Hurricanes 6, Penguins 2

Morgan Geekie didn't have time to think.

On Saturday he was in the minors. By Sunday afternoon the newest Carolina Hurricanes forward found himself thrust in the middle of the playoff race. The 21-year-old rookie hardly looked overwhelmed by the moment. Neither did his team.

Geekie scored twice and dished out an assist in his NHL debut, a victory over listless Pittsburgh that capped a frantic 24 hours for the 2017 third-round pick. He arrived in town late Saturday night after being called up from the American Hockey League.

By the middle of the first period, he'd already had his first NHL goal then added an exclamation point in the third period to cap a dominant performance by the Hurricanes. Things happened so quickly Geekie didn't have time to get nervous.

“It's kind of good that way, that you don't get to think about stuff," Geekie said. "You kind of go out there and play the game you're used to play. Just tried to go out there and keep things simple, adjust to the speed of the game and play hard out here.”

Justin Williams added two third-period goals for Carolina, which pulled into a tie with Columbus and the New York Islanders for the two wild-card spots in the Eastern Conference. Columbus plays in Vancouver on Sunday night. Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 28 shots to earn the second win of his career for Carolina.

“That third period was as quiet as I've ever heard this arena,” Williams said. “This arena gets really buzzing. So we definitely did something right.”

Patrick Marleau and Evgeni Malkin scored for Pittsburgh and Tristan Jarry finished with 30 saves, but the Penguins capped a miserable weekend at home by losing for the second time in 24 hours to teams they're scrapping with for positioning in the crowded Metropolitan Division.

Pittsburgh headed into Saturday with some momentum after wins over Ottawa and Buffalo halted a six-game losing streak that marked the franchise's longest in a decade. By Sunday afternoon the Penguins were reeling after getting manhandled by first-place Washington and following it up with a lethargic performance against one of the teams they are attempting to fend off for a playoff spot.

“It’s a tight league, that happens sometimes,” Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby said. “These last two games, you look at (the Capitals) game, a few mistakes early on gets us behind the 8-ball and then today just a short span in the second period, they tie it and get the lead. We’re talking about small things here.”

Small things that are leading toward big problems for the Penguins, who have dropped 8 of 10 and are as close to missing the postseason as they are first place in the division with less than a month to go in the regular season.

“We're obviously not thrilled with the position we're in over the last few weeks," Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. "We all have to take ownership for it and now we have to take responsibility to pull ourselves out of it.”

The Hurricanes, by contrast, appear to be heading in the other direction. Just 24 hours removed from an overtime victory over the New York Islanders, Carolina backed it up by drilling Pittsburgh in the first of four meetings between the teams over the next three weeks.

“We got one on them," Williams said. "The next three are going to be just as important."

The 21-year-old Geekie — born in July 1998, nine months after the 40-year-old Marleau reached the NHL as a teenager with the Sharks — redirected a point shot from Gardiner to tie the game 9:52 into the first. He capped a five-goal run by the Hurricanes when he beat Jarry for a second time with 3:41 to go to send the 609th consecutive sellout crowd at PPG Paints Arena to the exits.

“I talked to him before the game," Williams said. "I said, 'You ready?' He said, 'Yeah.' I said, 'You nervous?' He said, 'Maybe a little bit.' I was like, 'Perfect. Just do your thing.' He did it.”

Blue Jackets 2, Canucks 1

Elvis Merzlikins made 26 saves in his return after missing four games with a concussion, and Columbus held off Vancouver.

Emil Bemstrom and Eric Robinson scored to help the Blue Jackets move two points ahead of Carolina and New York Islanders for the top Eastern Conference wild card.

Elias Pettersson got the goal for the Canucks, who are tied with the Predators and Jets for the second wild card in the West. Vancouver currently holds the spot with one more win than Nashville and a game in hand on Winnipeg.

Red Wings 5, Lightning 4

Robby Fabbri scored the winning goal in a shootout as Detroit snapped a 16-game losing streak against Tampa Bay in the regular season.

Fabbri opened the scoring in similar fashion, beating goalie Curtis McElhinney on a breakaway in the first period as well. Anthony Mantha had a goal and three assists for the Red Wings, who won despite blowing a 4-2 lead in the third period. Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi also scored for Detroit.

Brayden Point scored two goals, and Carter Verhaeghe and Pat Maroon had one apiece for the Lightning, who completed an unusual weekend in which they beat the team with the NHL's best record (Boston) on Saturday night and then lost a day later to a Detroit team with by far the league's worst mark.

Mikhail Sergachev scored for the Lightning in the shootout, but Larkin tied it. In the third round, Detroit goalie Jonathan Bernier denied Nikita Kucherov. Then Fabbri tucked the puck past McElhinney with a backhand.

Blues 2, Blackhawks 0

Jake Allen stopped 29 shots for his second shutout and St. Louis won for the ninth time in 10 games.

Robert Bortuzzo and Alex Pietrangelo scored for the Central Division-leading Blues, who killed four Chicago power plays as they rebounded from a 4-2 home loss to lowly New Jersey on Friday. Jaden Schwartz had two assists.

Allen was tested only in spurts in his 21st career shutout. The Blues swept their season series from the Blackhawks, winning all four game and outscoring Chicago 16-8.

Corey Crawford had 24 saves in his ninth straight start as Chicago lost its second straight following a four-game winning streak.

Golden Knights 5, Flames 3

Shea Theodore scored the tiebreaking goal with 1:10 remaining and Vegas recovered after giving up a three-goal lead.

Nick Holden had a goal and an assist for the Golden Knights, who regained top spot in the Pacific Division over idle Edmonton. Tomas Nosek, Max Pacioretty and Jonathan Marchessault also scored for Vegas.

Making his third start for Vegas since being acquired from Chicago at the trade deadline, Robin Lehner made 19 saves to improve to 3-0-0 with his new team.

Milan Lucic had a goal and an assist for the Flames, who had won three straight. Dillon Dube and Matthew Tkachuk also scored for Calgary. David Rittich had 27 saves to fall to 0-6-1 in his last seven home starts.

Wild 5, Ducks 4

Kevin Fiala scored his second goal of the game with 59 seconds remaining on the clock in overtime and Minnesota beat Anaheim.

Alex Galchenyuk, Victor Rask, and Mats Zucarello also scored, and the Wild reclaimed the first wild card in the Western Conference. Minnesota has won eight of its past 11 games and seven of eight on the road.

Devan Dubnyk made 22 saves in his first start Feb. 23 after Alex Stalock started the previous seven games.

Jakob Silfverberg had two goals and an assist, Christian Djoos and Danton Heinen also scored, but the Ducks fell short of matching a season-high three-game win streak. Ryan Miller made 25 saves.

Avalanche 4, Sharks 2

Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog each had a goal and two assists and Colorado's top line overwhelmed San Jose.

MacKinnon and Landeskog scored the first two goals for the Avalanche and then set up Vladislav Namestnikov for the go-ahead score midway through the second period to give Colorado its 10th win in its past 11 road games.

Former Sharks forward Joonas Donskoi added a goal in the third and Pavel Francouz made 22 saves to keep the Avalanche two points behind St. Louis in the race for first place in the Central Division with a game in hand.

Joe Thornton, Melker Karlsson and Noah Gregor scored for the Sharks, who lost their third straight game to end a six-game homestand. Martin Jones made 20 saves.