Which NHL teams could be interested in potential free agent Brandon Saad? There's speculation about the Blues forward and players on the Islanders and Rangers.

No NHL team is playing better right now than the surging New York Islanders, who will hunt for their seventh straight win when they visit the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night.

Ilya Sorokin made 23 saves for his third shutout of the season, Marc Gatcomb scored his first NHL goal and the New York Islanders won their sixth straight game with a 3-0 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night.

After a string of wins and impressive performances, the New York Islanders now find themselves just four points back of a Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference.

New York moved up in the East's tight wild-card race on Thursday, defeating the Philadelphia Flyers, 3-0, for a sixth straight win.

The New York Islanders are still holding out for ... suggested that the team deals veteran winger Kyle Palmieri to another team fighting for a playoff berth: the Los Angeles Kings.

- Max Tsyplakov dropped the gloves with Scott Laughton in the first period for his first NHL fight. The scuffle settled the lingering animosity between Tsyplakov and the Flyers from Tsyplakov’s hit on Ryan Poehling on Jan. 16.

MacKinnon leads the NHL in points (77) and assists (58). Among NHL defensemen, Makar is first in goals (18), tied for first in points (56) and being for second in assists (38). Necas is seventh in the NHL in assists (41).

Brock Nelson also scored and Kyle Palmieri added two assists for the Islanders, who have won six of their last eight games.

The tremors from the Mikko Rantanen blockbuster were still echoing around the league when another bomb dropped in Vancouver this week.

The Tampa Bay Lightning host the New York Islanders after Brandon Hagel's two-goal game against the Los Angeles Kings in the Lightning's 3-0 win.

No. 2 Michigan State allowed two goals in the third period in a 4-2 loss against No. 11 Ohio State on Thursday at Value City Arena.