NEWARK, N.J. — Jack Hughes scored 2:55 into overtime and New Jersey beat the Edmonton Oilers 6-5 on Friday after Devils Coach Lindy Ruff tested positive for COVID-19 hours before the game.

Hughes finished with two goals and an assist. Nico Hischier, rookie Dawson Mercer and Janne Kuokkanen also scored for the Devils, who earned their second straight win after dropping six in a row.

New Jersey was down before Yegor Sharanovich scored on a deflection with 32 seconds left in regulation.

Connor McDavid and Kailer Yamamoto had two goals apiece for Edmonton, which dropped its second straight.

Oilers goaltender Mike Smith overcame a shaky start to finish with 35 saves. The winning goal, though, was a shot from the top of the left circle that seemed to squeeze through his pads.

Smith stopped Hughes on a breakaway early in overtime.

The Oilers rallied to take a 5-4 lead when Devin Shore and Yamamoto scored in a 72-second span against Mackenzie Blackwood in the third period. Yamamoto’s goal irked the Devils because they felt they controlled the puck to allow the officials to call a delayed penalty.

Alain Nasreddine, who ran the Devils with Ruff out, challenged the call. The officials studied the replay for more than five minutes because announcing the goal could not be challenged.

McDavid tied it at 3 when he scored on a breakaway at 7:57 of the second period. McDavid was set up by a pinpoint pass from defenseman Duncan Keith.

The Devils announced Ruff’s positive test roughly 45 minutes after he did not show up for a pregame news conference. When the conference started, Nasreddine walked in and said he would be running the team.

RANGERS 4, LIGHTNING 3: Mika Zibanejad scored the lone goal in a shootout and New York stopped Tampa Bay’s seven-game home winning streak.

Igor Shesterkin stopped 25 shots, Barclay Goodrow scored twice and Alexis Lafrenière also had a goal for the Rangers.

Corey Perry scored the tying goal with 1:57 to go in regulation for Tampa Bay, which also got goals from Steven Stamkos and Ross Colton. Backup goalie Brian Elliott returned from COVID-19 protocols and made 20 saves in place of Andrei Vasilevskiy, who remains in the protocols and missed his third consecutive game.

CAPITALS 3, RED WINGS 1: Alex Ovechkin had two goals in the third period, including the go-ahead score with 2:51 remaining, and Washington won at Detroit.

Evgeny Kuznetsov added a goal and an assist for the Capitals, while Ilya Samsonov made 19 saves.

Pius Suter scored for Detroit and Thomas Greiss stopped 24 shots.

The Red Wings played for the first time since Dec. 18. They had four games postponed because of a COVID outbreak among the team and some of their opponents.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3, DUCKS 1: Laurent Brossoit stopped 15 shots and Vegas won at home to increase its Pacific Division lead.

Mattias Janmark, Adam Brooks and Nic Roy scored for the Golden Knights, who improved to 4-0 at home on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day since entering the league in 2017.

Ryan Getzlaf scored for Anaheim with 12 seconds left to spoil Brossoit’s attempt at his third career shutout. John Gibson made 42 saves for the Ducks.

Vegas won for the 10th time in 12 games and moved three points in front of Anaheim.

Since opening the season 10-4-3, the Ducks are 7-6-4.

Anaheim’s 16 shots were a season low.

NOTES

COVID-19: The NHL announced it is postponing eight more games because of COVID-19-related attendance restrictions in some Canadian cities. The league said the games “will be rescheduled for dates later in the season when such restrictions may be eased or lifted.”

The Islanders had road games at Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary postponed, so the league also decided to postpone their game scheduled for Tuesday at Seattle.

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