Sharks fueled by Cheechoo’s hat trick in win

Jonathan Cheechoo scored his third hat trick of the season Sunday in San Jose, Calif., to help the San Jose Sharks defeat the Los Angeles Kings 6-2 to win their sixth straight home game.

It was Cheechoo’s eighth career hat trick. In his past 10 games, he has 17 points (12 goals and five assists).

Red Wings 4, Blue Jackets 1: At Columbus, Ohio, Tomas Holmstrom scored twice and Detroit beat Columbus to move into first place overall in the league.

Brett Lebda had a goal and an assist, and Pavel Datsyuk scored for Detroit.

Hurricanes 4, Panthers 3 (OT): At Sunrise, Fla., Ray Whitney’s power-play goal 1:30 into overtime lifted Carolina over Florida.

Florida blew a two-goal lead in the third period and lost for the sixth time in seven games to the Hurricanes.

Devils 3, Bruins 1: At East Rutherford, N.J., Brian Gionta scored the game-winner in his first game in almost a month, Jay Pandolfo tallied twice and New Jersey took the lead in the Atlantic Division with a win over Boston.

Blackhawks 2, Oilers 1: At Chicago, Patrick Sharp’s short-handed breakaway goal early in the third period snapped a tie and gave Chicago a victory over Edmonton.

Sharp reached the 20-goal mark for the first time in his career with the score.

Rangers 7, Maple Leafs 2: At New York, Sean Avery beat Toronto with his stick and his fists, posting two goals and an assist around a first-period knockdown of Darcy Tucker in New York’s victory.