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New York • Anders Lee scored the tiebreaking goal with 27 seconds remaining to lift the New York Islanders to a 5-3 victory over the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night.

Thomas Hickey fired a slap shot from the point that deflected off Lee's stick and past goalie Matt Murray to help the Islanders recover after giving up a three-goal lead in the third period.

With Murray pulled on the ensuing faceoff, Nikolay Kulemin scored into the empty net 3 seconds later to give the Islanders consecutive victories for the second time this season.

Johnny Boychuk, Jason Chimera and Casey Cizikas also scored for the Islanders, and Thomas Greiss made 31 saves. They led 3-0 after two periods.

Conor Sheary, Justin Schultz and Evgeni Malkin scored in the first 13:08 of the third period for the Penguins. Murray finished with 25 saves while starting for the third time in four games.

The Islanders had not scored more than two goals in their last eight games — including a 3-2, 14-round shootout win at Anaheim on Nov. 22.

The Penguins came out aggressive in the third and quickly got on the scoreboard when Sheary knocked in a rebound past Greiss 32 seconds in. Phil Kessel had a breakaway a minute later but was stoned by Greiss.

Schultz pulled the Penguins within one when he skated in across the left faceoff circle and fired a shot top shelf with 9:20 remaining. Malkin then tied it with a wrister past Greiss 2:28 later with his ninth of the season.

Flames 3, Maple Leafs 0 • At Calgary, Alberta, Freddie Hamilton and Kris Versteeg scored in the first minute and Chad Johnson made 39 saves in the Flames' victory. Hamilton one-timed a centering pass from Micheal Ferland past Jhonas Enroth high on the glove side for his first of the season 19 seconds in. Thirty seconds later, Versteeg buried his third of the season. Sean Monahan was initially stopped from the slot, but Enroth kicked the rebound to Versteeg. —

NHL standings

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Atlantic GP W L OT Pts GF GA

Montreal 23 16 5 2 34 68 50

Ottawa 23 14 8 1 29 55 56

Tampa Bay 24 13 10 1 27 71 65

Boston 23 12 10 1 25 55 53

Detroit 23 11 10 2 24 57 59

Florida 23 11 10 2 24 58 60

Toronto 23 10 9 4 24 70 74

Buffalo 22 8 9 5 21 44 57

Metropolitan GP W L OT Pts GF GA

N.Y. Rangers 24 16 7 1 33 88 59

Pittsburgh 23 13 7 3 29 69 70

Washington 21 13 6 2 28 57 48

Columbus 21 12 5 4 28 67 48

New Jersey 22 10 7 5 25 55 58

Philadelphia 24 11 10 3 25 77 80

Carolina 22 9 9 4 22 54 59

N.Y. Islanders 22 8 10 4 20 56 67

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Central GP W L OT Pts GF GA

Chicago 24 15 6 3 33 68 60

St. Louis 23 13 7 3 29 62 63

Nashville 22 11 8 3 25 65 57

Minnesota 22 11 8 3 25 62 47

Dallas 24 9 9 6 24 61 79

Winnipeg 25 11 12 2 24 66 72

Colorado 21 9 11 1 19 47 63

Pacific GP W L OT Pts GF GA

San Jose 23 13 9 1 27 54 49

Anaheim 23 11 8 4 26 59 55

Edmonton 24 12 10 2 26 70 63

Los Angeles 22 12 9 1 25 57 54

Calgary 26 11 13 2 24 60 77

Vancouver 23 10 11 2 22 54 70

Arizona 21 8 10 3 19 51 65

Wednesday's games

N.Y. Islanders 5, Pittsburgh 3

Calgary 3, Toronto 0

San Jose at Los Angeles, late

Thursday's games

N.Y. Rangers at Buffalo, 5 p.m.

Dallas at Pittsburgh, 5 p.m.

N.Y. Islanders at Washington, 5 p.m.

Carolina at Boston, 5 p.m.

Philadelphia at Ottawa, 5:30 p.m.

Florida at Detroit, 5:30 p.m.

Edmonton at Winnipeg, 6 p.m.

Tampa Bay at St. Louis, 6 p.m.

New Jersey at Chicago, 6:30 p.m.

Columbus at Colorado, 7 p.m.

Los Angeles at Arizona, 7 p.m.

Anaheim at Vancouver, 8 p.m.

—

ECHL scores

Wednesday's games

Reading 4, Wheeling 2

Kalamazoo 4, Elmira 3, OT

Greenville 4, Atlanta 1

Allen 1, Missouri 0

Alaska at Idaho, late

Thursday's game

Quad City at Brampton, 9 a.m.