MONTREAL — Patric Hornqvist’s second goal of the game gave Pittsburgh the lead in the third period, and the Penguins went on to beat the Montreal Canadiens 5-3 Thursday night.
Phil Kessel, Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust also scored for Pittsburgh, which remains tied with Washington in points atop the Metropolitan Division. The Capitals, however, currently hold the tiebreaker with two games in hand.
Tristan Jarry made 17 saves for his 14th win of the season while starter Matt Murray remains sidelined with a concussion.
Artturi Lehkonen, Paul Byron and Nicolas Deslauriers scored for Montreal, and Antti Niemi stopped 34 shots in his first regulation loss since Feb. 14.
Hornqvist put Pittsburgh in front for good with 7:36 remaining in the third period by deflecting Carl Hagelin’s shot past Niemi.
Rust added some insurance with an empty-netter with 1:53 left.
Montreal jumped ahead to a two-goal lead early in the first period with scores from Lehkonen and Byron.
BLUE JACKETS 5, FLYERS 3: Cam Atkinson scored a hat trick as surging Columbus won at Philadelphia for its sixth straight victory.
Oliver Bjorkstand and Boone Jenner also scored for the Blue Jackets, who tied Philadelphia for third place in the Metropolitan Division.
Claude Giroux, Andrew MacDonald and Shayne Gostisbehere scored for the slumping Flyers, who dropped their seventh in the last eight games.
Philadelphia and Columbus are one point ahead of idle New Jersey, which holds a wild-card spot.
CAPITALS 7, ISLANDERS 3: T.J. Oshie scored twice, Dmitry Orlov and Nicklas Backstrom each had a goal and two assists, and first-place Washington won at New York.
Andrei Burakovsky added a goal and an assist, and Lars Eller and John Carlson also scored to help Washington improve to 10-4-3 in its last 17 games against the Islanders.
Evgeny Kuznetsov had three assists and Philipp Grubauer finished with 35 saves for his 11th win of the season.
MAPLE LEAFS 5, SABRES 2: James van Riemsdyk had two goals and an assist to lead visiting Toronto past Buffalo.
Connor Carrick, Tyler Bozak and Patrick Marleau also scored for the Maple Leafs, and Curtis McElhinney stopped 38 shots.
Van Riemsdyk has five goals in two games after scoring a hat trick in Wednesday’s 6-5 shootout win over the Dallas Stars.
AVALANCHE 4, BLUES 1: Nathan MacKinnon had two goals and an assist, Semyon Varlamov stopped 44 shots and Colorado won at St. Louis.
NOTES
PREDATORS: Forward Calle Jarnkrok will miss the rest of the regular season with an upper-body injury.
Jarnkrok was hurt Tuesday night in a 3-1 win over Winnipeg when checked by Jets forward Andrew Copp during the third period. Jarnkrok went to the locker room and was seen wearing a sling around his right arm leaving the arena.
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