Overtime losses aren’t necessarily a bad thing, particularly in the NHL.

The Detroit Red Wings are tied for the most OT defeats in the league with five, but each one is still worth a point. Detroit lost a shootout to Buffalo on Wednesday but has collected points in six of its last seven games.

The Red Wings will try to add another point or two when they finish off a five-game homestand against Vegas on Saturday.

Detroit trailed the Sabres 4-1 in the third period but forced overtime with the aid of two Oskar Sundqvist goals.

“You just don’t come back from three goals in this league. And the way we did it, I really thought the fight back started at the end of the second,” coach Derek Lalonde said. “Down 4-1, it obviously wasn’t going our way and our guys just dug in. … They got rewarded.

“This is a huge point we’ll tap back into throughout the season.”

Andrew Copp assisted on both of Sundqvist’s goals.

“I don’t know about happy, but (I am) satisfied with the way we came back,” Copp said. “From 4-1 down, it’s a good sign. But it still sucks right now that we didn’t get the next point. We had a couple of chances to put it away.”

There were a couple of reasons for concern. Detroit went 0-for-7 on the power play, including a 5-on-3 advantage late in the third period after it had tied the score.

The Wings also failed to convert on three power plays in a loss to Toronto the previous game.

“We’re 0 for our last 10 on the power play and that’s frustrating,” Lalonde said. “You need your power play to be successful. If we get the power play either of these last two games, we’re probably looking at more than one point.”

Forward Tyler Bertuzzi was hit in the left hand by a shot and was later placed on injured reserve. Bertuzzi has already missed a chunk of time with an upper-body injury.

The Golden Knights could have defenseman Alex Pietrangelo back for Saturday’s contest. He has missed the last two games due to personal reasons.

Vegas is coming off a 4-3 defeat at Pittsburgh and has dropped three of its last four games. The Golden Knights held a 2-0 advantage after the first period and led 3-2 early in the third period.

“Down 2-0, they’re having an uneven year. They’re going to come and have a push,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “It’s been acknowledged, but we have some veteran guys in the room that have to say, ‘Hey, it’s coming. So make sure we’re ready.'”

Jack Eichel and Reilly Smith scored the first-period goals. Eichel leads the Golden Knights with 12 goals and Smith is right behind him with 11.

“They were quicker than us (Thursday),” Smith said. “It’s a little bit of a wakeup call. We’ve got to do a better job just upping the tempo, especially when you play a team like Pittsburgh.”

The Golden Knights are in the midst of a four-game road trip. They’ll complete the journey in Boston on Monday.

Detroit and Vegas split their two meetings last season with each winning by a 5-2 score.

–Field Level Media

Two of the Eastern Conference’s top powerhouses will meet for the first time this season when the Toronto Maple Leafs travel south to face the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night.

Playing in the competitive Atlantic Division, which has tightened up more this season than last, each club has positioned itself well — holding what would amount to a playoff berth just over a quarter of the way into the campaign.

The second-place Maple Leafs have earned 35 points through 25 games, on pace for 115 over 82 games, while the Lightning have 29 points in 23 matches, on pace for 103.

Both find themselves chasing the sizzling first-place Boston Bruins, who along with the New Jersey Devils have blazed a path through the East standings.

Starting a six-game homestand Saturday, where they are 7-3-1, the Lightning are playing some of their best hockey of the season under coach Jon Cooper — winning seven their past nine (7-2-0).

Star forward Steven Stamkos also reached a major milestone along the way. On Thursday night in Philadelphia, the captain had the secondary assist on Nicholas Paul’s second goal. Stamkos slid a pass over to Ian Cole, who found Paul out front for the forward’s 11th tally.

That assist gave Stamkos 1,000 career points across 945 games — the first Lightning player to reach the plateau.

The Markham, Ontario, native gave credit to the all the teammates he has played with over his 15 NHL seasons.

“I’ve been very fortunate to play in this league for this organization for a long time and experienced a lot of highs,” said Stamkos, 32. “This was definitely right up there. It’s just a feeling of gratitude really. It’s an individual statistic, but it’s really a collective one for me for all the people since Day 1 who have helped me get here.”

Embarking on a two-game road trip that ends in Dallas, the Leafs have been victorious in five straight matches — the longest active streak in the conference — and have earned points in each of their past 10 outings (8-0-2).

They have also been busy away from Toronto, winning their past six road games dating back to a 3-1 win at the Carolina Hurricanes on Nov. 6 and posting a 7-3-2 mark on the road.

In Wednesday’s 3-1 home win over the San Jose Sharks, Mitchell Marner scored an empty-net goal to give him points in 18 straight games. That tied a franchise record shared by Darryl Sittler (1977-78) and Eddie Olczyk (1989-90).

The seventh-year right winger has notched seven goals and 17 assists during the streak.

“We’re in a good place here now and feeling good as a team,” said Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe, whose squad went 11-1-3 in November. “We’ve got a lot of confidence and feel we are where we should be. If we started better, we’d be in an even better spot, but maybe if we didn’t start the way we did, maybe we don’t have as good a November.”

Forward Calle Jarnkrok (groin) left in the middle of Wednesday’s triumph and is expected to miss at least two weeks.

Since the start of the 2018-19 season and including the postseason, the Lightning are 10-7-1 against the Leafs and have won six of the past 10 matchups (6-4-0).

–Field Level Media

It has been all about the response of late for the Pittsburgh Penguins and visiting St. Louis Blues heading into their meeting Saturday.

Pittsburgh reeled off five consecutive victories late last month, then stumbled through a 4-1 loss last Saturday against the Toronto Maple Leafs. That was followed Tuesday by a 3-2 loss against the Carolina Hurricanes that left the Penguins fuming over what they thought was a blatant missed penalty call in overtime, which led to the Hurricanes’ winning goal.

Pittsburgh then fell behind 2-0 on Thursday against Vegas, one of the top teams in the NHL. But before the Penguins let things get away, they responded with a highly-competitive 4-3 win over the Golden Knights.

The Penguins came back to tie the game against Vegas, falling behind again early in the third period, pulling even once more before winning it in an inspiring way.

The game-winning goal midway through the third period came from winger Kasperi Kapanen, who had not scored in 13 consecutive games and had struggled to the point of being a healthy scratch for a stretch.

“He’s trying to play the game the right way,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “He’s trying to leverage his speed as best he can.

“Obviously, we’re thrilled for him that he got rewarded.”

That wasn’t the only point of inspiration for Pittsburgh, which was playing its first game since it was revealed that top defenseman Kris Letang will be out indefinitely after having a stroke. It was Letang’s second stroke in eight years.

Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said thoughts of Letang helped push the team to the win.

“I think you see the way the guys competed and rallied,” Crosby said. “I’d like to think we have a lot of effort every night, but it seemed there was a little bit more urgency and desperation.”

The Blues were soaring with a seven-game winning streak into the week of Thanksgiving, but that rush of victories has faded with losses in four of five games.

The slide includes a 6-4 loss at home Thursday against Carolina that included plenty of ups and downs. St. Louis went up 2-0 early in the second period, gave up three goals in a span of 1:04, tied it, then fell behind by two. They pulled within 5-4 with under a minute remaining then gave up an empty-netter.

That is how it has been of late for the Blues.

“We’re competitive,” Blues center Robert Thomas said. “We’re in every game. … Games like (the one against Carolina) are going to happen.”

Games like that have been too frequent for St. Louis’ taste. In the first three losses since the five-game win streak, St. Louis was outscored by a combined 15-5. The lone victory in the last five games came in a 5-4 overtime decision last Saturday against the Florida Panthers.

“It seems like anytime we lose a game, it’s usually five to 10 minutes where we give up a few chances that ultimately lead to goals,” St. Louis defenseman Torey Klug said. “That’s what we’ve got to clean up.

“It’s up to us to learn from those mistakes sooner (rather) than later. Otherwise, we’re going to keep falling behind. We’ve got to make an adjustment there.”

A recent bright spot offensively for the Blues has been forward Jordan Kyrou, who has 14 points (five goals, nine assists) over the past 10 games.

–Field Level Media

The New Jersey Devils have played 24 games.

They’ve lost only five times.

The powerful Devils will arrive in Philadelphia to face the Flyers on Saturday following a rare 4-3 overtime loss to the Nashville Predators on Thursday.

Despite coming up just short, the Devils were disappointed by their lack of execution on the power play against the Predators.

“We stress power play every day of the week,” Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. “We practice it every day. We even contemplated having a full team skate just to work on it. I liked what our power play did on the first two. I like what the second unit did. We just don’t like that last power play.”

Kevin Bahl, Jesper Bratt and Alexander Holtz scored for the Devils. But Miles Wood was a late scratch with an unspecified illness and his status is unclear for Saturday.

The Devils fell behind 2-0 and moved ahead 3-2 but came up just short.

“It comes down to our starts,” defenseman Brendan Smith said. “We keep giving and spotting two goals. It makes it tough. I give the guys credit, coming back, playing hard and playing our game but it’s hard to do that when you spot a team two.”

The Devils will enter this matchup with a stirring 10-1-0 record on the road. The Vegas Golden Knights are the only other team to post at least 10 road victories this season.

New Jersey is 3-1-1 since its franchise-record 13-game winning streak.

The Flyers will look to rebound after one of their most disappointing performances in a 4-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday.

After a 10-game losing streak, the Flyers briefly responded with a win over the New York Islanders.

Then a series of turnovers, miscues and mental mistakes hampered the Flyers in the loss to Tampa Bay.

“What I want to watch now is how we handle ourselves after something like this,” Philadelphia head coach John Tortorella said. “Because we’re embarrassed. And we should be. But how do you handle it? Do you curl up in a ball or do you face the next one head on? Do we have a good practice tomorrow and get ready for our next one? These are lessons we’re going to go through.”

This week, Flyers defenseman Ryan Ellis was deemed out for the regular season due to a pelvic injury. Sean Couturier, James van Riemsdyk and Cam Atkinson continue to be sidelined with injuries.

Travis Konecny returned to the lineup and scored the team’s lone goal against the Lightning.

That goal came after Ian Cole flipped a shot from center ice that bounced off the boards, then ricocheted off Hart’s pads and into the net for a 4-0 lead at 9:19 of the third period.

“That might be one of the worst goals I’ve ever given up,” Hart said. “That was tough. It happens. Some bounces go your way, some bounces don’t. That one didn’t. The best thing about it is it’s in the past, so I’ve just got to put it behind me.”

–Field Level Media

After defeating two Eastern Conference foes, the Boston Bruins close out a four-game homestand with back-to-back games against two of the West’s best over a span of three days.

First up is a Saturday visit to Boston from the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche.

The game pits the Bruins against a team that is 7-2 over the last nine head-to-head meetings and includes a load of talent in the likes of top-flight defensemen Cale Makar and Devon Toews and elite scorers Mikko Rantanen and Nathan MacKinnon.

Bruins coach Jim Montgomery is confident his team has the tools to match up.

“Their ability to read off each other … and their skating is elite,” Montgomery said of Makar and Toews, who both played collegiately in New England at UMass and Quinnipiac, respectively.

“It’s such a luxury to have two players like (Charlie) McAvoy and (Hampus) Lindholm,” the Bruins’ coach added. “Play them together against (Tampa Bay’s Brayden) Point’s line, and they do a great job 5-on-5 … or we can split them up. They’re both elite, 200-foot defensemen.”

Boston’s duo logged team-high ice time while holding the Lightning to a power-play goal in Tuesday’s 3-1 win. Taylor Hall scored twice for the Bruins, who are a league-best 13-0-0 at home.

“I feel like there’s definitely a calmness within our game,” Boston defenseman Brandon Carlo said. “There’s not a lot of times where we get overwhelmed with anything. … It starts with the coaching staff allowing us to just play a simple game.”

Though Colorado had the upper hand in recent meetings, David Pastrnak had two goals and an assist as Boston dominated in a 5-1 home win on Feb. 21 last season.

The Bruins will look to continue the home-ice momentum that has remained all season.

“I think we know (the win streak) is there, but it’s not something we focus on,” Montgomery said. “It’s more about our process that allows us to have positive outcomes. (Captain) Patrice Bergeron is driven that way mentally, and I’ve always been a process-oriented coach. … We’re together in how we think things should work.”

Colorado began its four-game road trip by losing 5-0 on Tuesday at Winnipeg before bouncing back to beat Buffalo 6-4 on Thursday.

“It wasn’t pretty, but found a way to get a win,” Colorado forward J.T. Compher said. “Stuck with it. Wasn’t the best we’ve played.”

The Avalanche’s NHL-best power play (33.8 percent) went 3-for-6 at Buffalo, tallying twice in a short second-period span to turn around a 2-1 deficit.

Before going 0-for-3 on Tuesday, the Avs scored man-up goals in eight straight games and 10 of their last 11.

“That was the best our power play has looked all year — in that 45 seconds,” coach Jared Bednar said. “Attack mentality. … I think they were hungry to go get another one.”

Just over two minutes after getting the pair of power-play goals, MacKinnon scored for a 4-2 advantage.

MacKinnon notched a season-high five points (two goals, three assists) for the fifth time in his NHL career. In the same game, he passed Milan Hejduk for fifth place in franchise history with 431 career assists and reached the 250-goal mark.

Though half of the game was played on special teams, Bednar liked his team’s 5-on-5 play with Compher coming through with two goals as part of a four-point effort.

“J.T. had a big night, too,” Bednar said. “That line (Compher, Andrew Cogliano and Logan O’Connor) was really good in the checking side of it and helped produce a bunch of offense. They (got) the big timely goal to give us another cushion.”

–Field Level Media

The Edmonton Oilers will return home and try to bounce back when they host the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.

Edmonton recently had a three-game win streak snapped when it lost to the Minnesota Wild 5-3 on Thursday night.

It was the second game of a back-to-back during a busy stretch for the Oilers.

“I think (fatigue on the second half of back-to-backs) are excuses,” Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said. “For me, we put ourselves in position to play a good game, and it was tight. Found ourselves down, but the team pushed as hard as it could all the way to the very last few seconds. Unfortunately, made too many errors and they ended up in the back of our net.”

Despite the loss, Connor McDavid continued his dominance of the NHL with another multipoint night against Minnesota. The Oilers captain has a league-best 43 points this season, with 19 goals and 24 assists.

Speaking after the game, McDavid was pretty disappointed and put team results over his individual totals.

“I think when you’re winning 2-1 halfway through the game, you’d like to see you get some points out of it,” McDavid said. “We made mistakes and (Minnesota) made us pay.”

Leon Draisaitl isn’t far behind with 38 points, registering 16 goals and 22 assists for 38 points.

Those two never seem to be a question mark for Edmonton. The same can’t be said for the goaltending, which has struggled mightily.

Edmonton’s goalies have a combined .893 save percentage and 3.53 goals-against average. Stuart Skinner has been the more effective goalie for the Oilers, seemingly displacing Jack Campbell as the starter, but has three straight games with a save percentage below .900.

The Canadiens, who come to Edmonton after defeating the Calgary Flames 2-1 on Thursday, have not had a goaltending problem.

Jake Allen made 45 saves in the win against Calgary, keeping Montreal in the game long enough for Juraj Slafkovsky and Cole Caufield to provide the necessary offense alongside the goalie’s heroics.

In typical goalie fashion, Allen downplayed his role.

“Gutsy win, obviously. It wasn’t pretty,” Allen said. “They’re a really good hockey club. But we had a lot of blocked shots, guys sacrificed a lot, our PK was pretty solid tonight all around structurally I thought from my vantage point. It’s one of those games you find ways to win.”

Montreal’s Sean Monahan made his return to Calgary in that game and had a pair of assists. Monahan never played for the Oilers, but he is a well-known opponent for Edmonton after many “Battles of Alberta” while he was with the Flames.

Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki leads his team with 25 points (12 goals, 13 assists), while Caufield is a close second in team scoring with 22 points (13 goals, nine assists).

Montreal recalled forward Rem Pitlick from the AHL on Thursday, but because of travel logistics had to play with seven defenseman and 11 forwards. Montreal is expected to field a more traditional 12-forward, six-defenseman lineup in Edmonton.

–Field Level Media