SAN JOSE: The San Jose Sharks reclaimed a share of the NHL lead with a 2-1 overtime win over the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday.
Dany Heatley scored on a breakaway four minutes into overtime to give San Jose its ninth victory in 10 games, drawing level with Chicago on 63 points.
Andy McDonald gave St. Louis the lead, but Patrick Marleau tied it on a power-play goal with 7:09 left in regulation.
Sharks goalie and Evgeni Nabokov made 28 saves.
The Blues lost their sixth straight and second since interim coach Davis Payne took over from the fired Andy Murray.
Sabres 5, Lightning 3: In Buffalo, New York, Buffalo scored three times in just over two minutes at the start of the game to set up a win over Tampa Bay, boosting its lead in the NHL’s Northeast Division.
Tyler Myers, Jochen Hecht and Clarke MacArthur gave Buffalo its quickest ever start to a game at 3-0 after 2:11, and Ryan Miller made 36 saves in his 300th NHL game to hold off Tampa Bay’s comeback attempt.
Drew Stafford and Jason Pominville also scored to help the Sabres win a fifth straight game, their longest winning streak for two seasons.
The Lightning’s goals came from Martin St. Louis, Victor Hedman and Vincent Lecavalier.
Wild 4, Flames 1: In St. Paul, Minnesota, Eric Belanger scored twice, and Kyle Brodziak and Cal Clutterbuck added goals as Minnesota downed Calgary.
Niklas Backstrom made 25 saves for Minnesota, which snapped a four-game losing skid and ended Calgary’s winning streak at five.
Olli Jokinen scored for the Flames.
Islanders 3, Avalanche 2: In Denver, Kyle Okposo scored on a 3-on-1 rush with 3:17 remaining as New York beat Colorado in the lone meeting between the teams this season.
Rob Schremp and Jon Sim also scored for the Islanders.
Chris Stewart and Matt Hendricks and scored for Colorado.
Rangers 5, Stars 2: In New York, Sean Avery exacted revenge on Dallas a year after they dumped him, scoring a goal and setting up three others for New York to match his career best with four points.
Avery’s stay with the Stars lasted only 23 games into a four-year, $15.5 million contract that he signed before last season.
The NHL suspended him in December after making crude comments about his former girlfriends dating other players.
He never again played for the Stars, who waived him in February.
Marian Gaborik scored his NHL-leading 28th goal, and Ales Kotalik, Chris Drury and Ryan Callahan also scored for New York.
Dallas got goals from Brad Richards and Jere Lehtinen.
Flyers 6, Maple Leafs 2: In Philadelphia, Danny Briere scored two goals to reach the 500-point plateau as Philadelphia routed Toronto in a fight-filled game.
Danny Syvret, Dan Carcillo, Mike Richards and James van Riemsdyk also scored for the Flyers.
Nikolai Kulemin and Alexei Ponikarovsky netted for Toronto.
