stars 4, flyers 1

Casey DeSmith stopped 27 shots to lead the Dallas Stars to their sixth straight victory, 4-1 over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night.

The Stars won for the seventh time in eight games as they continue their run up the Western Conference standings. Mavrik Bourque and Roope Hintz scored in the first period. Wyatt Johnston made it 3-0 in the second.

Miro Heiskanen added an empty-netter in the third period to help the Stars win for the ninth time in their last 11 games in Philadelphia dating to March 27, 2018.

penguins 5, oilers 3

Sidney Crosby had a goal and two assists to move into ninth on the NHL’s career scoring list as the Pittsburgh Penguins beat Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers 5-3 on Thursday night.

The Penguins captain tied Hall of Famer Joe Sakic at 1,641 points with an assist on Bryan Rust’s first-period goal. Crosby then moved past Sakic with an assist on Drew O’Connor’s sixth goal of the season later in the period as the Penguins raced to a 4-1 advantage.

blue jackets 6, kraken 2

Denton Mateychuk and Luca Del Bel Belluz, both recent callups from the AHL, each had a goal and an assist to help lift the Columbus Blue Jackets over the Seattle Kraken 6-2 on Thursday night.

Zach Werenski also added a goal and an assist, extending his home point streak to 16 games, as the Blue Jackets won their third straight.

rangers 3, devils 2, ot

Sam Carrick scored in overtime and Igor Shesterkin made 21 saves as the New York Rangers beat the New Jersey Devils 3-2 on Thursday night.

Carrick one-timed a pass from Reilly Smith past Devils netminder Jacob Markstrom 2:48 into the extra session.

lightning 4, bruins 1

Brayden Point reached 600 career points with a power-play goal, Andrei Vasilevskiy made 27 saves and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Boston Bruins 4-1 on Thursday night.

Brandon Hagel had a goal and an assist, Michael Eyssimont and Anthony Cirelli scored goals 5:03 apart in the second period, and Ryan McDonagh had two assists.

blues 6, ducks 2

Robert Thomas scored twice and the St. Louis Blues beat the Anaheim Ducks 6-2 on Thursday night.

Jordan Kyrou and Pavel Buchnevich each had a goal and an assist, and Tyler Tucker and Dylan Holloway also scored for St. Louis. Brayden Schenn had two assists and Joel Hofer stopped 22 shots.

Nikita Nesterenko and Sam Colangelo scored for the Ducks. Lukas Dostal gave up six goals on 22 shots before he was replaced midway through the second period. John Gibson stopped all 12 shots he faced.

The Blues scored three goals on their first six shots as Thomas, Tucker and Kyrou tallied in the first 6:40 of the game. The fourth goal came on the Blues’ 13th shot by Holloway with 6:05 remaining in the first period.