Evander Kane scored a career-high four goals to lead the San Jose Sharks to a crazy 7-4 victory over the Calgary Flames in NHL action Friday night in Calgary. Kane, acquired from the Buffalo Sabres at the trade deadline, hadn’t posted a hat trick in the first eight-plus seasons of his career, but did it and added one for good measure at the Scotiabank Saddledome while running his season goals total to 25.
He opened the scoring exactly six minutes into the affair — a fortunate goal as his long shot ricocheted off the stick of Flames defenseman Dougie Hamilton and into the net — before tying the game 2-2 at the 6:29 mark of the middle frame. Kane added another late in the second period to break open a 3-3 tie and then stuck a dagger in the Flames’ collective hearts with his fourth goal at 1:02 of the third period to make it a 6-3 affair. Sharks goalie Martin Jones made 30 saves in his team’s third straight win.

Predators 4, Avalanche 2
Colton Sissons and Filip Forsberg each had a pair of goals and Nashville became the first team to clinch a Stanley Cup Playoff berth with a victory over Colorado at Pepsi Center. Nashville has gone 13-0-1 in the last 14 games, and extended its point streak to 14 games, tied for the longest in franchise history. Predators goalie Juuse Saros finished with 33 saves. Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon had a goal, extending his points streak to 11 games. Gabriel Landeskog also scored for Colorado, which snapped a three-game winning streak.

Wild 4, Golden Knights 2
Jason Zucker had a goal and an assist and Alex Stalock had 26 saves as Minnesota completed a season sweep of Pacific Division-leading Vegas with a victory at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Charlie Coyle, Matt Dumba and Zach Parise also scored goals for the Wild, who became the first team to defeat the expansion Golden Knights three times this season.
Minnesota (40-24-7, 87 points) also extended its third-place lead in the Central Division to three points over Colorado and Dallas. Erik Haula scored his 28th goal of the season and Ryan Carpenter also scored and Marc-Andre Fleury had 26 saves for Vegas (45-21-5, 95) which dropped its fourth straight home game and saw its division lead shrink to eight points over the San Jose Sharks.

Capitals 6, Islanders 3
Alex Chiasson finished with one goal and two assists, and six Caps scored a goal as Washington defeated New York in DC. The contest was the second part of a home-and-home series with the Islanders. The Capitals beat them 7-3 in Brooklyn on Thursday night. Chiasson got his goal in the third period and assisted on one goal apiece in the second and third periods. The Capitals stretched their winning streak to four.

Senators 3, Stars 2 (OT)
Mike Hoffman slapped home the game-winner at 3:26 of overtime to lead Ottawa over slumping Dallas in Ottawa. Hoffman one-timed a crossing pass from Matt Duchene from the faceoff circle to the left of goalie Ben Bishop and past the right shoulder of Bishop for his 22nd goal of the season. Marian Gaborik and Duchene also had goals for the Senators, who won their third straight game. Craig Anderson stopped 23 shots to pick up his 21st win in goal this season.

Ducks 4, Red Wings 2
Anaheim took one step closer to a potential playoff berth, while Detroit took another step towards improving its odds in the draft lottery. Nick Ritchie, Derek Grant, Corey Perry and Ryan Kesler each scored to lift the Ducks over the Red Wings, helping Anaheim tie both Dallas for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference and Los Angeles for third place in the Pacific Division.