Mark Scheifele’s hat trick lifted the Winnipeg Jets to a 4-2 win over the visiting Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.

Pierre-Luc Dubois also scored, while Josh Morrissey and Kyle Connor each had two assists and Connor Hellebuyck made 20 saves for the Jets, who ended a season-long three-game losing streak.

Andrei Kuzmenko had a goal and an assist, while Conor Garland also scored and Collin Delia made 34 saves for the Canucks, whose three-game winning streak was snapped.

The Canucks struck quickly when Elias Pettersson stole Dylan Samberg’s outlet pass and centered the puck to Kuzmenko, who one-timed a shot past Hellebuyck just 41 seconds into the game.

Vancouver controlled most of the first period, outshooting the Jets 9-6. But the Canucks failed to score on their lone power-play opportunity of the period after Morgan Barron was called for hooking at the 14:20 mark.

After the Canucks failed to capitalize on their second power play early in the second period, the Jets tied the game on their first man-advantage opportunity.

Connor slid a pass to Morrissey who unleashed a shot near the blue line that Scheifele deflected past Delia at the 13:52 mark of the period.

Dubois gave the Jets a 2-1 lead when he roofed a penalty shot past Delia at the 15:42 mark before Scheifele struck again on the power play in the final seconds of the period.

After taking a pass from Morrissey in the left slot, Scheifele wristed a shot past Delia for a 3-1 lead with 2.5 seconds left in the period. Connor also collected an assist.

Garland’s goal off assists from Quinn Hughes and Kuzmenko pulled the Canucks to within 3-2 with 6:49 left, but Vancouver couldn’t capitalize with the extra skater after pulling Delia.

Instead, Scheifele completed his seventh career hat trick when scored an empty-net goal off Adam Lowry’s assist with 28 seconds remaining.

The Jets outshot the Canucks 39-22.

The Jets play at Edmonton on Saturday before opening a three-game homestand against the Calgary Flames on Tuesday.

Vancouver will visit Calgary on Saturday before hosting the New York Islanders on Tuesday and the Colorado Avalanche on Jan. 5. Then comes a Jan. 8 trip to Winnipeg for the Canucks’ final meeting with the Jets this season.

–Field Level Media

Tyler Seguin scored two goals and Wyatt Johnston had a goal and an assist as the Dallas Stars recorded a 4-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Thursday in Saint Paul, Minn.

With the score tied 1-1 after the second intermission, Dallas jumped ahead on Johnston’s tip-in score at 3:29 of the third period. Jamie Benn extended the Stars’ lead with a power-play marker 10 minutes later, and Seguin iced the game with a late empty-net score.

It was yet another late breakthrough for the Stars, who have outscored opponents 53-30 in third periods this season. That includes a 7-0 edge over the third periods of Dallas’ ongoing three-game win streak.

The Wild lost for just the second time in nine games (7-2-0). The Thursday loss also snapped Minnesota’s seven-game winning streak on home ice.

Kirill Kaprizov scored his 20th goal of the season for Minnesota’s only tally, despite several quality chances. Matt Boldy and Jordan Greenway each rang shots off the goalpost, while Samuel Walker had a late goal disallowed after a video review revealed an offside violation.

Despite these close calls for the Wild, Dallas largely dominated the action. The Stars won 70 percent of the faceoffs and outshot Minnesota by a 43-24 margin. The 43 shots allowed matched the Wild’s high for the season.

Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger stopped 23 shots for the win.

Marc-Andre Fleury made 39 saves, doing his best to keep the Wild in the game despite the Stars’ constant pressure.

It was the third multi-point game of Johnston’s rookie season, as the 19-year-old has already become a solid contributor in his brief career. Johnston has 11 goals and six assists over his first 37 NHL games.

Seguin has nine goals this season, with four of those tallies coming in his past six games.

The Stars were 2-for-3 on the power play, and they are now 10-for-25 with the extra attacker over their past seven games.

–Field Level Media

Jordan Binnington made 21 saves as the St. Louis Blues defeated the visiting Chicago Blackhawks 3-1 Thursday night.

Binnington improved to 6-0-1 in seven career games against the Blackhawks.

Josh Leivo, Calle Rosen and Brandon Saad scored for the Blues, who have earned points in eight of their last nine games while going 5-1-3.

Patrick Kane scored and Alex Stalock made 26 saves for the reeling Blackhawks, who are 2-17-1 in their last 20 games.

The Blues struck first with their fourth line at the 3:12 mark of the first period. Alexey Toropchenko made a behind-the-back centering pass to Nathan Walker, who slid the puck to Leivo for a shot into the empty side of the net.

Kane tied the game 1-1 on a power-play. He moved in from the point and fired a shot from the left faceoff dot through Jonathan Toews’ screen and past Binnington’s glove hand.

Taylor Raddysh had a clear breakaway for the Blackhawks in the closing seconds of the first period, but Binnington thwarted him to keep the game tied.

The Blues outshot the Blackhawks 15-5 during the second period while sustaining steady offensive pressure.

Brayden Schenn failed to convert a power-play breakaway for the Blues early in the second period, then Stalock stopped Justin Faulk’s blast stepping into the slot.

But Rosen put the Blues up 2-1, stealing a Blackhawks clearing attempt in the middle of the ice and scoring from the slot at the 8:40 mark of the period.

Robert Thomas nearly made it 3-1 late in the period after splitting two Chicago defensemen coming down the middle for a point-blank shot.

Toews had a chance to tie the game in the third period, but his slap shot from a sharp right-side angle hit Binnington in the shoulder, popped over him but did not roll into the net.

Saad finally iced the game with his empty-net goal with 11 seconds left.

–Field Level Media

Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Mathew Barzal scored for the host New York Islanders, who continued surging with a 2-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night.

Goalie Ilya Sorokin made 20 saves and carried a shutout into the final minute for the Islanders, who capped a perfect three-game homestand in which they outscored the opposition 12-3.

Emil Bemstrom scored with 21.1 seconds left for the Blue Jackets, who have lost seven straight, all in regulation. Goalie Joonas Korpisalo recorded 34 saves.

The Islanders outshot the Blue Jackets 13-7 in a scoreless first before Pageau began and ended the sequence that resulted in New York’s first goal, 7:12 into the second.

Pageau got a stick on Johnny Gaudreau’s drop pass intended for Adam Boqvist and shoved the puck through the neutral zone. The Islanders’ center outraced Boqvist to the puck and sent a drop pass to Hudson Fasching, who weaved around Gaudreau and fired a shot that Korpisalo slowed. With the puck trickling behind Korpisalo, Pageau raced into the crease and tapped it over the goal line.

Later in the second, Gaudreau was whistled for interference and slashing to set up a long-awaited power-play goal for the Islanders. A pass by Anders Lee in front of the Blue Jackets’ net was intercepted by Sean Kuraly, who gloved the puck and put it down but had his pass clip off the stick of Pageau. The puck went to Brock Nelson, who almost immediately dished to Barzal, who went to one knee and scored from the left faceoff circle with 3:21 left.

The power-play goal was the first since Dec. 9 for the Islanders, who had gone scoreless in 25 power-play opportunities over their previous eight games, as well as their first two power-play chances against the Blue Jackets.

The Blue Jackets pulled Korpisalo with a little more than 2:30 left and pulled within a goal when Marcus Bjork’s shot glanced off the chest of Bemstrom and fluttered past Sorokin. But Columbus wasn’t able to mount another threat.

–Field Level Media

Alex DeBrincat scored twice, including the game-winner in overtime, and the Ottawa Senators defeated the host Washington Capitals 4-3 on Thursday.

Jake Sanderson and Tim Stutzle also scored for Ottawa.

Alex Ovechkin, Dylan Strome, and Evgeny Kuznetsov scored for Washington, which had a five-game win streak come to an end.

DeBrincat scored the game-winning goal at 1:31 of overtime on a 2-on-0 with Claude Giroux.

Earlier, DeBrincat had tied the game at 3-3 at 14:26 of the third period. It was his 12th goal of the season and came on a primary assist from Shane Pinto.

Before that the teams combined for five goals in the second period.

Ovechkin gave Washington a 1-0 lead 1:15 into the period, getting loose for a breakaway during a Senators line change to score his 23rd goal of the season. It was also the 803rd career goal for Ovechkin.

Strome made it 2-0, firing home a one-timer at 3:37 after a feed from Conor Sheary on the rush.

Sanderson responded for Ottawa and made it 2-1 at 8:30 of the period, sneaking a shot from the point through traffic and past goaltender Darcy Kuemper for his second goal of the season.

Kuznetsov made it 3-1 at 15:56 on a 2-on-1 rush with Ovechkin, but elected to keep the puck himself and shoot for his sixth goal of the season.

Stutzle ended the goal rush with 16 seconds left in the period, finishing off a pass from Giroux, who had made a diving play to force a Washington turnover.

Cam Talbot stopped 20 of 23 shots in the victory. Keumper made 41 saves in the loss.

Keumper was busy on a night where Washington struggled to control the puck. According to the NHL stat sheet, the Capitals committed 15 giveaways compared to zero by Ottawa.

–Field Level Media

Tampa Bay’s Alex Killorn scored in the shootout’s sixth round as the Lightning won their sixth straight home game, rallying to beat the New York Rangers 2-1 on Thursday night.

After Tampa Bay’s Brayden Point and New York’s Artemi Panarin scored in the first three rounds, Killorn entered with speed and beat Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin with a shot past the backstop’s blocker.

Andrei Vasilevskiy (45 saves) then denied defenseman Adam Fox to lift the Lightning to a 2-1 win in the session and improve them to 14-4-1 on home ice.

With the win, Vasilevskiy moved to 15-9-1 and won for the second straight night after beating Montreal 4-1 on Wednesday. He is 17-7 in shootouts.

In the second of his team’s three-game homestand, Point scored a goal for Tampa Bay, which is 9-3-0 in December. The club is 6-4-1 against the Metropolitan Division.

Tampa Bay survived a full four-on-three power play by the Rangers in overtime after defenseman Victor Hedman committed a tripping penalty.

For the Rangers, Mika Zibanejad found the net, and Shesterkin made 39 saves. The goalie fell to 4-6 in his career in the shootout.

Zibanejad, who scored four goals in three games last season against the Lightning, opened the scoring by taking a pass from Ryan Lindgren and sending it home from the high slot at 12:45. The goal was Zibanejad’s 16th of the season.

In the crease for the second consecutive night on back-to-back matches, Vasilevskiy was strong and kept the deficit at one goal by making saves on breakaways by Vincent Trocheck and Vitali Kravtsov. He also stuffed Kravtsov from in close after the young left wing deked his way past Hedman.

At 4:49 of the second, Shesterkin held a puck near his blocker, but Brandon Hagel grabbed it, tossed it onto the blue paint and had it slide in for a goal. However, after a quick review, the tying tally was disallowed for a hand pass.

The netminders again were the stars of the scoreless second. Over the 20 minutes, Shesterkin stopped 14 shots, and Vasilevskiy denied 19 by the Rangers, including a robbery of Filip Chytil from below the right circle.

In the third at 5:32, Point notched his team-leading 20th marker on a short feed from Steven Stamkos by bouncing a shot off Shesterkin to tie the game at 1.

-Field Level Media

Aleksander Barkov scored a first-period hat trick and also had two assists and Matthew Tkachuk added two goals and two assists as the Florida Panthers cruised to a 7-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday in Sunrise, Fla.

Carter Verhaeghe had a goal and an assist, Eetu Luostarinen scored a goal and Brandon Montour added three assists for Florida, which snapped a three-game losing streak while producing a season-high goal total.

Barkov, who missed the previous three games with a knee injury, set franchise records for the fastest hat trick to start a game (15:22) and also most career power-play goals (67), breaking a tie with Scott Mellanby for the latter mark. His five-point goal tied a career high.

Sergei Bobrovsky made 25 saves for the Panthers, who improved to 5-1-0 in their past six games against Montreal.

Arber Xhekaj had a goal and an assist and Josh Anderson also scored a goal for Montreal, which took its fourth straight loss (0-3-1). Sam Montembeault finished with 34 saves.

Florida took a 1-0 lead at the 2:37 mark of the first period when Gustav Forsling’s shot off the left point caromed off Barkov’s leg past Montembeault. Barkov then made it 2-0 with a power-play goal when he ripped a shot from the left circle into the top left corner at 11:50 of the first.

Montreal cut it to 2-1 at 14:14 of the first on a power-play goal by Xhekaj, who slapped a shot from the left point through traffic for his fifth of the season.

Barkov answered just 1:08 later to complete his hat trick, picking up a loose puck in front of the net and then roofing a backhand shot into the top right corner for his ninth of the season.

The Canadiens closed within 3-2 with 47 seconds left in the period on a power-play goal by Anderson, who flicked in a backhand rebound of a Mike Hoffman one-timer.

The Panthers extended the lead to 4-2 with another power-play goal in the second period, when Tkachuk redirected a Montour point shot at 6:22.

Verhaeghe made it 5-2 at the 4:14 mark of the third period when he finished an odd-man rush with Barkov and fired a wrist shot from the left wing past Montembeault’s blocker side for his 18th goal of the season.

The Panthers then blew the game open when Tkachuk muscled in a rebound on the power play for his 17th goal of the season at 7:24. Luostarinen followed 2:07 later with his ninth goal of the season when he put in a wrist shot at the end of a two-on-one with Sam Bennett.

–Field Level Media

Kyle Okposo recorded his third-career hat trick, Casey Mittelstadt scored twice, and the Buffalo Sabres extended their season-high winning streak to five games with a 6-3 victory over the visiting Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night.

Jeff Skinner scored for the fifth time in four games, while JJ Peterka, Owen Power and Zemgus Girgensons each had two assists for the Sabres, who were playing for the first time since Dec. 19, after the recent excessive snowfall in western New York postponed two games. Amid a 7-1-1 stretch, Buffalo has outscored its opponents 24-9 in the last five contests.

Detroit overcame a 4-0 hole in Wednesday’s 5-4 overtime win at Pittsburgh, but couldn’t fully rally from 5-0 down Thursday.

However, Dominik Kubalik scored twice in the first 4:23 of the third period to make things interesting. Then, Jordan Oesterle blazed a drive past Buffalo’s Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (28 saves) with 12:49 to go in regulation.

The Sabres, though, clamped down and Okposo added an empty-netter for his first three-goal game since February 2016, while with the New York Islanders.

Buffalo opened the scoring with 4:28 remaining in the first period. Mittelstadt got inside position in front of the Detroit net and converted his first goal since Nov. 19.

The hosts made it 2-0 just 1:20 into the second. On a Buffalo push, Detroit’s Michael Rasmussen and Filip Hronek each got a stick on the puck in its own zone, but it eventually came to Skinner, who beat Magnus Hellberg (29 saves) for his 17th goal.

The Sabres weren’t finished in the second. With 9:32 remaining, Mittelstadt, on the power play, threw back a net-front rebound from Power’s shot that went off a Red Wings’ defender to secure his second career two-goal effort.

Then, less than a minute later, Okposo drove home an end-board pass from Girgensons. Okposo struck again with 5:58 left in the second, when Tyson Jost from behind the net set up the veteran captain.

Buffalo has won all three meetings with Detroit this season.

–Field Level Media

Edmonton Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft considers the post-holiday break the “next phase” of the NHL season.

So far, so good.

The Oilers defeated host Calgary 2-1 Tuesday night to pull into a tie with Seattle for third place in the Pacific Division. Calgary then squeaked ahead in the three-team battle for third by beating the Kraken the following day.

Edmonton will have a chance to pull ahead of the Kraken — and the rival Flames — when it plays Friday night in Seattle.

“We’re like a lot of teams in the NHL right now. We’re looking for a measure of consistency,” Woodcroft said. “Our hope is that our focus is sharpened. We are post-Christmas now. We have 14 games left before the All-Star break. We’re quite aware of that. There’s a lot of divisional games left on that calendar.

“But you’ve heard me say since the first day that I got up here — that our focus is on being the best we can be on a day-in, day-out basis. We don’t worry about the 14 games in front of us. We worry about being the best we can be that day, and we were pretty good (Tuesday) and I’m happy that we got the result.”

Connor McDavid scored the winner against the Flames early in the third period to extend his points streak to 16 games (15 goals, 17 assists), one shy of his career-high set last season.

McDavid leads the league with 31 goals and 67 points this season.

“I’m always trying to play well, like everybody is,” McDavid said. “I’m no different than anybody else. I’m just trying to play well and do my part and that’s all.

“It always feels good to win in this building (the Saddledome). Our team historically has always struggled after breaks, so it’s important for us to get out of the break hot and it’s a big win for us.”

Goaltender Stuart Skinner also came up big for the Oilers, making 46 saves. The Oilers’ Tyson Barrie added his 100th career NHL goal.

“It’s a tough game after the break,” Barrie said. “Travel the day of and come into a tough building in a big game where we’re both battling for points. ‘Stuey’ was great. But it was gritty … (and) we found a way. Coming down the stretch here, we’re going to need to be able to play those low-scoring games and find a way to button it up.”

The Kraken have lost their last two, including a 3-2 decision to visiting Calgary on Wednesday that allowed the Flames to leapfrog them into third place in the division. Seattle has played four fewer games than Calgary and three fewer than Edmonton.

Goalie Philipp Grubauer made 41 saves for the Kraken, but it wasn’t enough.

“I thought the second half (of the game) we didn’t generate enough zone time,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “To be able to get in the zone and then be able to hold possession and do some work in the offensive zone and create some opportunities, we didn’t get enough of that in the second half.”

This will be the first of four meetings of the season between the Oilers and Kraken, with the second coming Tuesday night in Edmonton (after the Kraken host the New York Islanders on Sunday).

–Field Level Media