Martin Necas scored with 41 seconds remaining in overtime, while Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Brady Skjei each added a goal and an assist, as the Carolina Hurricanes won 3-2 over the visiting Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night in Raleigh, N.C.

Stefan Noesen recorded two assists and Antti Raanta made 26 saves to improve to 10-0-1 at home for the Metropolitan Division-leading Hurricanes (50-18-9, 109 points), who have won three in a row following an 0-2-1 rut.

Down 2-1 entering the third, Ottawa made the most of its fourth power play of the night to level the contest at 2:52 into the final frame. Brady Tkachuk tapped in Alex DeBrincat’s pass for the Senators (37-34-7, 81 points).

However, with less than a minute to play in the extra session, Necas — who’s the team leader with 69 points but was blanked in his last four games — rang a drop pass from Seth Jarvis off the post and in for a thrilling Carolina triumph.

Six points out of the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, Ottawa also got a goal from Claude Giroux. Meanwhile, 20-year-old Finnish netminder Leevi Merilainen was stellar while making 34 saves in his NHL debut for the Senators, who are mired in an 0-1-2 rut with time running out on their playoff hopes.

The Hurricanes wasted no time in opening the scoring. Just 1:50 into the contest, Kotkaniemi deflected in Skjei’s shot from the point past Merilainen, who was screened by the Hurricanes’ Jesse Puljujarvi. Skjei made it 2-0 when he drove the puck home, through traffic and past an again-screened Merilainen, during the second half of a four-minute power play with 4:02 remaining in the first period.

Meanwhile, Raanta was solid in stopping all 10 shots Ottawa threw at him over the first 20 minutes. He made an impressive toe save on Ridly Greig with roughly 11 1/2 minutes left in the second period but the Senators finally broke through shortly after.

On the push, DeBrincat sent a perfect cross-slot pass for Giroux to bury in the net with 9:21 remaining in the middle frame to make it a 2-1 game.

–Field Level Media

Ville Husso made 24 saves and David Perron had two goals and an assist as the visiting Detroit Red Wings recorded a 5-0 shutout of the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday.

The victory kept Detroit’s slim playoff chances alive, though the Wings (35-33-9, 79 points) may need to win all of their remaining five games to pass the four teams ahead of them for the final Western Conference wild-card slot. The Red Wings are 4-1-0 in their last five games.

Olli Maatta and Jordan Oesterle each had two assists. Lucas Raymond collected the game’s opening marker at 4:55 of the first period, while Matt Luff and Joe Veleno scored the Red Wings’ other goals.

Goaltender Cayden Primeau stopped 16 of 21 shots as Montreal (30-42-6, 66 points) was shut out for the second time in as many games. The Habs also went scoreless in Saturday’s 3-0 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Canadiens are 0-4-0 in their last four games, with the last three losses coming on home ice.

Perron scored on a breakaway midway through the first period, after taking a long stretch pass from Oesterle down the middle of the ice. Perron’s next tally came on a tip-in goal 7:26 into the third period.

Perron has 12 points (six goals, six assists) in his last nine games.

Husso missed the Red Wings’ previous seven games due to a lower-body injury but looked sharp in his return to action. It was Husso’s fourth shutout of the season and his second against Montreal, as Husso also delivered a 29-save gem in Detroit’s 3-0 win over the Canadiens in the first game of the season.

After firing a season-low 14 shots against the Hurricanes, Montreal generated at least a little more pressure with 24 shots on Tuesday. Jonathan Drouin had perhaps the Habs’ best scoring chance at 14:07 of the second period, but Husso made a tremendous stop on Drouin’s point-blank shot.

Detroit finished its regular-season series with Montreal with a 3-0-1 record.

–Field Level Media

Zach-Aston Reese scored two goals and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets 4-2 on Tuesday night.

Alexander Kerfoot and Auston Matthews (empty net) also scored for the playoff-bound Maple Leafs. Sam Lafferty added two assists and Joseph Woll made 24 saves for Toronto (46-21-10, 102 points).

The victory put Toronto six points ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning in the race for second place in the Atlantic Division. Each team has five games to play.

Jack Roslovic and Eric Robinson scored for the Blue Jackets (24-45-8, 56 points), who are out of playoff contention.

Jet Greaves played a strong game in stopping 46 shots for Columbus in his NHL debut.

The Maple Leafs won two of three from the Blue Jackets this season.

Toronto took the lead when Aston-Reese scored at 5:10 of the first period on a 16-foot shot after a pass from Justin Holl.

Columbus tied the game when Roslovic scored his 11th goal of the season on a 16-foot wrist shot at 12:22 of the first. Kent Johnson made the final pass after Liam Foudy carried the puck into the Toronto zone.

Toronto led 16-5 in shots on goal after one period.

The Maple Leafs took advantage of a neutral-zone turnover to go ahead 2-1 lead at 7:25 of the second period. Kerfoot scored his 10th goal of the season, knocking in a rebound after Greaves made a good save on Nick Abruzzese’s shot.

The Maple Leafs had a 33-17 advantage in shots on goal through two periods.

Aston-Reese scored his 10th goal of the season at 8:11 of the third period on a tip-in of Jake McCabe’s shot.

After scooping up a loose puck in the Columbus defensive zone, Eric Robinson burst down the left side and put a sharp-angled shot past Woll at 12:03 of the third for his 12th goal of the season. It pulled the Blue Jackets within 3-2.

Matthews scored his 38th goal of the season when he shot into an empty net at 18:57 of the third.

Toronto goaltender Matt Murray (head injury) was not in uniform.

–Field Level Media

Matthew Tkachuk scored the go-ahead goal 59 seconds into the third period as the Florida Panthers rallied for a 2-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night in Sunrise, Fla.

Alex Lyon, Florida’s third-string goalie, made 40 saves for his fourth straight win. He has filled in for starter Sergei Bobrovsky, who has missed those four games due to a non-COVID illness.

Florida (40-31-7, 87 points) moved past the Pittsburgh Penguins to gain at least temporary possession of a wild-card playoff berth in the Eastern Conference. Pittsburgh lost 5-1 to New Jersey on Tuesday night.

Buffalo (37-32-7, 81 points) had a five-game point streak (4-0-1) snapped.

The Panthers also got a goal from defenseman Aaron Ekblad and two assists from defenseman Brandon Montour.

Tkachuk’s goal was his 39th of the season. Tkachuk trails only Carter Verhaeghe (40) among Panthers goal-scorers. Tkachuk also has 103 points — one short of his career high.

Buffalo’s goal came from Dylan Cozens, and Devon Levi made 34 saves.

Sabres leading scorer Tage Thompson returned on Tuesday after missing three straight games due to an upper-body injury. Thompson had a first-period assist for his 90th point of the season. He is just the 10th player in Sabres history to reach that milestone.

Buffalo appeared to score on its first shot on goal, but Alex Tuch’s tally was wiped out when Florida successfully challenged for offsides.

The Sabres officially got on the board with 8:58 gone in the first on Cozens’ power-play goal from above the right circle. Rasmus Dahlin and Thompson earned assists, and Tuch occupied two Panthers defenders in front of the net to leave Cozens with plenty of room.

Florida tied the score 1-1 with 4:13 left in the first. Following an interference penalty on Buffalo’s Tyson Jost against Anton Lundell, the Panthers went to work. Ekblad took a pass from Montour and ripped a shot that bounced off the left post and off Levi before crossing the line.

The Panthers took a 2-1 lead in the opening minute of the third period as Eetu Luostarinen had a steal to keep the puck in Buffalo’s end. Tkachuk then made a big hit to again retain possession. From there, Montour fired a shot from the point, and Tkachuk deflected the puck past Levi.

–Field Level Media

Columbus Blue Jackets forward Yegor Chinakhov signed a one-year contract extension on Tuesday.

Financial terms were not disclosed by the team for Chinakhov, who is locked up through the 2023-24 season.

Chinakhov, 22, recorded 13 points (four goals, nine assists) in 30 games before sustaining an ankle injury versus the Dallas Stars on Dec. 19. He returned to the ice with Cleveland of the American Hockey League on Feb. 27.

“Yegor has shown great improvement this season despite missing considerable time over the past few months due to injury,” Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said. “He is a talented player with a great work ethic and desire to improve, and we are very excited about his future with the Blue Jackets.”

Chinakhov has totaled 27 points (11 goals, 16 assists) in 92 career games since being selected by Columbus with the 21st overall pick of the 2020 NHL Draft.

–Field Level Media

In their final regular-season meeting Wednesday night in New York, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Rangers find themselves basically as mirror images of one another when it come to the standings.

The two Eastern Conference playoff-bound sides both reside in third place in their divisions with time running out on the chance to climb up to second. But both are well-rested for Wednesday.

And the foes they are chasing are within striking distance.

For the Atlantic Division’s Lightning (45-26-6, 96 points), the five remaining games may not be enough for them to pass the Maple Leafs, mainly because Toronto has six games left to play and owns the second spot by four points.

That includes an April 11 matchup in Tampa in the season’s penultimate contest.

Tampa Bay played on the Rangers’ ice most recently on opening night on Oct. 11, losing 3-1 as Mika Zibanejad found the back of the net twice for the Metropolitan Division squad.

After Wednesday, coach Jon Cooper’s team will play at the New York Islanders and Ottawa Senators to wrap up its final regular-season road trip.

The club will then return to the Sunshine State for what could be standings-altering matches against the Leafs and Detroit Red Wings.

In its most recent outing against the Islanders, the Lightning were outstanding defensively and offensively in Saturday night’s 5-0 home victory.

Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy set the tone in goal with a 38-save shutout — his fourth this season — and his second in the past three starts. He blanked the Carolina Hurricanes, 4-0, on the road last Tuesday.

“I think what you’re seeing is we’re helping him out more,” Cooper said. “He’s superhuman, but he’s still human. You can’t give some of the chances we’ve given up on rushes and things like that. When you start cutting those out, (he) usually takes care of the rest.”

On Monday, Vasilevskiy (30-20-4) earned First Star of the Week honors after going 3-0-0 against the Hurricanes, Washington Capitals and Islanders. He made 99 saves on 100 shots.

Against Washington in the nation’s capital Sunday, the Rangers (45-21-11, 101 points) got a third productive performance in four matches from the line consisting of youngsters Filip Chytil, Kaapo Kakko and Alexis Lafreniere.

Kakko and Lafreniere each netted their 16th goals, and in keeping their identical stats, each player has 22 assists. Chytil has 22 tallies and 21 helpers as part of the group known as “The Kid Line.”

“You can tell they’re on the same page,” said Zibanejad, who has notched a club-best 39 goals. “They’ve played a lot of hockey together and they’re having fun. They’re working hard. It’s fun to see them play, and it’s obviously very important.”

Added Rangers coach Gerard Gallant of the trio: “They really led the way again.”

Defenseman Ryan Lindgren (shoulder) was out for the 17th time in the past 18 games, but New York won for the 10th time in 14 outings (10-2-2).

The Rangers, who have five games remaining just like New Jersey, trailed the second-place Devils by three points entering Tuesday night’s action.

While New York has the Lightning and Leafs left to play in its final quintet, it also meets non-playoff clubs St. Louis, Columbus and Buffalo.

–Field Level Media