NHL Capsules: Pittsburgh Penguins top Washington Capitals

Pittsburgh Penguins centers Matt Cullen (7) and Sidney Crosby (87) celebrate Crosby's winning goal with defenseman Kris Letang (58) after the overtime period of an NHL hockey game against the Washington Capitals, Thursday, April 7, 2016, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

WASHINGTON -- Sidney Crosby scored in overtime and the streaking Pittsburgh Penguins rebounded after blowing a three-goal lead to beat the Washington Capitals 4-3 on Thursday night to clinch home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

The Penguins have won eight games in a row and 14 of their past 15 to vault into second place in the Metropolitan Division. The Presidents' Trophy-winning Capitals have lost three consecutive games for the first time all season and have dropped four of their past five.

Matt Cullen scored twice and Matt Murray stopped 27 shots for the Penguins, who have thrived since losing star centre Evgeni Malkin to an upper-body injury. Conor Sheary also scored for Pittsburgh.

Marcus Johansson had two goals and Andre Burakovsky one for Washington. Braden Holtby made 31 saves but fell short in his second attempt to tie Martin Brodeur's single-season record of 48 wins.

STARS 4, AVALANCHE 2

DALLAS -- Jason Dickinson scored in his first NHL game, and Dallas beat Colorado to move closer to the Central Division and Western Conference titles.

With one game remaining for each team, the Stars and St. Louis are tied with 107 points, but Dallas holds the tiebreaker. Dallas hosts Nashville, and St. Louis hosts Washington, both on Saturday night.

Dickinson was recalled from Texas of the AHL earlier Thursday because of injuries to Stars forwards, including 30-goal scorers Tyler Seguin and Jason Spezza. The game was scoreless until Dickinson backhanded a shot past Calvin Pickard from short range at 15:13 of the first period.

Colton Sceviour and Jordie Benn scored on the power play in the second period, and Antoine Roussel added an empty-net goal with 3:06 remaining for the Stars.

Francois Beauchemin and Shawn Matthias scored for Colorado in the third period.

BLUES 2, BLACKHAWKS 1, OT

CHICAGO -- Vladimir Tarasenko scored his second goal of the game at 3:37 of overtime, and St. Louis cooled off Chicago in a possible playoff preview.

Tarasenko also tied it with 1:16 left in regulation with a laser from the left circle on a rebound attempt off a shot from Kevin Shattenkirk. His team-best 39th goal was an easy one, with Alex Pietrangelo making a nice pass to set up an open net for the winner.

St. Louis won for the eighth time in nine games to remain tied with Dallas for the Central Division lead.

Jonathan Toews scored for Chicago.

BRUINS 5, RED WINGS 2

BOSTON -- Torey Krug had a goal and two assists, Brad Marchand and Loui Eriksson each added a goal and assist, and Boston beat Detroit to keep its playoff hopes alive.

Tuukka Rask had 13 saves, and David Pastrnak and Lee Stempniak also scored to help Boston tie Detroit for third place in the Atlantic Division.

Alexey Marchenko and Andreas Athanasiou scored for Detroit.

MAPLE LEAFS 4, FLYERS 3, OT

PHILADELPHIA -- Jake Gardiner scored a power-play goal at 2:51 of overtime to lift Toronto past Philadelphia.

The Flyers fell a point behind Boston and Detroit for the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference. But Philadelphia would secure a playoff berth by winning its last two games. The Bruins and Red Wings each have one game left and one of them is guaranteed a playoff berth that goes to the third-place team in the Atlantic Division.

Wayne Simmonds scored the tying goal for the Flyers with 58 seconds left and goalie Steve Mason pulled for the extra skater. With Andrew MacDonald in the penalty box for tripping, Gardiner ripped a slap shot past Mason to win it for the Leafs.

William Nylander, Colin Greening and Michael Grabner also scored goals for Toronto, and Jonathan Bernier made 41 saves. Brayden Schenn and MacDonald also scored for the Flyers.

LIGHTNING 4, DEVILS 2

NEWARK, N.J. -- Jonathan Drouin scored the winning goal in his second-chance return to the NHL and Tampa Bay beat New Jersey to clinch home-ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs.

Eric Condra and Cedric Paquette also scored and Ben Bishop made 20 saves as the injury-plagued Lightning snapped a two-game losing streak and won for only the third time in seven games. Valtteri Filppula scored an empty-net goal in the final minute.

Sergey Kalinin scored twice for the Devils.

As much as they wanted home-ice advantage, the story for the Lightning was Drouin. The third pick overall in the 2013 draft walked away from the Lightning's American Hockey League affiliate in Syracuse in January after they refused to trade him.

Tampa Bay suspended him and he did not return to the minors until asking general manager Steve Yzerman for a second chance. Drouin returned March 7 and had nine goals in a 10-game span. With Steven Stamkos (blood clot) and Ryan Callahan (lower body) out, the Lightning recalled the 21-year-old Drouin on Thursday, and it paid off.

ISLANDERS 4, RANGERS 1

NEW YORK -- John Tavares had a goal and an assist, Thomas Greiss made 36 saves and the New York Islanders earned their first regular-season sweep of the New York Rangers.

Shane Prince also had a goal and an assist, and Frans Nielsen and Casey Cizikas added goals for the Islanders. They moved into a tie for third with the Rangers with 99 points in the Metropolitan Division.

Rangers defenceman Kevin Klein scored with 2:48 left to end Greiss' shutout bid.

PREDATORS 3, COYOTES 2, OT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Roman Josi scored 20 seconds into overtime, and the Nashville Predators rallied in the third period to beat the Arizona Coyotes 3-2 on Thursday night in their home finale.

The Predators trailed 2-0 with Arizona goalie Mike Smith making save after save until Connor Murphy went to the penalty box for elbowing at 7:13 of the third.

Nashville needed only 13 seconds before captain Shea Weber scored his 20th goal this season from the left circle, and Filip Forsberg tied the franchise-record with his 33rd goal with 18.3 seconds left to force overtime. The puck had barely dropped when Josi scored quickly with a wrister past Smith.

Antoine Vermette and Shane Doan scored for Arizona.

CANADIENS 4, HURRICANES 2

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Max Pacioretty had a goal and an assist in Montreal's victory over Carolina.

Charlie Lindgren had 26 saves in his first NHL appearance and Darren Dietz scored his first NHL goal late in the first period for Montreal. Daniel Carr and Lars Eller also scored.

Riley Nash and Noah Hanifin scored for Carolina, and Cam Ward stopped 27 shots.

No penalties were called against Carolina, with just one against Montreal.

FLAMES 7, CANUCKS 3

CALGARY, Alberta  -- Mikael Backlund had his first NHL hat trick to help Calgary beat Vancouver..

Backlund scored on a power play, at even strength and short-handed. The 27-year-old Swede has a career-high 21 goals after scoring only five goals through his first 50 games.

Dougie Hamilton, Joe Colborne, Deryk Engelland and Sam Bennett also scored for Calgary.

Nikita Tryamkin scored his first NHL goal, and Bo Horvat and Emerson Etem also scored for Vancouver.

SENATORS 3, PANTHERS 1

OTTAWA, Ontario -- Buddy Robinson scored his first NHL goal to in Ottawa's victory over Florida.

Craig Anderson made 32 saves in his 60th start of the season for Ottawa, and Mika Zibanejad and Cody Ceci added goals.

Jaromir Jagr scored for Florida. The 44-year-old Jagr has 27 goals this season.

KINGS 2, DUCKS 1

LOS ANGELES -- Milan Lucic and Kris Versteeg scored 93 seconds apart in the second period, and the Los Angeles Kings closed in on just their second division title in franchise history.

Jonathan Quick made 19 saves for the Kings, who opened a two-point lead on the Ducks atop the Pacific Division. The three-time defending Pacific champion Ducks still have a game in hand, but the Kings would clinch their first division title since the 1990-91 Smythe Division crown with a home victory over Winnipeg on Saturday in their regular-season finale.

Ryan Kesler scored an early goal and John Gibson stopped 27 shots for the Ducks, who have lost three of four.

JETS 5, SHARKS 4

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Dustin Byfuglien scored with 10 seconds remaining to give the Winnipeg Jets their first three-game winning streak of the season.

Mark Scheifele had two goals for the Jets, who had won two straight 10 times before finally breaking through. Andrew Copp and Blake Wheeler also scored for the Jets.

Patrick Marleau, Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton and Paul Martin scored for the Sharks, who lost for the second time in their last six.