NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Colton Sissons and James Neal both scored twice to lead the Nashville Predators over the staggering San Jose Sharks 7-2 on Saturday night.

Cody McLeod, P.K. Subban, and Viktor Arvidsson also scored for Nashville, which has won three straight and six of seven. Craig Smith and Colin Wilson had three assists apiece to help the Predators move a point ahead of St. Louis for third place in the Central Division.

Pekka Rinne made 26 saves in winning his fifth consecutive start.

Patrick Marleau and Justin Braun scored for the Sharks, losers of six straight. They remained tied with Anaheim atop the Pacific Division.

San Jose allowed six goals in Friday night's loss at Dallas.

Sissons scored the game's first goal at 4:14 of the opening period.

Behind the San Jose net, Smith battled with Tomas Hertl and passed the puck off the back of the cage to Wilson on the left side. He made a spinning backhand pass to Sissons just outside the slot, and he beat Sharks goaltender Martin Jones with a backhand to the stick side.

McLeod made it 2-0 at 15:19 of the first.

Roman Josi carried the puck up the left side. Inside the San Jose blue line, he went past Sharks defenseman Brent Burns near the left wall. From the left faceoff dot, Josi's wrist shot deflected off Jones' jersey and then the crossbar before landing on the goal line, where McLeod was there to tap it in for his fifth goal of the season.

Marleau cut the Nashville lead in half at 4:24 of the second with a power-play goal when he deflected Burns' slap shot from the high slot by Rinne for his 26th of the season.

Nashville regained its two-goal lead 24 seconds later when Neal scored on the power play with a wrist shot from the left circle.

Subban's slap shot from the right wall made it 4-1 at 14:39. Braun concluded the second-period scoring at 16:19 when he beat Rinne from the left circle with a wrist shot on the stick side.

Sissons got his second of the game at 5:27 of the third on a deflection of Smith's shot.

Smith has six assists over his last three games. Sissons has three goals in his last two games.

Neal added a power-play goal at 17:01 of the third, and Viktor Arvidsson scored a short-handed goal with 37 seconds remaining.

Jones finished with 27 saves.

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NEW YORK - Riley Nash scored twice and backup goalie Anton Khudobin made 18 saves as the Boston Bruins beat the New York Islanders 2-1 Saturday night, snapping a four-game losing streak.

Nash broke a 1-1 tie with his second goal of the contest at 4:12 of the third period, beating Islanders goalie Thomas Greiss from the slot for his seventh goal of the season. Dominic Moore assisted on the decisive goal, which lifted Boston two points ahead of the Islanders for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.

John Tavares scored for New York and Greiss finished with 16 saves.

Tavares had a golden chance to knot the score with just over six minutes left in the third period but rang the puck off the crossbar with the Islanders on their sixth power play of the game.

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NEWARK, N.J. - Jeff Skinner scored the go-ahead goal on a breakaway with 10:26 left and the surging Carolina Hurricanes stretched their point streak to 10 games with a 3-1 victory Saturday night that eliminated the New Jersey Devils from playoff contention for the fifth straight year.

Sebastian Aho scored twice and Eddie Lack made 26 saves for the Hurricanes, who are 7-0-3 in their last 10. They remained five points out of a playoff spot with nine games to go in the regular season.

Travis Zajac scored for the Devils, who have not made the postseason since going to the Stanley Cup final in the 2011-12 season. Cory Schneider stopped 25 shots for New Jersey, which is 2-12-2 in its last 16 games.

Skinner's goal was his 30th of the season and seventh in the last five games. He poked the puck past Devils defenseman Andy Greene at the left point and skated in alone on Schneider.

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PITTSBURGH - John Tavares and Anthony Beauvillier scored in the shootout to lead the New York Islanders over the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 on Friday night.

Beauvillier opened the shootout with a goal, and Tavares snapped a wrist shot past Marc-Andre Fleury in the next round. Sidney Crosby scored in the shootout for Pittsburgh, but Jaroslav Halak, making his first start since Dec. 29, stopped Phil Kessel and Nick Bonino.

Anders Lee scored his 28th goal of the season, while Brock Nelson got his 17th, and Casey Cizikas his eighth for the Islanders, who moved into the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. New York is tied with Boston at 82 points, but the Islanders have a game in hand on the Bruins. The Islanders have 18 wins in 31 games since Doug Weight was named interim coach on Jan. 17, replacing Jack Capuano.

Halak, a former All-Star, made 37 saves. He got the nod one day after he was recalled from Bridgeport of the American Hockey League. Halak, who has seven wins in 20 games, allowed four goals on 24 shots during a loss at Minnesota in his most recent start.

Crosby extended his NHL lead with his 42nd goal. He is five points behind Edmonton forward Connor McDavid for the NHL scoring lead. Cameron Gaunce scored his first with the Penguins and second of his career. Matt Cullen also scored his 11th for the Penguins, who missed out on an opportunity to pull even with the Washington Capitals atop the Metropolitan Division. Pittsburgh, with eight wins in its last 12 games, is one point behind the Capitals and two ahead of Columbus for third place. Fleury made 43 saves.

Cullen tied the game with 6:10 to play. He converted the rebound past Halak after Gaunce's drive to the net.

The Penguins have remained in contention despite playing without a host of regular contributors.

Former NHL MVP Evgeni Malkin missed his fifth straight game with an upper-body injury, but forward Bryan Rust, who was also out with an upper-body injury, returned on Friday after missing 20 games.

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said Malkin is making progress, in addition to other injured regulars who are also skating. The list includes Kris Letang (upper body), Trevor Daley (knee), Olli Maatta (hand) and Ron Hainsey (upper body). Maatta has missed 17 games, while Letang and Daley have both been sidelined 14 games.

The Islanders hit three posts in the first period and had a goal waived off as time expired.

Nelson scored for the Islanders, but the goal was disallowed following Pittsburgh's challenge for goaltender interference.

Nelson scored again in the second period and this one counted. Nelson tied the game after Gaunce opened the scoring early in the period for Pittsburgh.

Lee gave the Islanders the lead later in the period, a goal that was upheld after Pittsburgh challenged for offsides. Tavares recorded his 300th NHL assist and Josh Bailey his 300th point on the goal.

Crosby's goal tied it, but Cizikas gave the Islanders the lead, scoring with 4.5 seconds left in the second period. Tavares stripped Chad Ruhwedel of the puck in the defensive zone and set up Cizikas for the goal.

NOTES: Penguins F Nick Bonino played in his 400th NHL game. ... Islanders F Ryan Strome is out three to six weeks with an upper-body injury. Strome, who left Wednesday's win against the New York Rangers, has 13 goals and 30 points in 69 games. ... Islanders D Johnny Boychuk missed his 10th straight game with a lower-body injury.

UP NEXT

Islanders: Host Boston on Saturday.

Penguins: Welcome Philadelphia on Sunday.

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DENVER - Drake Caggiula and Jordan Eberle scored 1:10 apart to break a tie late in the third period, and the Edmonton Oilers rallied to beat the Colorado Avalanche 7-4 on Thursday night.

Eberle scored twice in Edmonton's five-goal third period and also added an assist. Zack Kassian and Leon Draisaitl also scored in the rally that moved Edmonton into a tie with Anaheim for second in the Pacific Division with 89 points.

Andrej Sekera had a goal and two assists, Milan Lucic also scored and Laurent Brossoit had five saves in relief of Cam Talbot to lead Edmonton to the win.

The Oilers tied it early in the third and then scored three times in the final 2:11. Caggiula beat Jeremy Smith to give Edmonton a 5-4 lead, Eberle added to it and Draisaitl scored into an empty net in the final minute to seal it.

Mikko Rantanen had two goals, J.T. Compher and Rene Bourque had a goal each and Nathan MacKinnon finished with two assists for Colorado.

The Avalanche got early goals from Rantanen and Compher to take a 2-0 lead but Edmonton tied it with goals by Sekera and Lucic 57 seconds apart spanning the first and second periods.

Rantanen broke the tie at 4:22 of the second with his second of the night, and Bourque's 12th of the season at 17:45 made it 4-2.

Talbot gave way to Brossoit to start the third, but it was Edmonton's offense that sparked the comeback. Kassian started it when he snuck behind Smith to knock in the puck sitting in front of the empty net at 2:44 of the third.

Eberle, who assisted on Lucic's goal, tied it at 4:34 with his 15th of the season.

NOTES: Edmonton C Connor McDavid increased his lead in the scoring race with two assists. He has 87 points, six ahead of Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby. ... The Avalanche have been outscored 22-10 during their four-game losing streak and 28-15 in the last seven games. ... Colorado C Joe Colborne finished with two assists.

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ST. LOUIS - Magnus Paajarvi scored twice to lead the St. Louis Blues to a 4-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night.

Kyle Brodziak and Alex Pietrangelo also scored for the Blues who won their fourth straight to give them nine wins in their last 10. Jake Allen made 27 saves for his seventh win in eight starts while allowing just nine goals in the stretch.

Henrik Sedin scored for the Canucks who have lost seven of their last eight to fall to 11-22-3 on the road. Ryan Miller stopped 30 shots.

Brodziak snapped an 11 game goal scoring drought when he roofed a slap shot by Miller late in the second period for his eighth goal of the season to put the Blues up 2-1.

Paajarvi added some insurance when he scored his second of the game and eighth of the season midway through the third period. That gave him the second multi-goal game of his career and first since Feb. 5, 2011, with Edmonton.

Vancouver coach Willie Desjardins challenged the goal saying that the Blues were offside entering the zone but the video replay proved inconclusive.

Pietrangelo capped the scoring with at 2 1/2 minutes left.

Sedin opened the scoring for Vancouver when he scored his 15th of the season.

Paajarvi tied the game when he pushed his own rebound past Miller.

NOTES: St. Louis C Paul Stastny was scratched as he is out week-to-week with a lower body injury. ... St. Louis has now earned a point in six consecutive games against the Canucks, going 5-0-1 in that span. ... Canucks C Henrik Sedin now has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in his last 16 games.

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OTTAWA - Kyle Turris and Bobby Ryan scored in the shootout to lift the Ottawa Senators to a 2-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night.

Mike Hoffman scored in regulation for the Senators and Mike Condon finished with 34 saves, including two incredible point-blank stops in overtime to keep the game going.

Nick Bonino had the goal in regulation for the Penguins and Matt Murray stopped 29 shots.

After being outplayed for much of the first two periods, the Senators were much better in the third and tied the score 1-1 on the power play at 9:43 as Hoffman beat Murray over the shoulder with a wrist shot just 14 seconds after Matt Cullen was penalized for holding.

Ottawa played the final 45 minutes without defenseman Marc Methot, who left the game with a bloodied and mangled finger on his left hand following a two-handed slash from Sidney Crosby. Crosby didn't receive a penalty on the play.

Methot grabbed Crosby by the jersey after the whistle and had a few words for the Penguins' captain before leaving the ice.

After being stopped on a partial break earlier in the period, Bonino opened the scoring at 9:21 of the second on the front half of a double-minor to Senators defenseman Dion Phaneuf. Bonino moved in from the point and took a wrist shot from the top of the faceoff circle that went bar down and in behind Condon.

Zack Smith had a chance to tie it seconds later when he was sent in alone, but shot wide, narrowly missing his fifth short-handed goal of the season.

The opening period, despite not having any goals, wasn't without its moments, including a huge windmill save by Murray off a shot by Ryan Dzingel seven minutes in.

Hoffman had another great opportunity for the Senators but his rocket of a shot late in the period rang off the crossbar.

NOTES: Jyrki Jokipakka, Fredrik Claesson, Chris DiDomenico and Mark Stone were scratches for the Senators. ... Cameron Gaunce, Tom Sestito, Jake Guentzel, Carl Hagelin, Ron Hainsey and Evgeni Malkin were the scratches for the Penguins. ... Ottawa G Craig Anderson will have to wait at least until Saturday to play in his 500th career game. ... Penguins F Oskar Sundqvist turned 23-years-old Thursday.

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WASHINGTON - T.J. Oshie scored the shootout winner as the Washington Capitals overcame a stellar performance from Columbus goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky to beat the Blue Jackets 2-1 Thursday night.

Despite 44 saves from Bobrovsky, the Capitals reached 104 points and extended their lead atop the Metropolitan Division and NHL standings. Oshie engendered memories of his Sochi Olympic shootout performance by again beating Bobrovsky, the goalie he scored on four times in six chances that day.

Dmitry Orlov finally cracked Bobrovsky early in the third period on Washington's 35th shot of the game. Orlov's goal tied the score after Seth Jones beat Braden Holtby on a wild scramble early in the third for his first goal since Feb. 7.

Holtby had 29 saves in regulation and overtime and three more in the shootout to pick up his 38th victory of the season, one shy of Bobrovsky for the league lead.

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NEW YORK - Andrew Ladd scored the tiebreaking goal with about 7 1/2 minutes remaining in the third period and the New York Islanders rallied for 3-2 victory over the crosstown-rival Rangers on Wednesday night.

Anders Lee had a goal and an assist, and Nikolay Kulemin also scored for the Islanders, who pulled two points behind Boston for the Eastern Conference's second wild-card spot. Anthony Beauvillier had two assists and Thomas Greiss stopped 34 shots.

Mats Zuccarello and Rick Nash scored, and Antti Raanta finished with 25 saves for the Rangers, who remained six points behind Columbus for third place in the Metropolitan Division.

The Islanders, who beat the Rangers for the third time in four games this season and seven of eight over the last two, won for just the second time in six games (1-3-1). The Islanders also improved to 17-9-4 since interim coach Doug Weight replaced the fired Jack Capuano.

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COLUMBUS - William Nylander and Leo Komarov each had a goal and an assist and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-2 on Wednesday night.

Auston Matthews and Nazem Kadri also scored, and Frederik Andersen had 32 saves as Toronto stayed in the thick of the playoff hunt in the Atlantic Division. Nikita Zaitsev scored an empty-net goal after the Blue Jackets pulled their goalie for a sixth skater near the end.

David Savard and Brandon Saad scored for Columbus, which lost for the first time in the last five games. Backup goaltender Joonas Korpisalo stopped 26 shots. The Blue Jackets stayed in third place in the Metropolitan Division, two points behind leader Washington and one behind Pittsburgh. They play the Capitals in Washington on Thursday night.

The Blue Jackets fought back from a 2-0 first-period deficit to tie the game in the second, but were held scoreless in the final period, despite playing with a man advantage for nearly seven minutes because Toronto had failed to put a player in the box to serve a penalty.

Toronto struck first with 8:55 left in the opening period when the Blue Jackets' Zach Werenski turned the puck over deep in the defensive zone. Nazem Kadri collected it and chipped to Komarov, who beat Korpisalo from the doorstep.

The Maple Leafs took a 2-0 lead less than two minutes later on a power play when 19-year-old rookie Matthews, in the right place at the right time for a rebound, tucked in his team-leading 33rd goal of the season.

Columbus closed it to 2-1 just 43 seconds into the second period. Savard buried a slap shot from the right dot off a sweet pass from Brandon Dubinsky from behind the goal line. The Blue Jackets tied it 6:58 into the period when Saad deflected in a Werenski shot from the left point.

Toronto answered 6:37 left in the period, making 3-2 on a goal by another of its sensational rookies. Nylander, after being leveled by Savard and recovering, caught up with Tyler Bozak pass, found himself on a breakaway and wristed a shot in off the top bar.

A hard-hitting game was punctuated by Toronto's Roman Polak, who unloaded a hit that plastered Oliver Bjorkstrand face first hit into the glass, earning the big defenseman a five-minute major penalty. Bjorkstrand crumpled to the ice and looked as if he may have been unconscious briefly before being helped off.

The Leafs failed to send a player to the box to serve the penalty so ended up playing a man down for close to seven minutes. But the Blue Jackets couldn't capitalize.

Kadri swept in an insurance goal off a rebound with 4:14 left in the game, and Zaitsev had the empty-netter with 2:47 left.

NOTES: Nylander has three goals and six assists in a career-high nine-game point streak. ... Columbus C Alexander Wennberg returned the lineup after missing Sunday's game with a stiff neck. ... Columbus signed forwards Markus Hannikainen and Lukas Sedlak, and D Scott Harrington to two-year contract extensions this week. All would have been restricted free agents this summer. ... Blue Jackets F Scott Hartnell was a healthy scratch.

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