PITTSBURGH – Erik Karlsson scored 1:40 into overtime and the Pittsburgh Penguins bolstered their playoff odds with a 6-5 win over Detroit Red Wings.
Sidney Crosby set up Karlsson´s winner to become the 14th player in NHL history to reach 1,000 career assists. Crosby finished with a goal and two assists to move past Hall of Famer Phil Esposito and into 10th on the NHL´s all-time scoring list.
The longtime Penguins captain assisted on Drew O´Connor´s first-period goal to reach 999 career assists, AP reported.
Crosby then redirected a beautiful pass from Bryan Rust in the second period to move into a tie with Esposito with 1,590 points. Crosby moved past Esposito in the extra period by feeding Karlsson.
Rust added a goal for Pittsburgh. Kris Letang and Jeff Carter both scored their 10th goals and Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 25 shots as the Penguins leapfrogged Washington to move into the Eastern Conference´s second wild-card spot with three games remaining.
Bobby Brink scored the go-ahead goal early in the second period, Samuel Ersson made 24 saves and Philadelphia snapped an eight-game losing streak with a win over New York.
Cam York, Travis Konecny and Noah Cates also scored for the Flyers, who were 0-6-2 since defeating Boston at home on March 23. Ryan Poehling added two assists as Philadelphia stayed alive in the tight Eastern Conference playoff race.
The Rangers had won seven in a row against the Flyers and were 10-0-1 in their last 11 meetings with Philadelphia.
Ersson improved to 22-18-7 while allowing only a goal to Artemi Panarin.
The Rangers remained at 53 wins, one shy of a franchise record.
York opened the scoring at 4:21 of the first, rifling the puck past Jonathan Quick for his 10th goal.
