguins 1 David Bolland scored twice and Nazem Kadri and Phil Kessel added third-period goals as the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-1. Kadri took a cross-ice feed from Kessel, faked a forehand to pull Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury out of position and then went backhand for his fourth goal of the season early in the third period. With less than three minutes remaining and the Leafs on a power play, Kessel beat an out-of-position Fleury for his team-leading seventh goal of the season. Bolland scored the Leafs' first goal and added an empty netter with 40 seconds remaining in the game. The win is just the second for the Leafs (8-4-0) in five games while the Penguins (7-4-0) have now lost three straight regular-season games for the first time since a six-game skid from Dec. 29, 2011 to Jan. 11, 2012. - - Coyotes 5, Oilers 4 Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored a power-play goal with 7:37 left to lift the Phoenix Coyotes to a 5-4 victory over the Edmonton Oilers. Coyotes defenseman Keith Yandle had a goal and an assist and Martin Hanzal, Michael Stone and David Schlemko also scored for the Coyotes (7-3-2), who have won three of four and have points in eight of nine games. Radim Vrbata added three assists for Phoenix. Yandle set up Ekman-Larsson's game winner when he blocked an Edmonton clearing attempt at the blue line, keeping the play in the Oilers zone alive. Tyler Pitlick scored his first career goal, and David Perron, Ryan Jones and Will Acton also scored for the Oilers (3-8-1), who have dropped two straight. - - Sharks 2, Canadiens 0 Antti Niemi made 22 saves for his second shutout and Logan Couture scored twice to lead the San Jose Sharks to a 2-0 win over the Montreal Canadiens. Niemi recorded his 25th career shutout, his second in three games. Patrick Marleau assisted on both goals as San Jose claimed a first win at the Bell Centre since Dec. 17, 2002. The Sharks bounced back from their first regulation loss Thursday night in Boston to improve to 9-1-1 while the Montreal dropped to 6-5-0. - - Lightning 3, Sabres 2 Ondrej Palat scored the game-winning goal with four minutes left to help the Tampa Bay Lightning edge the Buffalo Sabres 3-2. Palat collected a loose puck and scored his third goal of the season as the Sabres flailed in front of goaltender Ryan Miller. Martin St. Louis had tied the score at two for the Lightning with 5:51 remaining when he took a cross-slot pass from Steven Stamkos and ripped his sixth goal of the season. The Lightning are now 7-3-0 while the rebuilding Sabres drop to 2-10-1. - - Flyers 5, Islanders 2 Vinny Lecavalier scored a hat trick to help lift the Philadelphia Flyers to a 5-2 win over the New York Islanders. After scoring two goals in the first period, Lecavalier netted his third in the third period. He started the sequence by stealing the puck from Thomas Hickey at the Flyers blue line and then finished it by putting it into the empty net after Kevin Poulin came out of his crease to challenge a potential shot by Maxime Talbot. In his eighth start of the year, Steve Mason had 26 saves to earn the win as the Flyers improved to 3-7-0, winning their second straight game for the first time this season. Poulin made 28 saves in his second start as the Islanders fell to 4-4-3. - - Rangers 3, Red Wings 2 (OT) Derick Brassard's breakaway goal with 12.9 seconds left in overtime gave the New York Rangers a 3-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings. Benoit Pouliot scored a goal and added an assist and Mats Zuccarello also scored for New York (3-6-0). Cam Talbot stopped 32 of 34 shots in the win. Drew Miller and Daniel Alfredsson scored for Detroit (6-4-2), which lost its fourth straight. Jimmy Howard made 37 saves. - - Devils 4, Bruins 3 The struggling New Jersey Devils, taking advantage of some bad Bruins penalties, scored their third and fourth power-play goals of the game in the closing 68 seconds to stun Boston 4-3. The win was only the second of the season for the Devils, who lifted their record to 2-5-4. The Bruins, who saw their four-game winning streak end, fell to 7-3, with all three losses at home. Defenseman Marek Zidlicky tied the game with 1:08 left and fellow defenseman Andy Greene beat goaltender Tuukka Rask to score with 44.1 seconds remaining to escape with the victory. The Devils tied the game playing 6-on-3 with two Bruins in the penalty box and goaltender Martin Brodeur pulled. Zidlicky fired home his first goal of the season. With Patrice Bergeron back and Brodeur back in goal, Greene scored his first goal of the season. - - Jets 2, Stars 1 (SO) Andrew Ladd scored the lone goal for Winnipeg in the shootout and Jets goaltender Ondrej Pavelec turned back all three Dallas attempts in a 2-1 victory over the Stars. Winnipeg had taken the lead in the second period when Evander Kane scored off a rebound. Dallas tied it early in the third when Stephane Robidas beat Pavelec through the five-hole. Ladd beat Stars goaltender Kari Lehtonen with a wrister to his glove side for the clinching goal in the shootout. The Jets improved to 5-5-2 while the Stars dropped to 4-5-1. - - Wild 5, Blackhawks 3 Minnesota Wild forward Jason Pominville scored two goals to lead his side to a 5-3 win over the Chicago Blackhawks. It was arguably the worst performance of the season for the Blackhawks (6-2-3), who lost their second straight while the Wild (6-3-3) won their third game in a row. The Wild extended their lead in the overall series with Chicago to 28-18-2 and also improved to 13-10-1 over the Hawks in the United Center. - - Blues 6, Predators 1 Blues center Alexander Steen continued his early-season flurry with two goals in a 6-1 win over the Nashville Predators. The Blues, which opened the season with a 4-2 win over Nashville on October 3, improved to 6-1-2. St. Louis notched its fourth straight victory in Nashville for the first time in franchise history. Steen opened the scoring in the first with a wrist shot past Predators goaltender Carter Hutton. With the power-play goal, Steen recorded his 14th point in only nine games and he increased his numbers with another goal late in the contest. Trailing 1-0 after the first, the Predators (6-5-1) opened the second period with six consecutive shots but could not beat Blues goalie Jaroslav Halak, who finished with 22 saves. The Blues pushed to a 3-0 advantage before the Predators scored for the only time on the night on a short-handed goal by center Nick Spaling in the opening minute of the third. (Editing by Ben Everill)