NHL-Highlights from Thursday's NHL games

March 31 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights from National Hockey League games on Thursday: Hurricanes 4, Rangers 3 Victor Rask's power-play goal capped a rally that lifted the Carolina Hurricanes to a 4-3 victory over the New York Rangers on Thursday night at PNC Arena. Patrick Brown's first NHL goal along with goals from Justin Faulk and Jeff Skinner gave the Hurricanes clutch offense. Mats Zuccarello, Rich Nash and Chris Kreider scored for the Rangers, who drop to third in the Metropolitan Division, one point behind the Pittsburgh Penguins with the same amount of games played. Penguins 5, Predators 2 Phil Kessel scored two goals to lead Pittsburgh over Nashville. Kris Letang and Nick Bonino each scored a goal and set up another as the NHL's hottest team won its fourth in a row and 10th in 11 games. Patric Hornqvist also scored for Pittsburgh. Ryan Johansen and James Neal scored for the Predators. Islanders 4, Blue Jackets 3 Anders Lee was credited with the game-winning goal early in the third period as New York moved closer to clinching a playoff berth by edging Columbus at Barclays Center. John Tavares scored twice in the first period and Thomas Hickey also scored in the first for the wild card race-leading Islanders, who won their third in a row to move six points ahead of the ninth-place Detroit Red Wings. Brandon Dubinsky scored in the first, Brandon Saad scored in the second and Boone Jenner tied the game 37 seconds into the third for the Blue Jackets, who have lost four straight and eight of 10. Sabres 4, Maple Leafs 1 Cal O'Reilly and Johan Larsson each had two goals to lead Buffalo over Toronto. Chad Johnson was solid between the pipes for the Sabrs, making 25 saves. Brooks Laich scored the lone goal for the Maple Leafs and Garret Sparks made 33 saves. Panthers 3, Devils 2 Jonathan Huberdeau scored two goals, and behind a strong defensive effort, Florida earned a win over New Jersey at the BB&T Center. The Panthers tied the franchise record for wins in a season (43) set in 1999-2000 and their 95 points now put this year's team second in franchise history, surpassing the 2011-12 division champion squad. More importantly for the current Panthers, the two points put them tow in front of Tampa Bay for the Atlantic Division lead after the Lightning lost to Montreal on Thursday. Aleksander Barkov forehanded an insurance goal for the Panthers and the Devils got goals from Blake Pietila and Mike Sislo. Canadiens 3, Lightning 0 Mike Condon earned his first career shutout, stopping all 26 shots from Tampa Bay as Montreal pulled out a victory at Amalie Arena. David Desharnais and Torrey Mitchell had goals before Phillip Danault scored an empty-net goal with 2:28 left for the Canadiens. Senators 3, Wild 2 Jean-Gabriel Pageau had a goal and two assists as Ottawa won for the second time in as many nights, beating Minnesota. Cody Ceci scored the game-winner in the third period for Ottawa, which got a goal and an assist from Erik Karlsson and a 23-save performance from Craig Anderson. Bobby Ryan recorded two assists. The Wild got goals from Zach Parise and Erik Haula along with 19 saves from Devan Dubnyk. Stars 4, Coyotes 1 Jamie Benn scored his 40th goal of the season and Antti Niemi stopped 30 of 31 shots for Dallas in a win against Arizona at American airlines Center. The Stars, who won for the sixth time in its past seven games, also got goals from Patrick Eaves, Radek Faksa and Patrick Sharp. The Coyotes, who are mathematically eliminated from playoff contention with the loss, got their lone goal from Martin Hanzal while Mike Smith stopped 29 of 32 shots in a losing effort. Kings 3, Flames 0 Jeff Carter scored a pair of goals and recorded an assist, leading Los Angeles over the Calgary at Staples Center. Andy Andreoff had the other goal and Anze Kopitar had two assists as the Kings edged back into first place in the Pacific Division by a point over the Anaheim Ducks with five games remaining. One of those contests is a clash next Thursday with the Ducks at Staples. Jonathan Quick stopped all 21 shots he faced for Los Angeles, which won for only the second time in the past six outings. Joni Ortio had 26 saves for Calgary. Canucks 4, Sharks 2 Jannik Hansen's game-winner sailed over the blocker of Martin Jones at 14:57 of the third period as Vancouver beat San Jose. Markus Grandlund, Daniel Sedin and Joonas Donskoi also scored for Vancouver and Ryan Miller finished with 32 saves. Logan Couture and Patrick Marleau scored for the Sharks and Jones stopped 22 shots