Adam Cracknell has Aaron Dell's failed breakout pass to thank for his first career hat trick.

The Dallas Stars forward hit the milestone early in the third period after Dell - with his club on the power play - fanned on a pass, allowing Cracknell to walk in on a breakaway and snap his third goal of the game glove side.

The trio of goals gave Cracknell 10 on the year, marking the first time in his career the 31-year-old hit double digits.

(Video courtesy: NHL.com)

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Pick and roll.

Nikita Kucherov secured a critical bonus point for the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday versus Detroit, creating space in the attacking zone with some subtle interference before darting to the near post to tap in an overtime winner off a feed from Brayden Point.

His winner on the heels of a hat-trick performance over Boston, the sudden MVP candidate has dragged the Lightning back to within a point of postseason position.

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PITTSBURGH - John Tavares and Anthony Beauvillier scored in the shootout to lead the New York Islanders over the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 on Friday night.

Beauvillier opened the shootout with a goal, and Tavares snapped a wrist shot past Marc-Andre Fleury in the next round. Sidney Crosby scored in the shootout for Pittsburgh, but Jaroslav Halak, making his first start since Dec. 29, stopped Phil Kessel and Nick Bonino.

Anders Lee scored his 28th goal of the season, while Brock Nelson got his 17th, and Casey Cizikas his eighth for the Islanders, who moved into the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. New York is tied with Boston at 82 points, but the Islanders have a game in hand on the Bruins. The Islanders have 18 wins in 31 games since Doug Weight was named interim coach on Jan. 17, replacing Jack Capuano.

Halak, a former All-Star, made 37 saves. He got the nod one day after he was recalled from Bridgeport of the American Hockey League. Halak, who has seven wins in 20 games, allowed four goals on 24 shots during a loss at Minnesota in his most recent start.

Crosby extended his NHL lead with his 42nd goal. He is five points behind Edmonton forward Connor McDavid for the NHL scoring lead. Cameron Gaunce scored his first with the Penguins and second of his career. Matt Cullen also scored his 11th for the Penguins, who missed out on an opportunity to pull even with the Washington Capitals atop the Metropolitan Division. Pittsburgh, with eight wins in its last 12 games, is one point behind the Capitals and two ahead of Columbus for third place. Fleury made 43 saves.

Cullen tied the game with 6:10 to play. He converted the rebound past Halak after Gaunce's drive to the net.

The Penguins have remained in contention despite playing without a host of regular contributors.

Former NHL MVP Evgeni Malkin missed his fifth straight game with an upper-body injury, but forward Bryan Rust, who was also out with an upper-body injury, returned on Friday after missing 20 games.

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said Malkin is making progress, in addition to other injured regulars who are also skating. The list includes Kris Letang (upper body), Trevor Daley (knee), Olli Maatta (hand) and Ron Hainsey (upper body). Maatta has missed 17 games, while Letang and Daley have both been sidelined 14 games.

The Islanders hit three posts in the first period and had a goal waived off as time expired.

Nelson scored for the Islanders, but the goal was disallowed following Pittsburgh's challenge for goaltender interference.

Nelson scored again in the second period and this one counted. Nelson tied the game after Gaunce opened the scoring early in the period for Pittsburgh.

Lee gave the Islanders the lead later in the period, a goal that was upheld after Pittsburgh challenged for offsides. Tavares recorded his 300th NHL assist and Josh Bailey his 300th point on the goal.

Crosby's goal tied it, but Cizikas gave the Islanders the lead, scoring with 4.5 seconds left in the second period. Tavares stripped Chad Ruhwedel of the puck in the defensive zone and set up Cizikas for the goal.

NOTES: Penguins F Nick Bonino played in his 400th NHL game. ... Islanders F Ryan Strome is out three to six weeks with an upper-body injury. Strome, who left Wednesday's win against the New York Rangers, has 13 goals and 30 points in 69 games. ... Islanders D Johnny Boychuk missed his 10th straight game with a lower-body injury.

UP NEXT

Islanders: Host Boston on Saturday.

Penguins: Welcome Philadelphia on Sunday.

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The NHLPA has thrown its support behind the U.S. women's national team and its ongoing labor dispute with USA Hockey, releasing this statement Friday:

The defending world champion announced it will boycott the upcoming world championships on home soil if "significant progress" isn't made in negotiations with USA Hockey over unfair wages and inequitable support.

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Now that's how you work a faceoff.

Cody Eakin, Ales Hemsky, and Jamie Benn worked a beautiful tic-tac-toe off an offensive zone draw in the San Jose Sharks' end to perfection that led to an easy open-net goal for Benn.

The goal was Benn's 25th of the year and gave the Stars a commanding 3-0 lead, which they would stretch to four shortly after.

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Henrik Zetterberg has now scored the sixth-most goals in Detroit Red Wings history.

The 36-year-old snapped his 16th of the season and 325th of his career past Tampa Bay Lightning netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy on Friday night to surpass Norm Ullman on the franchise list.

With four years remaining on his contract, Zetterberg should have no problem moving farther up the list. With 11 more goals, he'll surpass Ted Lindsay's mark of 335.

(Video courtesy: NHL.com)

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Sidney Crosby's agent, Pat Brisson, didn't take kindly to comments made by Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk regarding Crosby's slash on Marc Methot.

Melnyk called Crosby a "whiner beyond belief," insisting he should be suspended the rest of the season for his slash during Thursday night's game that left Mehot with a shattered finger.

Related: Crosby hacks off portion of Methot's finger

In response, Brisson suggested Melnyk and any other team owner should be fined for speaking ill of an opposing team's players.

"In my opinion, a team owner who makes a negative comment about a player outside of his organization should be fined for such action," Brisson said, according to TSN's Darren Dreger. "It's worse than tampering and against the culture of our game."

Following Thursday's game, Crosby insisted he was trying to slash Methot's stick on the play, and NHL deputy commissioner told ESPN's Pierre LeBrun that he wouldn't be suspended.

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The slash heard 'round the hockey world continues to make headlines.

And, unsurprisingly, Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan is standing by his guy, his captain, his best player, Sidney Crosby, after No. 87 knocked Ottawa defenseman Marc Methot out of the Senators' lineup for the foreseeable future thanks to a wicked slash that cost Methot part of his finger.

"I see Sid go through that on a nightly basis, he plays through it," Sullivan said Friday evening, according to the Penguins' website.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said earlier Friday that Crosby won't be disciplined, a decision that obviously doesn't sit well with some people - especially Senators owner Eugene Melnyk.

"We all know who he is, and the guy's just a whiner beyond belief and (if) you do this kind of stuff, I don't care who you are in the league, I don't care if you're the No. 1 player in the league," Melnyk said, not holding anything back. "You should sit out a long time for this kind of crap."

As one of the top players in the league, Crosby's always got a target on his back, and he certainly takes his fair share of abuse. He took a high stick Tuesday night in Buffalo and lost a couple of teeth, but that's a far cry from what happened to Methot, as the Senators now face a future without a defenseman who plays almost 20 minutes a night.

In other words, get used to conversations about preferential treatment for superstars. They're not going anywhere.

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