Elias Pettersson scored the tying and go-ahead goals in a span of fewer than four minutes in the third period Thursday night for the visiting Vancouver Canucks, who overcame a two-goal deficit to beat the New York Islanders 6-5 in Elmont, N.Y.

Petterson scored a power-play goal 4:38 into the third before he completed an end-to-end rush by taking a pass from Brock Boeser and beating Ilya Sorokin with 11:32 left.

Anthony Beauvillier, who was traded by the Islanders to the Canucks for Bo Horvat on Jan. 30, added a pivotal insurance goal by redirecting a shot by Boeser with 3:02 left.

Boeser, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Nils Aman also scored for the Canucks, who are 3-2-1 since Rick Tocchet was named head coach Jan. 22. Goalie Collin Delia made 24 saves.

Horvat also scored in his first game against his former team for the Islanders, who also received goals from Kyle Palmieri, Brock Nelson, Mathew Barzal and Noah Dobson but had their four-game winning streak snapped. Sorokin recorded 28 saves.

The teams traded four goals in a chaotic span of 3:29 shortly beyond the midway point of the first period.

Palmieri opened the scoring at the 11:05 mark, when he created a shooting lane by screeching to a stop with Ekman-Larsson in front of him before firing a shot over Delia’s stick hand.

Ekman-Larsson scored from the blue line following a turnover just 39 seconds later.

The Canucks took a short-lived lead 46 seconds later on Boeser’s goal. Nelson scored an unassisted goal off a Canucks turnover 2:04 later, when he beat Kyle Burroughs to a loose puck, skated up the right side and beat Delia glove side with 5:26 left.

Barzal and Dobson exchanged the puck five times before the center fired a slapshot from the left faceoff circle at the 2:26 mark of the second period for a 3-2 Islanders lead. Horvat extended the advantage to 4-2 with 4:47 left in the second by beating Delia from the edge of the left faceoff circle.

The Canucks cut the deficit to a goal just 51 seconds later when Aman tucked a shot home following Phillip Di Giuseppe’s wraparound pass into the crease.

Dobson scored a power-play, extra-attacker goal with 48.8 seconds left.

–Field Level Media

The Pittsburgh Penguins have the longest active playoff streak in the NHL, reaching the Stanley Cup playoffs in 16 consecutive seasons, but there are no guarantees that will continue.

As they hit the ice in Anaheim on Friday to face the Ducks, the Penguins know the full value of kicking off a four-game road swing on the right note.

The Penguins, who have a 4-3-3 record in their last 10 games, have something to build on after they came out of the All-Star break and claimed a 2-1 overtime victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday.

“We’ve talked to them about hitting the reset button from a mindset standpoint, getting excited about the opportunities that we have in front of us, and the challenges we have in front of us,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “Our most meaningful hockey is in front of us and we got to get excited about it. It’s also going to be our hardest hockey.”

Defeating the reigning Stanley Cup champion Avalanche showed the kind of resilience the Penguins need while in a dogfight for a playoff berth. Pittsburgh erased a third-period deficit before Kris Letang scored the winner.

“It’s definitely a really good stepping stone,” said forward Bryan Rust, who scored the tying goal late in regulation. “We got to learn some good lessons from this, but consistency is key right now. We’ve been harping on our consistency, and I think we got to walk the walk here and put that into motion.”

Letang has scored the overtime winner in both of Pittsburgh’s last two wins.

“It’s well-chronicled that Tanger’s had a tough first half in so many different ways,” Sullivan said. “So we’re certainly thrilled for him for a lot of reasons. He’s just so important to our team.”

The Ducks are coming off a comeback victory of their own, a 3-2 overtime road win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday, which came one night after Anaheim dropped a 3-2 shootout affair in Dallas. It’s not an easy way to come out of the break, but the rebuilding young team put its best foot forward.

“I think (it’s) just mindset,” forward Frank Vatrano said. “You’re obviously not going to feel too good even if you come off an eight-day break. A back-to-back is a back-to-back. This is a tough league no matter who you’re playing against. Every night is a challenge. We knew we were going to have a tough challenge ahead, and we just kept our heads in it.”

The Ducks may sit at the bottom of the Pacific Division but they have not completely thrown in the towel. They have a 4-0-1 mark in their last five games.

“That was like air coming out of a balloon there,” coach Dallas Eakins said of earning the most recent victory. “I think the schedule is really tough for all the teams coming off the break. For us to come back and have to play back-to-back is extremely hard. It’s one thing we have been this year, really resilient. We just kept our head down and kept swinging.”

There was no word Thursday whether Ducks All-Star forward Troy Terry, injured in Monday’s game against the Dallas Stars before missing the Chicago game, would be available to face the Penguins. Terry is second on the team with 42 points.

–Field Level Media

Filip Zadina scored his first goal of the season after missing over three months as the host Detroit Red Wings edged the Calgary Flames 2-1 on Thursday.

Zadina was sidelined since early November by a foot injury before going on a rehab assignment last week. Dylan Larkin scored the other goal for Detroit, while Ville Husso made 35 saves.

Blake Coleman scored the lone Flames goal, while Dan Vladar made 15 saves.

Calgary had a 12-5 advantage in shots on goal in the opening period but the game remained scoreless.

The Red Wings were awarded a four-minute power play when Nikita Zadorov was called for high-sticking Jonatan Berggren. The Flames were able to kill off that penalty as Vladar made six saves during that span.

Detroit had another power play in the period when Michael Stone was called for high sticking but the Red Wings spent a majority of those two minutes in their own zone.

The Flames finally broke the drought with 1:53 left in the period when Coleman redirected Noah Hanifin’s shot from the point. The puck snuck just inside the crossbar. Mikael Backlund had the second assist on Coleman’s 12th goal this season.

The Flames’ Dillon Dube was whistled for tripping with just over a minute left in the period. The Red Wings cashed in with 14 seconds left when Larkin lifted a shot over Vladar’s right shoulder off a feed from David Perron. Larkin’s 16th goal was also assisted by Moritz Seider.

Zadina put the Red Wings on top at 5:51 of the third on a two-on-one situation. Zadina passed the puck from the right circle to Oskar Sundqvist, who gave it right back to Zadina. Vladar was unable to recover in time as Zadina fired it in. Robert Hagg had the second assist.

Detroit’s Ben Chiarot was called for a slashing penalty with 3:51 left. The Wings were able to kill that off, then hold on in the final minute.

–Field Level Media

Defenseman Dougie Hamilton scored twice, extending his points streak to six games, as the New Jersey Devils defeated the visiting Seattle Kraken 3-1 Thursday night in Newark, N.J.

John Marino added an empty-netter with 1:11 remaining and Ondrej Palat had two assists for the Devils, who won their third consecutive game and improved to 10-1-1 in their past 12. Goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood made 33 saves.

Adam Larsson scored as the Kraken suffered their second straight loss on their five-game trip following the All-Star break. Philipp Grubauer stopped 24 of 26 shots.

Hamilton scored the go-ahead goal at 10:00 of the third period on the power play. Jesper Bratt’s shot rang off the crossbar before Palat got the puck in the right-wing corner. He fed the puck back to Hamilton, whose blast from just outside the top of the faceoff circles deflected off the right hip of Seattle’s Brandon Tanev and hit the crossbar just inside the left post before settling in the back of the net.

Hamilton has 13 points (five goals, eight assists) during his scoring streak.

The Kraken opened the scoring at 14:05 of the second period. Alex Wennberg won a faceoff in the offensive zone back to Vince Dunn at the left point. Dunn quickly sent a cross-ice pass to fellow defenseman Larsson, whose wrist shot made it through a screen set by Wennberg and just over Blackwood’s mitt and inside the right post.

The Devils tied the score just 24 seconds later with Seattle’s Will Borgen in the penalty box for cross-checking. The puck went behind the net following a faceoff in the Kraken’s end and Palat outmuscled defenseman Jamie Oleksiak for possession. Palat fed Tomas Tatar on the right wing and he sent a pass to Hamilton in the high slot. His one-timer beat a screened Grubauer and found its way into the top right corner of the net.

Both teams played without their leading scorers. All-Star Jack Hughes missed his first game for the Devils this season with an upper-body injury. The Kraken’s Andre Burakovsky, who lasted just one shift in Tuesday’s 4-0 loss against the host New York Islanders, has a lower-body injury. Both players are considered week-to-week.

–Field Level Media

Sam Reinhart scored twice, Eric Staal added two empty-net goals and the Florida Panthers beat the visiting San Jose Sharks 4-1 on Thursday night in Sunrise.

Reinhart has 19 goals this season and six in his past eight games. Eetu Luostarinen led the Panthers in assists with two, and Florida killed off a late double-minor penalty.

Sergei Bobrovsky made 33 saves as Florida won its third straight game — its longest winning streak this season. Bobrovsky has a team-high 14 victories.

Despite the win, two Panthers had points streaks snapped – Brandon Montour at 10 games and Matthew Tkachuk at seven. Montour’s streak is the longest ever by a Panthers defenseman.

Alexander Barabanov scored for the Sharks, and goalie Kaapo Kahkonen made 38 saves.

San Jose’s Erik Karlsson, who leads all NHL defensemen in points, picked up one assist. He has seven points in his past four games and 70 for the season.

The Sharks, though, had their modest two-game win streak snapped.

Florida was without center and team captain Aleksander Barkov, who left Monday’s game against Tampa Bay due to a right-hand injury. Barkov is one of the top defensive forwards in the league, and he entered the game tied for second on the Panthers in points (47).

San Jose opened the scoring with 5:49 gone in the first period on a play that started with Karlsson’s shot from the point. Barabanov then gathered a long rebound and flipped in the puck off his backhand.

Florida tied the score with 4:30 expired in the second. After a long pass from Eric Staal, Reinhart – who was given time and space – fired a shot from the right circle that went under Kahkonen’s glove.

The Panthers took their first lead at 2-1 with just 41 seconds left in the second. Luostarinen keyed the play from the right circle, centering the puck while falling backward. Reinhart did the rest, redirecting the puck between his legs and past Kahkonen.

With 4:52 left in the third, Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad was hit with a four-minute penalty for high-sticking Timo Meier.

The Sharks then pulled their goalie with 2:14 left to give them a 6-on-4 advantage. But Luostarinen stole the puck and fed Staal for the empty-net goal with 1:39 left to give Florida a 3-1 lead. Staal’s second empty-netter came 34 seconds later.

–Field Level Media

Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy crafted his first shutout of the season, Brandon Hagel produced three points and the Lightning blanked the visiting Colorado Avalanche 5-0 on Thursday night.

In the first meeting between the clubs since last June’s Stanley Cup Final, Vasilevskiy stopped 30 shots to extend his franchise-record shutout total to 29. Hagel had two goals and an assist to lead the Lightning offensive output as they broke a two-game skid (0-1-1).

Brayden Point had a goal and an assist, Corey Perry and Mikhail Sergachev each netted a goal, Alex Killorn handed out three assists and Anthony Cirelli added two as the Lightning moved to 21-4-2 at home and 9-2-0 against the Western Conference’s Central Division. Pat Maroon skated in his 700th game.

The Avalanche, who won their third Stanley Cup by beating the Lightning in six games, have dropped two straight overall (0-1-1) to start their three-game road trip and were shut out for the fourth time. Netminder Alexandar Georgiev made 27 saves.

Colorado’s Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Cale Makar was scratched (concussion protocol) after being hit in the head by Pittsburgh’s Jeff Carter in Tuesday night’s 2-1 overtime loss to the Penguins.

In the first of two matchups over a six-day span, Tampa Bay’s third-ranked power play, which went 2-for-3, made the visitors pay when Perry grabbed a pass in front of Georgiev and deked him for his 10th goal at 15:15.

At 2:21 of the second period, Vasilevskiy stood solid and made his biggest save with a great glove grab, keeping the Avalanche off the board by denying Matt Nieto’s clean breakaway attempt.

After a big pad save by Vasilevskiy sparked a two-on-two rush, Cirelli worked his way around Colorado defensemen Samuel Girard and Devon Toews. He then fed Hagel across the slot for his 20th into a wide-open net at 8:32.

In a busy play around Georgiev with the Lightning on the man advantage, Point managed to get his stick on the puck and get it in for his 32nd goal less than two minutes later for a 3-0 lead.

Hagel’s check of Mikko Rantanen led to a break with Killorn, who dropped a pass back for Hagel’s second marker at 18:07 and a commanding 4-0 lead.
At 5:44 of the third, Sergachev whistled home his seventh goal for the five-goal advantage.

–Field Level Media

Two teams battling to stay out of the Central Division cellar will square off on Friday when the Arizona Coyotes visit the Chicago Blackhawks.

Arizona holds a five-point lead over Chicago for seventh place heading into the contest but the Blackhawks, who have dropped four of their last five games, still have two games in hand.

Both teams are also among the top four in the Connor Bedard draft sweepstakes. Columbus (34) currently has the fewest points in the NHL, one point ahead of Chicago (35) with Arizona and Anaheim tied for third-fewest (40).

The team with the worst record has an 18.5 percent chance of landing the No. 1 pick, expected to be Bedard, who is regarded as a generational talent in the Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid mold. Second place has a 13.5 percent shot in the lottery while third comes in at 11.5 percent.

The contest also could be one of the final home games for Patrick Kane in a Blackhawks uniform.

Kane has been the topic of a number of trade rumors approaching the March 3 trade deadline. The 2016 Hart Trophy (MVP) and Art Ross (scoring) winner is in the final year of an eight-year contract that has a $10.5 million salary cap hit and a full no-movement clause that he would have to waive.

Prior to Chicago’s 3-2 overtime loss to visiting Anaheim on Tuesday, Kane used the word “cherish” when it came to playing home games before the trade deadline.

“I think you’ll probably cherish these games a little more before the deadline not knowing what’s going to happen,” Kane said. “It’s always exciting playing at home. I’ve always loved playing at the United Center in front of the crowd here. Kind of wish we had a little more time here this month but it is what it is. Cherish these games.”

Arizona is a Western Conference-worst 6-20-4 on the road this season but is 4-5-1 over its last 10 games overall, including a 3-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Monday in Tempe, Ariz.

Jack McBain scored the game-winner for the Coyotes on a breakaway at the 13:13 mark of the third period while Jakob Chychrun, also a hot topic when it comes to trade discussions, scored two goals. Karel Vejmelka finished with 33 saves to win his third consecutive start.

McBain sliced in from the left wing and beat Marc-Andre Fleury with a backhand shot into the upper right corner of the net for his seventh goal of the season.

“It wasn’t too pretty, the puck was rolling and I was trying to get it up and going and it worked out,” McBain said.

“We played well (and) we were confident in the way we played,” Arizona coach Andre Tourigny said. “We knew, even trailing 1-0, that it was not the end of it. We stayed with it and found a way.”

Chicago center Jonathan Toews, who missed Tuesday’s loss with a non-COVID illness, will sit out both Friday’s game and Saturday’s contest at Winnipeg but returned to the Blackhawks’ practice facility and worked out on Thursday.

“Tomorrow, he’ll skate on his own, or just have one more gym day,” Chicago coach Luke Richardson said, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. “He crushed my hand in a handshake, so that’s a good sign.”

–Field Level Media

The Toronto Maple Leafs will aim to snap a three-game road losing skid on Friday when they visit the Columbus Blue Jackets in the opener of a home-and-home series.

Toronto fell to 0-2-1 over its last three road games following a 3-2 overtime loss in Montreal on Jan. 21. The Maple Leafs responded by winning three of their next four contests before concluding a five-game homestand with a 5-2 setback versus Boston on Feb. 1.

Mitchell Marner scored a goal versus the Bruins to boost his season total to a team-leading 60 points (19 goals, 41 assists). The NHL’s Third Star of the Week then set a single-tournament record at the All-Star Game by notching six assists — three apiece in the Atlantic Division’s two wins.

“Yeah, it was fun, a lot of fun. We’ve got a lot of gators in this locker room, so it was great to be a part of it,” Marner said of the tournament held in Sunrise, Fla.

Marner also has a few tough customers in his own locker room, namely William Nylander and reigning Hart Trophy recipient Auston Matthews. Nylander has scored six of his team-leading 28 goals over the last eight games, while Matthews remains idle while dealing with a sprained knee.

Ilya Samsonov has started the last eight games for the Maple Leafs, but he’ll split time with American Hockey League All-Star Joseph Woll during the home-and-home set as Matt Murray was placed on injured reserve as he continues to recover from an ankle injury.

Samsonov has turned aside 76 of 82 shots to post a 3-1-0 record with a .927 save percentage and 1.80 goals-against average in four career appearances (three starts) versus Columbus.

The Blue Jackets return to action looking to snap a three-game losing skid (0-2-1).

Offseason acquisition Johnny Gaudreau scored his team high-tying 14th goal in Columbus’ 4-3 overtime loss to the Washington Capitals on Jan. 31. Gaudreau, who pulled even with Patrik Laine and captain Boone Jenner in goals scored, also leads the team in assists (35) and assists (49).

Gaudreau recorded a hat trick in the Metropolitan Division’s 10-6 setback to the Atlantic Division in the All-Star Game tournament.

Columbus’ Andrew Peeke has contributed five goals this season, including one against Washington, to lead the team’s defensemen. He has elevated his play since being a healthy scratch on New Year’s Eve and, as a result, risen in the ranks to play on the top pair with Vladislav Gavrikov.

“Sometimes it’s just a couple bounces, which (the goal against the Capitals) was,” Peeke said, per the Columbus Dispatch. “It hit off a stick and hit off the pants. No one’s going to complain about that. I think my two previous goals were pretty good shots. It’s just building confidence and trusting that you have that skillset in you.”

Keeping the puck out of the net has been a persistent problem for the Blue Jackets, who have yielded an NHL third-worst 3.86 goals per game. They have allowed 60 goals in their last 16 games (4-10-2).

Elvis Merzlikins sports a rather generous 4.42 goals-against average, while Joonas Korpisalo’s 3.35 GAA represents significant improvement after finishing 2021-22 with a 4.15 mark.

–Field Level Media