CHICAGO (AP) — Mikael Grunland, Rocco Grimaldi, and Ryan Johansen scored, and the Nashville Predators beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-1 for their fourth consecutive win. Luke Kunin had two assists as Nashville moved ahead of Columbus into fifth in the Central Division, two points behind the Blackhawks in the race for the division’s final playoff berth. Chicago lost for the fifth time in seven games. Pius Suter scored for the third straight game, but the Blackhawks were unable to generate much offense against the defensive-minded Predators.
Also on NHL ice:
— Martin Necas (NAY’-chas) capped his four-point performance by scoring with 3:53 remaining, giving the Hurricanes a 4-3 win over the Lightning. Necas finished with two goals and two assists as Carolina pulled within one point of Tampa Bay for the Central Division lead.
— The Panthers came away with a 4-3 win at Dallas as Aaron Ekblad scored with 9.3 seconds left in overtime, moments after his apparent winner was wiped out by a replay review. Carter Verhaeghe (vur-HAY’-gee) got the Panthers to overtime with a hat trick before Florida ended a three-game skid and climbed within four points of the Central Division lead.
— Pittsburgh is within two points of the East Division lead after Bryan Rust got his fourth career hat trick and Tristan Jarry stopped 29 shots in the Penguins’ 6-3 rout of the Islanders. Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist as the Pens beat the Isles for the fifth time in seven meetings.
— Sam Morin scored his first NHL goal with 4:27 left to lead the Flyers to a 2-1 win over the Rangers. Nolan Patrick also scored for the Flyers, who lost their previous two meetings with the Blueshirts by scores of 9-0 and 8-3.
— The Sabres lost their 17th consecutive game, twice blowing a one-goal lead before Craig Smith scored with 3:50 left to give the Bruins a 3-2 victory. Matt Grzelcyk (GRIHZ’-lihk) and Nick Ritchie each had a goal and an assist, and third-stringer Daniel Vladar (vlah-DAHR’) stopped 25 shots for Boston.
— Phil Kessel notched his seventh career hat trick and Adin (AY’-dihn) Hill made 33 saves in his second career shutout to lead the Coyotes to their third straight victory, 4-0 over the Sharks. Clayton Keller had a goal and two assists for the Coyotes, who tied St. Louis for fourth place in the West Division with 37 points.
— Adam Erne and Robby Fabbri (FAB’-ree) scored 29 seconds apart in the first period of the Red Wings’ 3-1 verdict over the Blue Jackets. Anthony Mantha also tallied and Calvin Pickard made 21 saves in his first start of the season.
— The Maple Leafs erased a 3-1 deficit in the third period and earned a 4-3 win over the Oilers on Auston Matthews’ goal 54 seconds into overtime. William Nylander (NEE’-lan-dur) set up John Tavares to start the comeback before scoring about four minutes later to knot the score.
— Johnny Gaudreau responded to a barb from his coach with a pair of assists for the Flames in a 4-2 win over the Jets. Josh Leivo, Mark Giordano, Andrew Mangiapane (man-jah-MAN’-ee) and Sam Bennett scored as Calgary halted a four-game losing streak in the second of three straight games between the teams.
