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CHICAGO
Jonathan Toews scored twice while Richard Panik and Artemi Panarin each had one in the third period to erase Colorado's two-goal lead and rally the Chicago Blackhawks past the Avalanche 6-3 on Sunday night for their fifth straight win.
Patrick Kane scored his team-leading 32nd goal and Marcus Kruger added an empty-netter for Chicago, which won for the 17th time in its last 20 games to pull seven points ahead of second-place Minnesota in the Central Division. The Wild dropped their fifth straight, 5-4 to Winnipeg on Sunday.
With Chicago trailing 3-1, Toews tipped in Kane's bouncing shot at 10:17 of the third period to cut it to 3-2. The goal withstood a video review that showed Toews may have been offside. Panik rifled in a loose puck from the slot 17 seconds later to tie it at 3. Panarin put Chicago ahead 4-3 just 17 seconds after that.
Chicago backup Scott Darling stopped 22 shots to extend his winning streak to six games.
Mikhail Grigorenko scored twice and Sven Andrighetto had a goal for the last-place Avalanche.
Penguins 4, Panthers 0
Sidney Crosby again picked up the slack with Evgeni Malkin out, getting his 10th career hat trick and leading the Pittsburgh Penguins past the Florida Panthers.
Crosby's natural hat trick came in a span of 11 minutes between the second and the third period, pushing his goal total to an NHL-high 40 and moving him into a tie with Edmonton's Conner McDavid for the league scoring lead with 80 points. Linemates Conor Sheary and Jake Guentzel assisted on all three of Crosby's goals.
Patric Hornqvist added his 18th of the season for Pittsburgh. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 21 shots for his 44th career shutout. The Penguins remained one point behind Columbus for second place in the Metropolitan Division behind Washington.
Florida's Jaromir Jagr joined Gordie Howe, Mark Messier and Ron Francis as only players in NHL history to play in 1,700 games but the Panthers saw their fading playoff hopes take another hit. Reimer finished with 24 saves but received little help from those in front of him.
Flames 5, Kings 2
Linemates Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan had a goal and two assists each to lead Calgary over Los Angeles.
Michael Stone, Mark Giordano and Kris Versteeg also scored for the Flames, and Brian Elliott made 19 saves for his 11th straight win to tie a club record set by Mike Vernon in the 1988-89 season.
The Flames moved into third in the Pacific Division past the Edmonton Oilers, who will host Los Angeles on Monday. Calgary got its second straight win and 12th in its past 13 games.
Anze Kopitar and Nic Dowd scored for the Kings, who remain six points behind the Nashville Predators for the final Western Conference wild card.
Goalie Jonathan Quick started for the Kings but was replaced by Ben Bishop at 11:36 of the first period after giving up two goals on seven shots. Bishop stopped 14 of 16 shots.
Blue Jackets 4, Devils 1
Lukas Sedlak and Brandon Dubinsky scored on penalty shots and the Columbus Blue Jackets clinched their third playoff berth in franchise history with a victory over the New Jersey Devils.
This was only the third time in NHL history that a team scored twice in a game on penalty shots. Thomas Gradin and Ivan Hlinka of Vancouver did it against Detroit in 1982, and Ryane Clowe and Joe Thornton of San Jose converted against Washington in 2009.
