Bo Horvat and Kyle Palmieri each scored in the shootout and Ilya Sorokin finished with 25 saves to lift the visiting New York Islanders to a 2-1 victory over the Washington Capitals on Wednesday.

Washington’s Evgeny Kuznetsov and Horvat each converted in the first round before Sorokin denied T.J. Oshie to begin the second. Palmieri beat Darcy Kuemper over his glove hand before Sorokin sealed the win by stopping Nicklas Backstrom in the third round.

Pierre Engvall scored early in the second period for the Islanders (39-28-9, 87 points), who improved to 8-3-1 in their last 12 games. New York moved five points ahead of idle Pittsburgh for the top wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, although the Penguins have two games in hand.

Conor Sheary scored a goal and Kuemper turned aside 28 shots for the Capitals (34-32-9, 77 points), who have lost five of their last six games (1-3-2) to reside five points behind Pittsburgh.

Washington’s Tom Wilson was whistled for tripping with 28.8 seconds remaining in overtime, giving New York the only power play of the game. The Capitals prevented the Islanders from scoring the would-be game-winning goal.

Engvall’s wrist shot from the left circle handcuffed Kuemper to open the scoring at 3:52 of the second period. The goal was Engvall’s 17th of the season and fifth in his last nine games.

Sheary forged a tie 2 1/2 minutes later after his backhand shot from the slot banked off the left post and into the net. His goal was his 15th of the season and third in his last four games.

Palmieri, who had five goals in his previous six games, nearly snapped a 1-1 tie midway into the third period. His shot, however, deflected off the right post.

Washington’s superstar captain Alex Ovechkin nearly opened the scoring midway into the first period, but his shot from the left circle caromed off both the glove of Sorokin and the crossbar.

–Field Level Media

Brandon Montour scored his 14th goal of the season at 1:41 of overtime and the visiting Florida Panthers came back to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 on Wednesday night.

Florida’s Sam Reinhart tied the game with his 28th goal of the season with one minute left in the third period on a tip-in during a power play. Montour and Aaron Ekblad had assists.

Anton Lundell also scored for the Panthers, who had lost their previous four games.

Alex Lyon made 38 saves for the Panthers.

Auston Matthews and Zach Aston-Reese scored for the Maple Leafs. Ilya Samsonov made 26 saves for the Maple Leafs, who were coming off a 3-2-0 road trip.

The Panthers (37-31-7, 81 points) were playing the second game of a four-game trip as they cling to their playoff hopes. They are one point behind Pittsburgh for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

The Panthers’ loss to the Ottawa Senators on Monday officially clinched a playoff spot for the Maple Leafs (44-20-10, 98 points), who cannot catch first-place Boston in the Atlantic Division but sit six points ahead of Tampa Bay in second.

Lundell scored his 10th goal of the season 60 seconds into the first period on a 29-foot wrist shot following a Toronto turnover.

The Maple Leafs had a 14-7 advantage in shots on goal after the first period, forcing some good saves from Lyon.

Aston-Reese deflected TJ Brodie’s shot from the left point for his eighth goal of the season at 3:13 of the second period. Toronto put the puck in the net again 44 seconds later, but a video review determined that the play was offside.

Aston-Reese was stopped on a penalty shot at 11:33 of the second period after he was slashed by Montour on a breakaway.

Toronto led 29-18 in shots on goal after the second period.

Florida went on a power play when Mitchell Marner was called for high-sticking at 12:15 of the third. After Toronto killed the penalty, Marner had a good chance when he took a pass after leaving the penalty box but was stopped.

Matthews went to one knee to snap home his 37th goal of the season from the top of the left circle at 6:40 of the third, putting in a pass from Marner.

Florida went on the power play at 17:40 when Mark Giordano took a hooking penalty and got Reinhart’s tying goal.

Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (illness) was scratched.

–Field Level Media

The Vegas Golden Knights can hit the 100-point mark and also clinch a playoff spot on Thursday night when they visit the San Jose Sharks.

Vegas (46-22-6, 98 points) remains two points ahead of the second-place Los Angeles Kings (43-21-10, 96 points) with eight games remaining and three points ahead of third-place Edmonton (43-23-9, 95 points), which has seven games left, in the battle for the Pacific Division title.

The Golden Knights, who are 17-4-2 since the All-Star break, come in off a 7-4 loss to the Oilers on Tuesday in Las Vegas. That contest was tied 3-3 early in the second period before the Oilers pulled away with four unanswered goals that sent fans scurrying to the exits early.

“It’s disappointing,” said Vegas center Jonathan Marchessault, who scored two goals, including one with just 1:32 remaining to finally stop Edmonton’s surge. “If you’re down one, two, three goals, it shouldn’t matter. It shouldn’t dictate the rest of the game. And that’s what disappointed me today.

“I think we were down a couple times. Normally our DNA as an organization is we battle back, like we’re never out of a game. And tonight we didn’t show that. And that’s what’s most disappointing for us.”

Marchessault said the team discussed its lack of intensity afterward.

“Midnight is a new day and you move on, but we’ve got to learn from that for sure,” he said. “It’s on us to play the right way and win a hockey game.”

Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said, “Listen, I think we all wanted to win and play better. I don’t think we had it. And as much as we wanted to push through, I don’t think the energy level was there to overcome a team that was feeling really good about its game.”

Cassidy said it’s important that the Golden Knights bounce back against the Sharks (20-39-15, 55 points), who are last in the Pacific. The remainder of Vegas’ schedule is much tougher with back-to-back games against Central Division-leading Minnesota as well as road games at Nashville and Dallas, a home showdown with the Kings and a season-ending home-and-home with Seattle.

“Is it a one-off or not?” Cassidy said of the sloppy loss to the Oilers. “We’ll have much more clarity (Thursday) at 10 o’clock. Is it just one of those games? Hopefully, our mindset is we want to correct (Tuesday) and get back to playing our type of game.”

San Jose comes in after snapping a nine-game losing streak (0-6-3) with a 3-0 victory over the visiting Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday.

Sharks goaltender James Reimer made 41 saves en route to his third shutout of the season and the 28th of his career. Noah Gregor led the offense with a goal and an assist, and Erik Karlsson had an assist, his 91st point of the season — tops for all defensemen in the league.

It was just the seventh home win for the Sharks (7-20-10), who are the only team in the NHL without double-figure home victories. It was also San Jose’s first home win since Feb. 20 against the Kraken.

“It’s as solid a win as we’ve had in a while, and we haven’t had a win in a while,” San Jose coach David Quinn said with a smile. “It was a good win, obviously. (Reimer) played great. I thought we were opportunistic. It was a gutsy performance in a lot of ways against a team that’s fighting for a playoff spot.”

–Field Level Media

The top three teams in the Pacific Division have separated themselves from the rest of the pack during the month of March, but there isn’t much space between the trio of contenders.

The Edmonton Oilers will try to move up a spot in the standings when they host the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night. They can also inch closer to their first division title since the 1986-87 season.

Edmonton (43-23-9, 95 points) enters the game in third place in the division, a point behind the Kings and three points behind the first-place Vegas Golden Knights, who lost 7-4 to the Oilers on Tuesday night in Las Vegas.

The Oilers have seven games remaining, including two against Los Angeles, while the Kings and Golden Knights each have eight games left, including a final matchup against each other on April 6 in Las Vegas.

All three teams have played extremely well in March.

The Oilers have gone 11-2-1 this month, the Kings 9-1-2 and the Golden Knights 11-3-0.

“I don’t think we’re anywhere near our potential just yet,” Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said. “We’re building toward peaking at the right time, which is in about three weeks.”

Los Angeles (43-21-10, 96 points) had its franchise-record 12-game point streak end with a 2-1 loss to the host Calgary Flames on Tuesday night.

The Kings ran into a hot goalie in Jacob Markstrom, who made 32 saves, and a desperate team in the Flames, who are sitting just outside a playoff spot.

Kings coach Todd McLellan said Los Angeles also struggled with its game management against Calgary, something he hadn’t seen in a long stretch.

“We were willing to extend shifts to look for offense and then it cost us many minutes in our zone after that,” McLellan said. “Certainly something we can fix. Not our best, but yet a game that we had a chance to win.”

Los Angeles forward Phillip Danault said the Kings just need to make a few simple adjustments heading into their matchup against the Oilers.

“Just capitalize on our chances, play a little bit more aggressive and don’t think about it too much,” he said. “Overall, (the loss to Calgary) wasn’t that bad of a game, they played well and we didn’t play too badly, but we’ve got to be better.”

Slowing the Oilers on the offensive end will be a much bigger challenge than it was against the Flames.

Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl continue to rack up points at a record pace.

McDavid has 19 points (six goals, 13 assists) during his nine-game point streak, and Draisaitl has 20 points (six goals, 14 assists) during his 10-game point streak.

And then there are others like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who had a goal and four assists in the win against the Golden Knights on Tuesday.

“I’m just trying to help out a little more offensively than I did last year,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “Obviously, when you have team success, individual success follows that sometimes.”

Edmonton has surrendered four goals in each of its past three games and in five of the past six, an area that remains a concern for Woodcroft.

“We’re working toward that. I saw good signs in our team,” Woodcroft said after the win against Vegas. “I thought there was a lot of good for us to build on.”

–Field Level Media

The Seattle Kraken can see the finish line in their bid to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs in just their second year of existence.

The Anaheim Ducks are one of the teams that stand in their path, and the Kraken will try to bump them aside when they meet on Thursday night in Seattle.

The Kraken (40-25-8, 88 points) hold the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference with nine games remaining.

Seattle is seven points out of third place in the Pacific Division and owns a three-point edge on the Winnipeg Jets, who hold the second wild card by two points over the Calgary Flames.

The San Jose Sharks did the Kraken a favor when they beat the Jets 3-0 on Tuesday night, but Seattle would prefer to take care of business on its own.

The Kraken are 3-4-2 in their past nine games, which has prevented them from solidifying a playoff spot.

Seattle is also winless in its past four home games (0-3-1), with its last victory at Climate Pledge Arena coming against the Ducks on March 7, a 5-2 win.

Kraken fans are also feeling impatient with their goalie situation.

Philipp Grubauer was pulled in the most recent game, a 5-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild in St. Paul, Minn., on Monday, after surrendering four goals on 13 shots. Martin Jones made six saves in relief.

Grubauer has a 2.57 goals-against average for his 11-year NHL career, but is over 3.00 for the second straight year with the Kraken.

Seattle coach Dave Hakstol doesn’t seem to be panicking, however.

“We need our depth to keep doing what they’re doing,” Hakstol said after practice Wednesday.

The Ducks (23-41-10, 56 points) are in a much different boat than the Kraken.

Loser of five in a row, Anaheim could be without its top two scorers, Trevor Zegras and Troy Terry, when it opens a three-game road trip in Seattle.

Zegras, who leads Anaheim with 22 goals and 37 assists, sustained a lower-body injury in the first period of a 5-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Monday.

He tried to play through the pain, but eventually left after the second period and did not return.

Zegras did not practice with the team in Anaheim on Wednesday, but he will accompany the Ducks on the trip and his status is day-to-day, Anaheim coach Dallas Eakins said.

Terry will not make the trip, as his wife, Dani, is expecting their first child.

Derek Grant, who scored the lone goal in the loss to Colorado, said the team can’t make excuses for not playing well.

“You have to show up every night, no matter where you are in the standings or what time of the year it is,” Grant said. “I know the guys in here, we all want to win, but it takes 60 minutes of a good team effort to do that. We can’t take nights off and expect to win, or even shifts or periods. It’s tough, but we have a good group and we’ve been sticking together through it.”

Grant has teamed up with Jakob Silfverberg and Max Comtois the past two games to form a physical fourth line.

“For me, it’s been our best line the last two games,” Eakins said.

–Field Level Media

The St. Louis Blues have built offensive chemistry with the late-season additions to their forward lines.

The Blues will try to extend their recent scoring surge when they face the reeling Blackhawks in Chicago on Thursday.

St. Louis (34-34-6, 74 points) is 5-1-1 in the last seven games and has outscored opponents 32-23.

“I think we’re playing pretty well as a team of late,” Blues forward Brandon Saad said. “We’re having fun, not thinking too much, playing well as a team. Obviously, the contributions with the guys scoring, it’s been a lot of fun as of late. We just want to keep building our game.”

The Blues have gained significant production from newcomers Jakub Vrana (eight goals, two assists in 12 games), Sammy Blais (eight goals, nine assists in 23 games) and Kasperi Kapanen (seven goals, four assists in 15 games) since their arrival.

Vrana scored two goals, including the overtime winner, as the Blues edged the Vancouver Canucks 6-5 on Tuesday.

“He’s been incredible,” Saad said of Vrana. “He’s a pure goal-scorer. It’s fun to watch him out there. It’s fun to play with him. When you’re with him, you want to get him the puck and, obviously, you can see what he can do with scoring goals. Definitely happy to have him.”

The Blackhawks (24-44-6, 54 points) bring a six-game losing streak into this game as they continue to look ahead to the draft lottery. They currently have the second-best odds of getting the first overall pick.

Chicago is coming off Tuesday’s 4-1 home loss to the Dallas Stars. Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson graded the setback as one of their lesser efforts this season.

“I thought the first period, we just weren’t great,” Richardson said. “We couldn’t string together two passes, just sloppy on our part. When that started like that, we just kind of stopped moving our feet. I think it was by the end of the second period, we had a couple of shifts that finally got us going and gave us a little life for the third period, and we skated a little bit. But obviously it was a little too late by then.

“That was one of the few games this year we didn’t have the skating legs and we just didn’t look good.”

Blackhawks forward Tyler Johnson snapped a 14-game goalless drought in against the Stars, but he didn’t take much joy in it.

“It’s been pretty difficult, obviously,” Johnson said. “It’s tough all the way around. You’re not getting the results. The road trip we were on, it just kind of seems like everything is just building up and you have a lot on your shoulders right now, but we’ve got to relax a little bit. Instead of getting upset and mad, you kind of have to just find it within each other to play for each other and be happy and make things a little bit more fun.”

The Blues have won two of their previous three game against the Blackhawks this season. Jordan Kyrou (two goals, two assists) has played well in the series for St. Louis, while Andreas Athanasiou (three goals) has starred for Chicago.

Blues forwards Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich will be out with upper-body injuries on Thursday. Buchnevich has the second-most goals on the team with 25.

–Field Level Media

A stretch of mediocrity has prevented the Carolina Hurricanes from wrapping up the Metropolitan Division title. They’ll try to extend their slim lead over the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers when they visit the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night.

The Hurricanes (47-17-9, 103 points) have gone 4-5-1 over their last 10 games. In their last two outings, they lost to Boston in a shootout and then got blanked (4-0) by Tampa Bay.

Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 31 shots to keep the Hurricanes at bay.

“Not a whole lot of spark to our game. We didn’t play the game we like to play,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Not enough time in their end. It was weird because it wasn’t like we were giving up a boatload of chances, but we weren’t getting enough to get emotion in the building.”

The shutout defeat was the team’s fifth this season and also ended a four-game homestand. Carolina will have to be a road warrior to hold onto the division lead, as it plays six of its last nine regular-season contests in hostile environments.

“We’re playing every other night and these teams that we’re going to play are maybe out of it, but I’ve been on that side of it, where you’re playing for jobs and kids coming up and playing hard. It’s not like you’re getting an easy game, ever,” Hurricanes forward Jordan Martinook said. “We have to figure out where our energy was, regroup, get some rest and come back.”

The Hurricanes play two of those games against the Red Wings. They’ll host Detroit on April 11.

In the first meeting between the teams on Dec. 13, Pyotr Kochetkov made 27 saves as the Hurricanes blanked the Wings 1-0. Brady Skjei scored the lone goal in the first period.

Detroit (32-32-9, 73 points) surprised Pittsburgh, which is fighting for its playoff life, with a 7-4 victory on Tuesday. David Perron recorded a third-period hat trick after the Penguins rallied from a 3-0 deficit.

Perron’s big night lifted the Wings to just their fourth victory in the last 16 games. He now has eight career hat tricks.

“The biggest one of my career was obviously the one in the playoffs (with St. Louis) last year, but this one was special,” said Perron, who is in his 16th NHL season. “I’ve gotten more in my 30s than I did in my early 20s, so maybe I’ve still got a couple left.”

Perron had only scored four goals during the calendar year prior to Tuesday’s flurry.

“We battled back in the third and DP getting the hat trick was pretty cool,” Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin said. “He’s been grinding for a while and I think everyone is happy for him.”

Usually mild-mannered coach Derek Lalonde was ejected in the second period for complaining about Pittsburgh’s third goal, which tied the score. Lalonde felt Jeff Carter’s power-play goal trickled past Alex Nedeljkovic because Penguins forward Jason Zucker interfered with him. However, Lalonde’s challenge was denied.

“After that incident where (Lalonde) got thrown out, I thought the guys came together, played hard and inspired,” associate coach Bob Boughner said. “That team over there is fighting for their lives, fighting for a playoff spot and they played hard and matched us in intensity.”

The Red Wings can surpass last season’s win total with a victory on Thursday.

–Field Level Media

The Ottawa Senators are skating a fine line in their quest for the postseason heading into Thursday’s game against the visiting Philadelphia Flyers.

The Senators (36-33-5, 77 points) reside five points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with eight games remaining on both teams’ schedules.

“I feel like as a team we’ve rode the highs and the lows,” Senators captain Brady Tkachuk said, per the Ottawa Sun. “As we’re going through this for the last (six weeks) of pushing down the stretch, we have learned to take it one day at a time and just get back to basics. We’re at our best when we’re playing fast.”

Thachuk has been at his best over the last two weeks, collecting eight goals and three assists. He had one of each on Monday as Ottawa posted its third win in five games with a 5-2 victory versus the Florida Panthers.

Tkachuk notched an assist in a 2-1 loss to Philadelphia on Nov. 5 and had three more in a 4-1 victory over the Flyers the following week. Former Flyers captain Claude Giroux also had four points (one goal, three assists) in the two contests against Philadelphia.

Star defenseman Thomas Chabot sustained a wrist injury during the third period of Monday’s game and is expected to be out for two weeks.

“He got banged up there,” coach D.J. Smith said, per the Ottawa Sun. “He couldn’t do much late and couldn’t go on.”

Fellow defenseman Tyler Kleven is expected make his NHL debut with Chabot out. Kleven was a second-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft of the Senators, who already are without recent trade acquisition Jakob Chychrun (hamstring).

The Flyers (29-32-12, 70 points) posted their season high-tying fourth straight win and extended their point streak to six games (5-0-1) following their 3-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday.

Morgan Frost scored two goals versus the Canadiens to boost his point total to seven (three goals, four assists) in his last five games.

“He’s getting more and more consistent,” Philadelphia coach John Tortorella said of Frost, a former first-round pick. “The goals are the goals, that’s great. We’re looking for that. But I think he’s improved away from the puck, which is a very important part of his game.

“We know he has skill. We need to keep on seeing the skill. But for a coach to put a player on the ice that he’s still not sure of, that other stuff has to be sound, and I think he’s really improved there.”

Frost was quick to credit Kevin Hayes for setting up his first goal on Tuesday. Stationed along the goal line, Hayes found Frost deep in the left circle for the opening goal of the game.

“It was unbelievable,” Frost said, per the Philadelphia Inquirer. “I think before that happened, I was kind of behind him on the short side calling for the puck. I think he’s got unbelievable vision. That’s just a really special play to make right through the goalie’s stick through the crease. That goal is all him.”

Hayes would like one of his own as he is mired in a 19-game goal drought. The veteran forward, however, scored a goal in both previous encounters versus Ottawa.

–Field Level Media

St. Louis Blues star forwards Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich will miss Thursday’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks with upper-body injuries.

The duo are second and third on the Blues in points on the season.

With the Blues down to their last eight games and well out of the playoff race, the move is seen as precautionary. Both players played the entirety of Tuesday’s game against Vancouver.

Thomas has 63 points (17 goals, 46 assists) in 70 games this season.

Buchnevich has 66 points (25 goals, 41 assists) in 59 games.

The Blues are 5-1-1 in their last seven but 11 points behind the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

–Field Level Media

Two teams desperate to make the playoffs meet Thursday when the Nashville Predators visit the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Nashville (37-28-8, 82 points) is on the outside looking up at the Western Conference wild-card spots. But the Predators are not only still within reach of a couple teams ahead of them with games in hand, they also are coming off a big and emotional win.

On Tuesday, Nashville broke a two-game skid and beat the NHL’s best team on the road with a 2-1 win at Boston, snapping the Bruins’ seven-game winning streak.

“There’s a lot of belief in this (locker) room, and beating that first-place team just gives you that much more belief,” said Predators forward Cody Glass, who had a goal and an assist against the Bruins.

“This is the game that builds character for a lot of our young players and really shows that we can play in this league.”

Not only was it a much-needed couple of points against a daunting opponent, but it also came a day after a deadly shooting at Covenant School in Nashville, something the team talked about privately before the game and publicly afterward.

“We’re on a platform here as professional athletes and coaches, and the city of Nashville means a lot to these people, and we wanted to put in an effort for the first responders, for the people that were involved in the incident, the families, the school,” Predators coach John Hynes said. “And we’re just really proud of the guys.”

Nashville also pulled off that win despite a long list of players who are out with an array of injuries: forwards Filip Forsberg, Ryan Johansen, Matt Duchene and Juuso Parssinen, and captain Roman Josi and fellow defenseman Alexandre Carrier.

The Penguins (36-28-10, 82 points), who have a tenuous hold on the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, were on a roll with three straight games they felt good about.

Those were a road win against defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado, a strong game in a loss at Dallas and, especially, a win Saturday at home against rival Washington that was an emotional rollercoaster when they blew a three-goal, third-period lead before pulling it out, 4-3.

And then came a gut check on Tuesday, when Pittsburgh started poorly in Detroit to fall behind by three goals, came back to tie it, tied it again at 4-4 and then lost 7-4.

“Inexcusable,” Penguins winger Jason Zucker said of losing to a team that is out of the playoff chase and had been reeling since the NHL trade deadline. “We need to come away with points there.”

Pittsburgh has an intriguing decision to make in goal. No. 1 goaltender Tristan Jarry sustained his third injury of the season and missed the Dallas game. He was recovered enough by Saturday to serve as Casey DeSmith’s backup and presumably could have started Tuesday.

But the Penguins went with DeSmith again because, coach Mike Sullivan said, he was “deserving.”

“He’s played really well of late,” Sullivan said.

DeSmith gave up six goals, some of them partly because of poor defensive play in front of him.

The Penguins canceled Wednesday’s practice, leaving no indication of any lineup changes.

–Field Level Media