COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Scott Hartnell had his ninth career hat trick and the Columbus Blue Jackets scored four times in a head-spinning third-period flurry to blow out the Pittsburgh Penguins 7-1 on Thursday night.
Cam Atkinson, William Karlsson, Brandon Saad and Boone Jenner also scored to help the Blue Jackets win their 11th straight game and take over first place in the Metropolitan Division.
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 25 shots for Columbus (22-5-4) amid a rollicking playoff atmosphere and a sell-out crowd at Nationwide Arena.
Sidney Crosby scored Pittsburgh's only goal -- his NHL-leading 23rd -- in a fast, testy game marked by several skirmishes and players being pulled apart. Matthew Murray had 21 saves for Pittsburgh (21-8-5), which failed to earn a point for the first time in 11 games. The loss matched the Penguins' worst of the season (see full recap).
Killorn gets go-ahead goal, Lightning beat Blues 5-2
TAMPA, Fla. -- Alex Killorn scored a go-ahead goal early in the third period, Jonathan Drouin added two late goals and the Tampa Bay Lightning rallied from a two-goal deficit to beat the St. Louis Blues 5-2 on Thursday night.
Killorn put Tampa Bay up 3-2 from the high slot 5:25 into the third period to help the Lightning go 2-0 starting a stretch of seven of eight games at home. Drouin made it 4-2 with 1:40 remaining, a play that Blues goalie Jake Allen was hurt on trying to make a save, before adding an empty-netter.
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Tampa Bay also got goals from Brian Boyle and Michael Bournival. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 21 saves and Victor Hedman had two assists.
The Lightning are without oft-injured goalie Ben Bishop, who could miss a month with an undisclosed lower-body injury. Bishop, a potential free agent after the season, was hurt in the first period of Tuesday's 4-1 win over Detroit (see full recap).
Staal helps Wild win ninth straight game, beat Canadiens 4-2
MONTREAL -- Eric Staal's short-handed goal in the third period broke a tie and helped Minnesota to a 4-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night, giving the Wild a ninth straight win that tied the team record.
Jordan Schroeder and Jared Spurgeon also scored for the Wild (20-8-4), who last won nine in a row March 8-24, 2007. They have a chance to break the record Friday night against the Rangers in New York. Jason Zucker added an empty-net goal with 23 seconds left in the game.
Max Pacioretty and Artturi Lehkonen scored for Montreal (21-8-4), which ended a two-game winning run.
The game featured a duel between two of the NHL's leading goalies, with Devan Dubnyk having the edge over Carey Price as the Canadiens outshot the Wild 34-27 (see full recap).
Budaj's 28 saves lead Kings over Predators 4-0
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Peter Budaj made 28 saves to lead the Los Angeles Kings to a 4-0 victory over the Nashville Predators on Thursday night.
Nick Shore, Nic Dowd, Jeff Carter and Devin Setoguchi scored for Los Angeles. Playing the sixth of their season-long nine-game road swing, the Kings improved their record to 3-2-1 on the current trip.
Budaj made 12 saves in the first period, nine in the second and seven in the third en route to his fourth shutout of the season and 15th of his career.
Pekka Rinne made 21 saves for Nashville, whose two-game winning streak came to an end.
Shore scored the game's first goal at 6:33 of the opening period (see full recap).
