NHL-Highlights of Thursday's NHL games

(Adds later games) Dec 12 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights of Thursday's National Hockey League games. - - - Sharks 3, Wild 1 Joe Pavelski scored two of San Jose's season-high three power-play goals as the Sharks snapped a four-game winless streak with a 3-1 win over the Minnesota Wild. The Sharks were sharp on special teams, converting three of seven power-play chances, including two in the opening period. In addition, they snuffed out all three Minnesota power plays. Goaltender Antti Niemi stopped 28 of 29 shots. - - - Flyers 2, Canadiens 1 Claude Giroux had a goal and assist and goaltender Steve Mason made 20 saves to help the Philadelphia Flyers edge the Montreal Canadiens 2-1. Michael Raffl also scored a goal and Jakub Voracek had two assists for Philadelphia (14-15-3), who made it six straight home wins. The Canadiens (19-11-3) have lost two in a row. - - - Blue Jackets 4, Rangers 2 The Columbus Blue Jackets beat the New York Rangers 4-2, picking up two important points in the Metropolitan Division in the process. The win moved the Blue Jackets into a tie with the Rangers (31 points each) for fourth place in the division. The Rangers (15-17-1) dropped their third straight while Columbus (13-15-3) won for the fourth time in their last five games. - - - Senators 2, Sabres 1 Zack Smith scored his third game-winning goal of the season in the Ottawa Senators' 2-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres. Smith took a pass from Kyle Turris and roofed a shot just under the crossbar at 6:39 of the second period for his fifth goal of the season. Ottawa (13-14-6) held on to avenge a 2-1 shootout loss to the Sabres (7-23-2) earlier this week in Buffalo. Winger Bobby Ryan also scored for the Senators and added an assist for a two-point night. - - - Lightning 2, Red Wings 1 (shootout) Martin St. Louis scored in the sixth round of the shootout and goalie Ben Bishop stopped Johan Franzen as the Tampa Bay Lightning outlasted the Detroit Red Wings 2-1. The two goalies stopped the first 10 shots in the shootout, but St. Louis beat Detroit's Jonas Gustavsson to the left and then Bishop stopped Franzen to allow the Lightning's home dominance to trump Detroit's road success this season. The two teams entered the game separated by just one point in the Eastern Conference standings, but the location played to both teams' strengths. Detroit came to town with a 10-3-2 road record as one of the NHL's top road teams, and the Lightning was 11-3-1 at home, also among the league's best. - - - Blues 6, Maples Leafs 3 Jaden Schwartz scored a goal and added two assists to lead the St. Louis Blues to a 6-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs. Schwartz scored one of three St. Louis goals in the first period, which prompted the Maple Leafs to pull starting goaltender James Reimer just 16:10 into the game. The loss extended the Maple Leafs streak without a win in regulation to 12 consecutive games. - - - Predators 3, Stars 1 Patric Hornqvist and David Legwand scored in the first period's final minute after the Dallas Stars took two penalties seven seconds apart, and the Nashville Predators earned a 3-1 win. Goaltender Carter Hutton (6-3-1) recorded 33 saves for the Predators (15-14-3), who won their second consecutive game after losing five straight. Dallas (14-11-5) lost for the third time in their past four games. - - - Avalanche 4, Jets 3 (shootout) Colorado center Matt Duchene snapped a seven-game drought with a pair of goals in regulation time and then scored in the shootout to propel the Avalanche to a 4-3 victory over the Winnipeg Jets. Duchene, who had not scored since returning to the Avalanche lineup on Nov. 29 after missing three games with an abdominal injury, scored his 13th and 14th goals of the season. He also beat Jets goaltender Ondrej Pavelec in the shootout before winger P.A. Parenteau sealed it with another goal in the shootout. Colorado upped their record to 21-9-0, while the Jets remain at .500 with a 14-14-5 record. - - - Coyotes 6, Islanders 3 Rob Klinkhammer scored two goals and recorded his first career three-point game, and Mikkel Boedker added two goals, as the Phoenix Coyotes earned a 6-3 victory over the New York Islanders. Mike Ribeiro added a goal and two assists, defenseman Keith Yandle had a goal and an assist and Klinkhammer also had an assist for the Coyotes (18-8-5), who avenged a 6-1 loss on the East Coast in the third game of the season. John Tavares scored his 13th goal of the season for the Islanders (9-19-5). - - - Flames 2, Hurricanes 1 (overtime) Brian McGrattan scored his first goal of the season and defenseman Chris Butler notched his second with 3.6 seconds left in overtime as the Flames registered a 2-1 victory against the Carolina Hurricanes. Jeff Skinner scored for the Hurricanes, the only blemish of the night for Flames goalie Karri Ramo, who made 29 saves. The Flames improved to 12-15-4, while the Hurricanes fell to 13-13-7. - - - Bruins 4, Oilers 2 The Boston Bruins barely had enough gas to make it to the finish line, but they still managed to get there two goals faster than the Edmonton Oilers. The injured and flu-stricken Bruins were seriously short-staffed when they arrived in Edmonton, but summoned enough energy to build a 3-0 lead and cling to it for dear life, and the final 40 minutes of a 4-2 victory. (Editing by Peter Rutherford)