Islanders 2, Golden Knights 1 (OT)

Mathew Barzal scored in overtime and Semyon Varlamov made a season-high 44 saves to help the New York Islanders beat the Vegas Golden Knights 2-1 on Saturday night for their second straight victory.

Barzal beat goaltender Logan Thompson with a high shot at 4:28 of the extra session after Varlamov stopped William Carrier on a penalty shot earlier in overtime, then denied Jack Eichel on another point-blank shot.

“It was great to see him score.” Islanders coach Lane Lambert said. “He put himself in a position tonight. He shot the puck and he got rewarded for it.”

The goal was Barzal’s 12th of the season. He had only one assist in 10 games entering Saturday's game. His previous goal came on Jan. 5 and his last overtime winner was on Nov. 23, 2018.

“That was huge, so it kind of puts us right back in the hunt,” Barzal said. “I’m sure we’re going to be hungry to have a good start after the break.”

The Golden Knights lost their fourth straight and Thompson made 35 saves in defeat.

Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy was encouraged by his team's effort.

“We played a realty good hockey game but left a point on the table,'' he said.” We keep that kind of effort up, we'll be fine. We have to just hang in there until pucks start going in.”

After a scoreless first during which the Islanders outshot the Golden Knights 15-8, Islanders captain Anders Lee scored at 3:52 of the second, his 19th of the season and fourth goal in four games.

Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri assisted. Nelson extended his points streak to six games while Palmieri's assist was the 200th of his career and his fifth assist in four games since returning from injury.

Carrier tied it for Vegas late in the second with his 12th.

Varlamov improved to 9-6-1 for the Islanders, who were coming off Friday’s 2-0 home win over the Detroit Red Wings after a 1-7-3 stretch dropped them out of playoff position.

“He was focused and square all night,'' Lambert said of Varlamov. “He played a fantastic game.”

The Islanders improved to 6-3-1 in their last 10 meetings with the Golden Knights, including a 5-2 win at Vegas on Dec. 17.

Vegas lost 4-1 to the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Friday after falling to the Devils 3-2 in overtime on Tuesday in Newark. The Golden Knights have lost seven of their last eight - with a 1-5-2 record heading into the All-Star break. Their next game is Feb. 7.

“I thought we played well in the second and third. We had tons of chances″ Golden Knights defenseman Shea Theodore said. “We’re doing the right things. Every team goes through scoring droughts. It’s a perfect time for the break.”

The Golden Knights began the season 16-4-1 but are 13-14-3 since. They have allowed the first goal in 19 of their last 30 contests and are 4-12-3 in those games.

“It will be good to get some rest and get away for sure,” Cassidy added.

The Islanders went 0-1 on the power play. They are 0-25 in their last 10 games and 3-64 in the last 23 contests.

The Islanders were without injured defenseman Noah Dobson and injured forwards Cal Clutterbuck, Oliver Wahlstrom and Hudson Fasching. They also scratched forward Ross Johnston and defenseman Parker Wotherspoon.

The Golden Knights scratched injured forward Mark Stone plus defenseman Daniil Miromanov.

Lightning 5, Kings 2

Brayden Point had a goal and an assist, and Tampa Bay earned a franchise-record 12th consecutive home win.

Victor Hedman, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Corey Perry and Ross Colton also scored for Tampa Bay, which has won three in a row overall. Nick Perbix had three assists, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 26 saves.

The Lightning surpassed the franchise mark of 11 straight home wins set in 2019-20.

Los Angeles had won three in a row. Jaret Anderson-Dolan and Phillip Danault scored for the Kings, and Jonathan Quick made 20 saves.

Sharks 6, Penguins 4

Logan Couture had two goals and three assists, and San Jose stopped a four-game skid.

Alexander Barabanov had a goal and two assists for the Sharks, who are 4-5-4 in their last 13 games. Erik Karlsson added a goal and an assist, and Michael Eyssimont and Noah Gregor also scored. Kaapo Kahkonen made 37 saves.

Pittsburgh star Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist to pass Stan Mikita for sole possession of 15th place on the NHL’s career points list with 1,469. Crosby also tied Mikita for 32nd place with his 541st goal.

Evgeni Malkin had two goals and an assist for Pittsburgh. Casey DeSmith stopped 26 shots.

Flyers 4, Jets 0

Philadelphia's Carter Hart made 40 saves for his first shutout of the season.

Noah Cates had a goal and an assist for the Flyers. Kieffer Bellows, Owen Tippett and Tony DeAngelo also scored, and Rasmus Ristolainen added two assists. Philadelphia (21-21-9) is 7-1-1 in its last nine road games.

Connor Hellebuyck stopped 26 shots for Winnipeg before being relieved by David Rittich. The Jets have lost three straight to drop to 31-19-1.

Avalanche 4, Blues 2

Alex Newhook scored on his birthday for the second straight season, and Colorado won for the seventh time in eight games.

Evan Rodrigues, J.T. Compher and Matt Nieto also scored for the Avalanche, and Logan O’Connor had two assists. Alexandar Georgiev stopped 26 shots.

Colorado had won six in a row before Thursday night’s 5-3 loss to lowly Anaheim. But the reigning Stanley Cup champions bounced back nicely in their final game before their bye week and the NHL All-Star break.

Ivan Barbashev and Brayden Schenn scored for St. Louis in its fourth consecutive loss. Jordan Binnington made 27 saves.

Senators 5, Canadiens 0

Claude Giroux had two goals and an assist, leading Ottawa to its third straight victory.

Alex DeBrincat, Mathieu Joseph and Derick Brassard also scored for Ottawa. Anton Forsberg made 28 saves.

Sam Montembeault stopped 31 shots for the Canadiens. Montreal is 0-3-2 in its last five games.

Wild 3, Sabres 2 (SO)

Mats Zuccarello, Kirill Kaprizov and Freddy Gaudreau scored in the shootout, lifting Minnesota past Buffalo.

Joel Eriksson Ek and Jared Spurgeon had goals in regulation for Minnesota, which headed into the All-Star break with two wins in a row.

Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 29 shots for the Wild, including a sprawling save to thwart Tage Thompson on a wraparound try with about eight minutes left in regulation. He also made a pair of stops about four minutes later with Buffalo buzzing in the Wild's end.

Thompson scored in the shootout for Buffalo, but Jack Quinn was stopped by Fleury, and Gaudreau secured the win for Minnesota.

Quinn and Zemgus Girgensons scored in regulation for Buffalo, which earned seven of eight points on a road trip through much of the Central Division that included victories in Dallas, St. Louis and Winnipeg. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 33 saves for the Sabres, a league-best 12-2-2 on the road since Nov. 22.

Kraken 3, Blue Jackets 1

Alex Wennberg scored midway through the second period against his former team to help Seattle beat Columbus.

Wennberg, who was drafted by the Blue Jackets in the first round in 2013, had his 10th goal of the season in his 600th career game.

Morgan Geekie and Eeli Tolvanen also scored for Seattle, former Blue Jacket Oliver Bjorkstrand had an assist, and Phillip Grubauer made 24 saves.

Kent Johnson scored for Columbus, and Elvis Merzlikins stopped 28 shots.

After Wennberg’s gave the Kraken a 2-0 lead, Johnson put Columbus on the board late in the second. Tolvanen scored at 5:39 mark of the third.

Oilers 7, Blackhawks 3

Tyson Barrie scored twice, Connor McDavid had his NHL-best 41st goal and Edmonton headed into its All-Star break with a victory over Chicago.

McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman each had a goal and two assists, and Evander Kane and Ryan McLeod also scored for the Oilers (28-18-4). They are 7-0-1 in their last eight games.

Jason Dickinson, Jonathan Toews and Taylor Raddysh scored for the Blackhawks (15-29-4). They have lost three of their last four.

Oilers netminder Stuart Skinner came down with a sudden illness, forcing them to activate emergency backup goalie Matt Berlin, a player from the University of Alberta Golden Bears. With the big lead, the Oilers put him in net with 2:26 to play, and he stopped the only shot he faced.

Jack Campbell started and made 25 saves for the Oilers.

Petr Mrazek scored 36 shots for Chicago.

Ducks 2, Coyotes 1 (OT)

Trevor Zegras scored at 3:34 of overtime to give Anaheim its first three-game winning streak of the season.

Max Jones also scored, and John Gibson made 32 saves as the Ducks have won four of their past five games.

Nick Ritchie scored and Connor Ingram made 43 saves for the Coyotes.