In brief: Senators’ rally tightens race in Eastern Conference

NHL: Mark Stone is peaking at the right time for the Ottawa Senators.

Stone scored his second goal of the game 2:43 into overtime to cap Ottawa’s comeback from three goals down in a 4-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night to preserve the Senators’ playoff hopes.

It was Stone’s sixth goal in five games. The 22-year-old is second in rookie scoring with 61 points, including 24 goals.

“I’m just thankful to be able to contribute at those times of the game,” Stone said. “Everybody that’s contributing on my goals are the guys that are making the plays. I’m just the one that’s finishing it off.”

Stone also scored in the third period, and Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Mike Hoffman had the Senators’ other goals. Andrew Hammond had 25 saves for Ottawa, which played its final home game of the season.

Sidney Crosby and Patric Hornqvist had a goal and an assist each for the Penguins, and Beau Bennett scored for the first time in 31 games. Marc-Andre Fleury finished with 40 saves.

Pittsburgh, 3-8-2 in its last 13 games, could have clinched a playoff spot with a regulation win.

“We’ve got to wipe this one away,” Crosby said. “We’ve got two games left to earn the right to play in the playoffs. It’s up to us now, but we’ve got to forget this one pretty quick.”

The Senators moved into a tie with Boston for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. The Bruins have a game in hand and the tiebreaker between the two teams with more regulation plus overtime wins. Ottawa trails Pittsburgh, which holds the first wild-card spot, by one point and is two points behind Detroit.

Stone pulled the Senators to 3-2 in the opening minute of the third period with his 23rd of the season. It extended his points streak to seven games (five goals, four assists).

Hammond was pulled for the extra attacker with just over 2 minutes remaining, and Ottawa took advantage as Hoffman tied it with 1:48 to go.

• Key win for Red Wings: Gustav Nyquist and Pavel Datsyuk scored in the third period, and the host Detroit Red Wings rallied past Carolina 3-2, taking a big step toward their 24th consecutive playoff berth.

The Red Wings’ streak of playoff berths is the longest active run in the four major U.S. pro leagues.

The Red Wings won for only the sixth time in their last 18 games, and they looked sluggish again while falling behind 2-1 in the second period, but Nyquist tied it less than two minutes into the third, and Datsyuk scored the game winner with 8:35 to play.

• Flyers stall Islanders: Brayden Schenn capped a wild final 2 minutes with the winning goal with 2.1 seconds left to lift Philadelphia past the visiting New York Islanders 5-4.

With a playoff berth at stake, the Islanders wiped out a 4-1 deficit in the third period and nearly sent the game into overtime. Johnny Boychuk scored with 1:44 remaining in the game to make it 4-3 and Anders Lee tied it with 28 seconds to go.

The Islanders needed a win or a Pittsburgh win over Ottawa to clinch an Eastern Conference playoff berth.

• Champs in danger: Matt Fraser scored a pair of goals and Edmonton dealt a big blow to the playoff hopes of defending Stanley Cup champ Los Angeles with a 4-2 victory in Edmonton, Alberta.

Los Angeles trails Winnipeg by three points and the Calgary Flames by two points with only two games remaining for all three teams in the hunt for the final two playoff spots in the Western Conference.

The Kings loss clinches a playoff spot for Vancouver.

• Rangers clinch best record: Kevin Hayes and Ryan McDonagh scored 47 seconds apart in the first period and the New York Rangers won 4-2 at New Jersey to win the President’s Trophy for the best regular-season record for the third time in franchise history.

The Rangers’ fifth straight win improved their record to 52-21-7 for 111 points.

The 52 wins ties the franchise record and the point total is one less than that franchise mark, both set in 1993-94, the last time they won the Stanley Cup.

Pelicans top Warriors, move into 8th place

NBA: Anthony Davis scored 23 of his 29 points in the second half, including two free throws with 9 seconds left, and New Orleans moved into eighth place in the Western Conference with a 103-100 win over Golden State.

Stephen Curry scored 25 points, hitting five 3-pointers, but his final attempt that would have tied the game spun out.

That allowed the Pelicans to move back into the West’s last playoff spot by a half-game over Oklahoma City.

• Spurs hurt Thunder: Kawhi Leonard matched a career high with 26 points, and visiting San Antonio whipped Oklahoma City 113-88 for its eighth straight victory.

The defending NBA champions have won each game during their streak by double digits, and by an average of 20.9.

• Hawks win franchise record 58th: At Atlanta, the Hawks set a single-season franchise high with their 58th victory, getting 16 points each from DeMarre Carroll and Jeff Teague in a 96-69 win over Phoenix.

• Sim Bhullar makes debut: Sacramento backup center Sim Bhullar, who is 7-foot-5, made history when he became the first player of Indian descent to play in an NBA game.

Bhullar, who was born in Ontario, Canada, and played in college at New Mexico State, checked in with 16.1 seconds remaining in the Kings’ 116-111 victory over visiting Minnesota.

• Rose may play: The Chicago Bulls say Derrick Rose is questionable for their game tonight at Orlando.

It’s the first time the star point guard has been listed as anything but “out” since his latest knee surgery.

Jury deliberating in Hernandez trial

MISCELLANY: Jurors have begun deliberations in the murder trial of former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez.

Judge Susan Garsh instructed jurors on the law before sending them to consider whether Hernandez killed Odin Lloyd.

Lloyd was shot six times in an industrial park less than a mile from Hernandez’s home in North Attleborough, Massachusetts. Lloyd was dating the sister of Hernandez’s fiancee.

Earlier during closing arguments, Hernandez lawyer James Sultan acknowledged for the first time that his client witnessed the killing. He described him as a 23-year-old kid who simply did not know what to do.

Sultan pinned the blame on two of Hernandez’s friends.

But the prosecutor said Hernandez planned the killing, then helped his friends flee.

• Former Eagle, Steeler Looney dies: Don Looney, who played for the Philadelphia Eagles and also starred at TCU, has died in Fort Worth, Texas. He was 98.

Looney was the last known survivor of the 1938 TCU team that won the national championship. He then played receiver for the Eagles in 1940, leading the league with 58 receptions and 707 yards.

After spending the next two seasons with the Steelers, he went into the military.

Following his playing career, Looney served as an NFL official.