NHL roundup: Avs force OT, beat Blackhawks in shootout

Artturi Lehkonen scored the decisive goal in a shootout and Cale Makar had a goal and assist in regulation as the visiting Colorado Avalanche rallied for a 3-2 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday.

Colorado forced overtime with 10.8 seconds left in regulation, as Martin Necas deflected in Cale Makar's shot from inside the right point with play at six-on-five. Scott Wedgewood made 22 saves for the Avalanche.

Colorado (46-26-4, 96 points) remained in the No. 3 position in the Central Division, six points behind the second-place Dallas Stars and seven points clear of both the Minnesota Wild and the St. Louis Blues.

Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon scored to cap the second round of the shootout, but Teuvo Teravainen answered for Chicago. Lehkonen ended the game moments later by beating Blackhawks goaltender Spencer Knight.

Connor Murphy had a goal and assist for the Blackhawks, and Ilya Mikheyev also tallied. Knight stopped 29 shots.

Rangers 5, Wild 4 (OT)

Vincent Trocheck capped a back-and-forth game by scoring 24 seconds into overtime for host New York, which moved into a tie for the final Eastern Conference wild-card spot by edging Minnesota.

After the teams combined to collect four game-tying goals in regulation, the Rangers ended overtime quickly after JT Miller won the overtime faceoff with Marco Rossi and immediately headed off the ice in favor of Trocheck, who got a stick on Artemi Panarin's shot before the puck trickled into the net beyond Filip Gustavsson. Panarin, Braden Schneider, K'Andre Miller and Chris Kreider had a goal apiece for the Rangers, who are tied with the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild-card berth.

Rossi, Gustav Nyquist, Brock Faber and Marcus Johansson scored for the Wild, who lost their third straight (0-2-1) but still climbed into a tie with the idle St. Louis Blues for the Western Conference first wild-card spot.

Hurricanes 5, Capitals 1

Alex Ovechkin scored his 892nd goal to move within three of breaking Wayne Gretzky's NHL record in Washington's loss to Carolina in Raleigh, N.C.

Ovechkin scored during a five-on-three power play at 19:25 of the second period to pull the Capitals within 4-1. Jackson Blake scored two goals while Seth Jarvis had a goal and an assist for the Hurricanes, who have won 12 of 14 games and clinched a Stanley Cup playoff berth with the victory.

Ovechkin has 39 goals in 59 games this season for Washington, which has lost four of five (1-3-1) and was playing the second night of a back-to-back set.

Maple Leafs 3, Panthers 2

Mitch Marner and Matthew Knies each tallied a goal and an assist to help beat visiting Florida, allowing Toronto to clinch a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs and stretch its lead atop the Atlantic Division.

John Tavares also found the net for the first-place Maple Leafs, who earned their seventh win over the past nine games (7-1-1). Toronto goalie Anthony Stolarz made 29 saves against his former team.

Sam Reinhart collected a goal and an assist and Gustav Forsling scored for the third-place Panthers, who are one point behind the second-place Tampa Bay Lightning. Sergei Bobrovsky turned aside 23 shots.

Kraken 5, Canucks 0

Andre Burakovsky collected a goal and an assist and goaltender Joey Daccord recorded his second shutout of the season as visiting Seattle blanked Vancouver.

Michael Eyssimont, Chandler Stephenson, Shane Wright and Adam Larsson also scored for the Kraken, who snapped a two-game losing streak. Jared McCann collected three assists, Vince Dunn posted a pair of helpers and Daccord made 25 saves to post his fifth career shutout.

The Kraken, who won three of four meetings with the Canucks this season, have already been eliminated from Stanley Cup playoff contention. The Wednesday result puts Vancouver's hopes in jeopardy. The Canucks, who are winless in three games (0-2-1), sit eight points back of a playoff position with seven games remaining.

--Field Level Media