PITTSBURGH: Phil Kessel scored twice as the surging Pittsburgh Penguins moved within striking distance of a 10th straight playoff berth with a 5-2 win over the Nashville Predators on Thursday night.

Kris Letang, Patric Hornqvist and Nick Bonino also scored for Pittsburgh, which improved to 10-1 in its last 11 games. The Penguins will clinch a spot in the postseason if Detroit loses in regulation on Friday against Minnesota. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 22 shots to reach the 35-win plateau for the seventh time in his career.

James Neal and Ryan Johansen each had a goal and an assist for the Predators, who failed for a third straight game to wrap up a playoff bid.

Meanwhile Jonathan Huberdeau scored twice to move Florida back into first place in the Atlantic Division with a 3-2 win over New Jersey.

Jaromir Jagr had a pair of assists and Al Montoya made 23 saves for Florida, which broke a tie with Tampa Bay for the division lead. Jagr’s assist on the play gave him 60 points in a season for the 18th time.

Tampa Bay’s night got worse when they lost 3-0 at home to Montreal, whose rookie Mike Condon made 26 saves for his first NHL shutout.

In Dallas, Jamie Benn scored his 40th goal and Antti Niemi made 31 saves to help the Stars beat Arizona 4-1 and move two points ahead in the Western Conference race.

Dallas (103 points) pulled away from second-placed St. Louis (101). The Stars have four games remaining, and the Blues have five. The loss eliminated the Coyotes from playoff contention.

The Kings’ Jeff Carter scored twice, Jonathan Quick made 21 saves in his fifth shutout of the season as Los Angeles reclaimed the Pacific Division lead with a 3-0 win over Calgary.

The Kings moved one point ahead of the idle Anaheim Ducks with their 46th win this season, tying the franchise record most recently set in their Stanley Cup-winning 2013-14 campaign.

Quick earned his 42nd career shutout, extending his own NHL record for American-born goalies. He also earned his 39th win of the season to match the franchise single-season record, which he set in 2009-10.

In San Jose, Jannik Hansen scored the tiebreaking goal with 5:03 remaining as Vancouver snapped a nine-game losing streak by beating the Sharks 4-2.

Daniel Sedin and Bo Horvat scored in the first period and the Canucks rebounded after blowing another late lead to avoid matching the longest losing streak in franchise history.

Patrick Marleau and Logan Couture scored for the Sharks, who lost for the 22nd time at home this season and will now likely have to open the playoffs on the road.

In New York, John Tavares scored twice and Anders Lee got a power-play goal 5:23 into the third period to lift the Islanders over Columbus, 4-3.

Thomas Hickey also scored for New York, which improved to 42-25-9. The Islanders have won three straight to get to 93 points and have solidified their grip on the first Eastern Conference wild-card berth.

In other games, Carolina won at home against the New York Rangers 4-3, St. Paul, Cody Ceci got a goal with 3:57 left that deflected off two Minnesota players to help Ottawa beat the Wild 3-2, and Buffalo scored its seventh straight home win over Toronto, 4-1.