NHL capsules: Golden Knights close in on Pacific Division title

Jonathan Marchessault’s goal 22 seconds into overtime lifted the Vegas Golden Knights to a 4-3 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Friday night in Las Vegas.

The expansion Golden Knights (49-22-7) can win the Pacific Division with a point in Saturday’s game against San Jose.

Marchessault scored two goals, while William Karlsson and James Neal also scored for Vegas. Malcolm Subban improved to 12-3-2 after stopping 21 shots.

Patrik Berglund, Brayden Schenn and Chris Thorburn scored for the Blues. Netminder Jake Allen, who is now 8-1-1 in his last 10 starts, made 22 saves.

St. Louis (43-29-5, 91 points) is one point out of the wild-card race, behind Anaheim (93) and Colorado (92).

Berglund set the tone when Alexander Steen fed him from behind the net, and he smacked home his 13th of the season.

Karlsson tied the game on a short-handed breakaway courtesy of a perfect pass from Cody Eakin. Marchessault gave Vegas a brief 2-1 lead with a stroke from a side angle.

Schenn tied the game later in the period when he took a pass from Jaden Schwartz and beat a shielded Subban from the right circle.

After a rather quiet period, Tomas Tatar tapped the puck to Erik Haula, who touch-passed to Neal, who snapped a 12-game drought by going top shelf to beat Allen and give Vegas a 3-2 lead with 3:25 left in the second.

Scottie Upshall’s pass from behind the net found Thorburn creeping at the doorstep and the right wing slipped it through Subban’s five-hole to knot the game at 3 with 13:46 left.

Lightning 7, Rangers 3: Brayden Point and Cedric Paquette each scored two goals, and Tampa Bay stopped a three-game slide with a victory over host New York.

J.T. Miller added a power-play goal in the third period as Tampa Bay regained first place in the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference with 108 points. Dan Girardi also scored against his former team, Alex Killorn had a goal and an assist, and backup goalie Louis Domingue made 28 saves.

The Lightning fell from the top spot for the first time since mid-October when they lost to the Bruins on Thursday night.

New York rookie Filip Chytil got his first NHL goal. Chris Kreider and Brady Skjei also scored for the Rangers, and Ondrej Pavelec made 43 saves.

Avalanche 5, Blackhawks 0: Sven Andrighetto scored twice for Colorado, and Semyon Varlamov stopped 30 shots before leaving in the third period with an apparent injury during a win over Chicago in Denver.

Tyson Barrie, Mikko Rantanen and Tyson Jost also scored for an Avalanche team that remains in contention a season after finishing with a league-worst 48 points.

Varlamov was cruising along until a Chicago player ran into his left pad with 6:25 remaining. Jonathan Bernier came in and finished the Avalanche’s 27th home win, which is tied for second most in franchise history.

Colorado coach Jared Bednar had no update on Varlamov’s status after the victory.

Collin Delia stopped 31 shots for Chicago.

Ducks 3, Kings 2 (OT): Rickard Rakell scored 4:41 into overtime, lifting Anaheim to the win over Los Angeles in Anaheim, California.

Nick Ritchie also scored and John Gibson stopped 28 shots for the Ducks, who are 6-1-1 in their last eight games. Ondrej Kase had two assists.

Drew Doughty scored and Jonathan Quick made 31 saves for the Kings, who went 2-0-3 in the season series against their Freeway Faceoff rivals.

Los Angeles is one point ahead of Anaheim for third place in the Pacific Division. The Ducks have four games remaining while the Kings have three.

Rakell’s 32nd goal came on a shot from the right circle over Quick’s shoulder.

Maple Leafs 5, Islanders 4: Auston Matthews scored with 3:58 left, lifting playoff-bound Toronto to the road win in New York.

Mitch Marner and Nazem Kadri each had a goal and an assist, and Nikita Zaitsev and James van Riemsdyk also scored for Toronto. Frederik Andersen stopped 29 shots to help the Maple Leafs win for the eighth time in 10 games and extend a franchise record with their 47th win.

Toronto, which clinched a postseason berth when Florida lost in overtime at Ottawa on Thursday night, is all but locked into third place in the Atlantic Division.

Anthony Beauvillier had a goal and an assist, and Johnny Boychuk, Brock Nelson and John Tavares also scored for the Islanders, who lost for the 15th time in 18 games (3-11-4). Christopher Gibson finished with 27 saves.

Hurricanes 4, Capitals 1: Justin Faulk scored midway through the second period, and Carolina beat host Washington to stay in the playoff race.

The Hurricanes, who haven’t made the playoffs for the last eight years, have won four of five. Carolina, which has four games remaining, remains a long shot to qualify for the postseason.

Metropolitan Division-leading Washington had won five in a row. Michal Kempny scored his first goal with the Capitals after he was acquired in a February trade with Chicago.

Carolina goaltender Scott Darling stopped 20 shots, and Braden Holtby had 26 saves for Washington.