Roman Josi scored 40 seconds into overtime to cap a stunning comeback and the Nashville Predators extended their point streak to 18 games with a 5-4 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday.

The Predators scored three times in the third period to erase a 4-1 deficit before Josi’s goal gave them their sixth straight win and a 16-0-2 mark since a regulation loss to Dallas on Feb. 15.

Filip Forsberg had a goal and two assists to reach 40 goals for the second time in his career. He has seven goals and seven assists during a seven-game point streak.

Ivan Barbashev, Brett Howden and Shea Theodore scored first-period goals for Vegas and Mark Jankowski’s tally in the second made it 4-1.

The Golden Knights, who had won three straight, pulled within one point of Los Angeles for third place in the Pacific Division and are six points ahead of St. Louis for the final wild card spot in the Western Conference.

Rangers clinch playoff berth

Adam Fox scored 36 seconds into overtime after a wild third period and the New York Rangers became the first team to clinch a playoff spot with a 6-5 win over the Philadelphia Flyers.

Alexis Lafreniere scored twice and Vincent Trocheck had a goal and two assists for the Rangers, who took over the NHL lead with their 100th point and gave coach Peter Laviolette his 800th victory.

The teams combined for seven goals in the third period with Philadelphia’s Tyson Foerster scoring with 3:31 left to forge a 5-5 tie.

Travis Konecny and Scott Laughton each had a goal and an assist for the Flyers, who are winless in four straight road games (0-2-2) and have a one-point lead over Washington in the race for third in the Metropolitan Division.

Bruins beat Panthers to move atop Atlantic

Trent Frederic and Pavel Zacha scored late in the third period to rally the Boston Bruins to a 4-3 win over the Florida Panthers, moving them into sole possession of first place in the Atlantic Division.

Carter Verhaeghe scored midway through the third period to give Florida a 3-2 lead but Frederic scored on a power play with 4:22 remaining and Zacha put Boston ahead just over two minutes later.

Charlie McAvoy and David Pastrnak also had goals for the Bruins, who avoided a third straight loss and lead the Atlantic with 99 points, two ahead of the Panthers.

Evan Rodrigues and Sam Reinhart also tallied for the Panthers, who dropped to 1-4-1 in their last six games since losing star defenseman Aaron Ekblad to a lower-body injury on March 9.

Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek each recorded three goals and three assists to lead a record-setting day for the Minnesota Wild, who set a franchise single-game high for goals in Monday's frantic 10-7 win over the Vancouver Canucks.

Matt Boldy and Mats Zuccarello delivered a goal and three assists each for Minnesota, which overcame a three-goal second-period deficit by lighting the lamp seven times during the third to set a team record for goals in a period as well.

The Wild's offensive outburst also overshadowed a three-goal, one-assist performance from Vancouver's J.T. Miller. The game was the first to have three players record hat tricks since the Los Angeles Kings accomplished the feat in an 11-4 win over the San Jose Sharks on Nov. 8, 1992.

After Zuccarello's power-play goal with 33 seconds left in the second period cut the Canucks' lead to 5-3, the Wild scored five straight times in the first 5:12 of the third. Eriksson Ek and Kaprizov each struck twice during the flurry, which also included a goal from Marco Rossi.

The six goals in a span of 5:45 made the Wild the first team to score six times in that short a time frame since the Washington Capitals did so in a 4:47 stretch in a 10-1 rout of the Tampa Bay Lightning on Feb. 3, 1999.

The Pacific Division-leading Canucks fought back, though, as goals from Nikita Zadorov and Brock Boeser got them within 8-7 with 2:08 left to play. Minnesota's Jonas Brodin scored into an empty net 61 seconds later, however, before Kaprizov completed his fourth career hat trick and second this season with an empty-netter in the final stages.

Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek matched the @mnwild record for points in a game while combining for a feat not witnessed in more than three decades.#NHLStats: https://t.co/wuATxuTB8f pic.twitter.com/Ga6OXyAPpY

— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) February 19, 2024

Marc-Andre Fleury was credited with the victory after the Wild veteran stopped six of eight shots after replacing starter Filip Gustavsson to begin the third period. Minnesota extended its point streak to six games (5-0-1) despite Gustavsson yielding five goals on 16 shots.

The Canucks, meanwhile, have dropped two straight following a forgettable afternoon for netminder Casey DeSmith, who let in eight goals on just 25 shots.

Matthews' 49th goal helps Maple Leafs top Blues

Auston Matthews continued his recent goal-scoring tear by recording his league-leading 49th of the season, which helped the Toronto Maple Leafs stay hot as well with a 4-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues.

Matthews' seventh goal in three games snapped a 1–1 tie 45 seconds into the third period, and the 2021-22 Hart Trophy recipient had an assist earlier to spark Toronto to a fourth consecutive win.

Mitchell Marner had three assists for Toronto, which also got a key short-handed goal from William Nylander that extended the Leafs' lead to 3-1 with 12:31 left to play.

After a scoreless first period, the Maple Leafs struck quickly in the second as Matthews set up Matthew Knies for a close-range shot that the rookie rocketed past St. Louis goaltender Joel Hofer just 22 seconds into the period.

Brandon Saad's power-play goal late in the second drew the Blues even, though the tie was short-lived as Matthews deposited a feed from Marner into the Blues' net in the opening minute of the third.

The Blues cut the deficit to 3-2 on Pavel Buchnevich's goal with 1:08 to play, but Bobby McMann sealed the win for Toronto with an empty-net score with 38 seconds left.

Hofer stopped 25 of 28 shots for St. Louis, which has lost two straight following an 8-2-0 stretch from Jan. 20-Feb. 15. Ilya Samsonov finished with 19 saves for Toronto.

Bruins stop four-game slide with shootout win over Stars

Charlie McAvoy scored in the ninth round of the shootout as the Boston Bruins rallied for a 4-3 victory over the Dallas Stars to halt their four-game losing streak.

McAvoy added two assists in regulation for Boston, which forced overtime on David Pastrnak's goal with 1:45 left in the third period. 

The Bruins later extended the game further when Brad Marchand beat Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger in the third round of the shootout to tie the deciding phase at 1-1.

Both Oettinger and Boston's Jeremy Swayman turned aside the next five skaters each faced before McAvoy converted his chance. Swayman then denied Craig Smith to end the game and hand Dallas a second straight defeat, though the Western Conference contenders did extend their point streak to five games (3-0-2).

Swayman finished with a career-high 43 saves before stopping eight of nine opponents in the shootout.

Goals from Boston's Jesper Boqvist and Dallas' Wyatt Johnston sent the teams into the first intermission tied at 1-1, and the Stars' Ryan Suter and the Bruins' Justin Brazeau scored 28 seconds apart less than two minutes into the second period.

Dallas went back ahead when Esa Lindell scored on a 2-on-1 rush with 9:16 left in the third, but Pastrnak later one-timed a feed from McAvoy past Oettinger with Swayman pulled for an extra attacker to tie the game at 3-3.

Oettinger finished with 27 saves.

David Pastrnak had a goal and two assists and the Boston Bruins scored the game’s first five goals in a 5-2 win Tuesday over the Buffalo Sabres, who lost star forward Tage Thomspon to injury.

Pastrnak’s 11th goal was the second of five straight by Boston, which improved to 3-0-1 in its last four games and leads the NHL with 26 points.

Thompson will miss significant time after he was injured blocking a shot by Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy in the second period.

The shot went off Thompson’s left wrist, and he winced in pain before heading back to the bench. He did not return.

Thompson is third on the Sabres with six goals and six assists for 12 points. He was among the league leaders last season with career highs of 47 goals and 94 points.

Crosby’s hat trick powers streaking Penguins

Sidney Crosby notched his 16th career hat trick and the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the reeling Columbus Blue Jackets 5-3 for their fifth consecutive victory.

Crosby extended his point streak to nine games and completed his hat with the tiebreaking goal with 5:32 remaining before sealing the win with an empty-net tally.

Pittsburgh is 9-0-1 in its last 10 meetings wit Columbus, which has lost six straight (0-4-2).

Lindgren, Capitals shut out Golden Knights

Charlie Lindgren turned away 35 shots to lead the surging Washington Capitals to a 3-0 win over the Vegas Golden Knights.

Lindgren made a one-goal lead stand up until Washington scored twice in the final minute, including Connor McMichael’s empty-net goal.

Dylan Strome and Beck Malenstyn also scored to help the Capitals win their third straight and seventh in nine games (7-1-1).

Vegas lost in regulation for the third time in four games after opening the season 11-0-1.