NHL-Highlights of Thursday's NHL games

Jan 23 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights of Thursday's National Hockey League games. - - - Wild 2, Blackhawks 1 The Minnesota Wild got just enough offense via first period goals by right winger Jason Pominville and left winger Matt Cooke to outlast the Chicago Blackhawks 2-1. Minnesota goaltender Darcy Kuemper, making his fifth consecutive start, stopped 33 shots as the Wild improved to 8-3-0 in their last 11 games. Chicago got 17 saves from goaltender Antti Raanta, but could not solve Kuemper until just 31.2 seconds remained. Right winger Patrick Kane got his 24th goal of the season with Raanta on the bench for an extra attacker. - - - Blue Jackets 5, Flyers 2 Five different players scored goals as the Blue Jackets pushed their franchise record winning streak to eight games, routing the Philadelphia Flyers 5-2. The win allowed the Blue Jackets to pass the Flyers and move into third place in the Metropolitan Division. Defenseman Jack Johnson, center Derek MacKenzie, left winger Matt Calvert, center Brandon Dubinsky and right winger Brandon Horton scored for the Blue Jackets, who had four consecutive goals in the final 28:36 of the game. - - - Blues 2, Rangers 1 St. Louis Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk scored the decisive goal in St. Louis' 2-1 win over the Rangers. Shattenkirk, 24, delivered a power-play goal at 3:09 of the third period that snapped a 1-1 for the Blues (34-11-5). The goal was St. Louis' league best 42nd power-play goal this season. Goaltender Jaroslav Halak stopped 34 shots for the Blues. Goalie Henrik Lundqvist made 23 saves for New York (27-23-3). - - - Hurricanes 5, Sabres 3 Right winger Alexander Semin scored twice and defenseman Andrej Sekera netted the game-winning goal against his former team as the Carolina Hurricanes picked up a 5-3 comeback victory over the Buffalo Sabres. Carolina's Jeff Skinner and Jiri Tlusty also scored as the Hurricanes thrice came back from one-goal deficits to get the win. Center Cody Hodgson, right winger Brian Flynn and left winger Tyler Ennis scored for Buffalo, which dropped its fifth game in a row. - - - Penguins 6, Islanders 4 The Pittsburgh Penguins came back from an early two-goal deficit by scoring four unanswered goals in the first and second period on their way to a 6-4 win over the New York Islanders. Center Sidney Crosby and left winger Chris Kunitz each had three points with a goal and two assists for the Penguins (36-13-2), who have won two in a row and seven of nine (7-1-1) this month. Defensemen Olli Maatta and Kris Letang, and centers Evgeni Malkin and Brandon Sutter also scored a goal for Pittsburgh. Right winger Michael Grabner and center Brock Nelson scored in the first nine minutes of the first period for the Islanders (21-25-7). - - - Lightning 4, Senators 3 (overtime) The Tampa Bay Lightning could not make three leads in regulation stand up but used a goal from right winger Nikita Kucherov to beat the Ottawa Senators 4-3 in a shootout. Defenseman Victor Hedman had three assists as Tampa Bay (30-16-5) ended a five-game winless streak at home and won consecutive games for the first time since January 3. Ottawa fell to 22-20-9 after scoring twice on the power play but allowing a short-hander. - - - Stars 7, Maple Leafs 1 The January slump is officially over for the Dallas Stars. Just two nights after blanking the Minnesota Wild 4-0, Dallas blitzed the Toronto Maple Leafs 7-1, ending Toronto's six-game winning streak. After leading 2-1 following one period, Dallas (23-20-8) erupted for four goals in the second period to lead by four goals after 40 minutes of play. Stars center and captain Jamie Benn led the way offensively with four points (goal, three assists). - - - Predators 2, Canucks 1 Nashville forward Nick Spalding deflected home defenseman Seth Jones' shot on the power-play at 12:38 of the third period to give the Predators a 2-1 comeback win over the Vancouver Canucks. Left winger Chris Higgins scored for the Canucks, who enjoyed a 34-26 edge in shots. Center Craig Smith also tallied for Nashville. The Predators (23-22-7) posted their second straight win while the Canucks (26-17-9) saw their win streak end at two games as they lost for the ninth time in the past 12 outings. - - - Sharks 1, Jets 0 White-hot left winger Joe Pavelski scored the game's only goal to break a scoreless tie in the third period as the San Jose Sharks beat the Winnipeg Jets 1-0. Pavelski struck for his team-high 28th goal at even strength at 6:48 of the third period following a Winnipeg turnover. It was all backup goaltender Alex Stalock needed as his 20 saves stood up for a second straight shutout to extend a scoreless streak to 140:59. Winnipeg suffered its first loss under coach Paul Maurice, who was 4-0 since replacing Claude Noel on Jan. 12. (Editing by Ben Everill and Patrick Johnston)