Jeff Skinner tied the game with 2:36 remaining in regulation and scored again in overtime as Buffalo extended the NHL’s longest win streak of 2018-19 to eight games. The Sabres collected their 15th win by their 23rd game of the season for the sixth time in franchise history and first since 2006-07, when they matched a franchise record with 10 straight wins.

* Skinner netted his 16th and 17th goals of the season to move into a tie with Boston’s David Pastrnak for the League lead. The last time a member of the Sabres held or shared the League lead in goals was Thomas Vanek on Feb. 17, 2013.

* Skinner became the 21st player in the last 10 years to score the game-tying goal within the final five minutes of regulation and then net the overtime winner in a regular-season game. Two players accomplished the feat in 2017-18: Jakub Voracek (Feb. 20) and Mika Zibanejad (March 14).

* Carter Hutton recorded 31 saves to improve to 7-0-0 in his last seven appearances. In 2017-18, 11 different netminders strung together win streaks of seven or more appearances, highlighted by Pekka Rinne’s 11-game run from Feb. 19 - March 19. The last Sabres goaltender to post a winning streak longer than Hutton was Ryan Miller from Oct. 8-30, 2009 (8-0-0).

MORE LATE GAME HEROICS FROM FRIDAY NIGHT
Three other teams benefitted from key goals late in the third period on Friday:

* The Wild scored four consecutive goals in the third period, including Eric Staal's game winner with 2:31 remaining in the final frame, to erase a 2-0 deficit and improve to 8-2-2 at Xcel Energy Center. Minnesota, the second Western Conference club to reach the 30-point mark this season, required 23 or fewer contests to record their 30th point for the third time in franchise history: 2013-14 (21 GP) and 2002-03 (22 GP).

* Nick Ritchie scored his first goal of the season with 16.2 seconds remaining in regulation to tie the game before Rickard Rakell notched the game-winning goal 14 seconds into overtime as the Ducks collected their second straight win. Friday’s contest marked the third time in franchise history the club has tied the game in the final minute of regulation and gone on to score in the opening minute of the extra frame (also March 31, 2014 vs. WPG and Jan. 13, 2008 vs. SJS).

* Marcus Johansson scored a game-tying goal with just 10.2 seconds remaining in the third period to help the Devils salvage a point in an overtime loss. Overall, 11 contests in 2018-19 have seen a game-tying goal scored in the final minute of regulation, with the team that scores late recording a6-0-5 mark in those games.

HOME TEAMS SHINE OVER U.S. THANKSGIVING

Home teams won 13 of 15 games contested on Friday. It marked the first day in NHL history to feature 13 games won by the home team, eclipsing the previous mark of 12 set on Oct. 15, 2016 and matched earlier this week on Wednesday, Nov. 21.

ATKINSON EXTENDS GOAL STREAK TO SIX GAMES

Blue Jackets forward Cam Atkinson scored the game-winning marker while shorthanded to extend his goal streak to six games (8-4—12), matching Auston Matthews (Oct. 3-13) and Nathan MacKinnon (Oct. 4-16) for the longest such run in the NHL this season.

* Only five players in 2017-18 recorded a goal streak of six or more contests, including Nikita Kucherov’s season-opening seven-game stretch from Oct. 6-17, 2017 (8-5—13 in 7 GP), which stands as the last goal streak longer than six contests.

* He now sits one game shy of the longest goal streak in Blue Jackets history, a seven-game run by Geoff Sanderson in 2002-03. Atkinson, who has topped the 20-goal mark in each of his previous five seasons, ranks second in franchise history in goals (159) and game-winning goals (33).

COMPHER SCORES TWO SHORTHANDED GOALS IN 85 SECONDS

Avalanche forward J.T. Compher (2-0—2) scored two shorthanded goals in a span of 1:25 to help the Avalanche earn a third consecutive victory.

* Compher became the fourth player in Avalanche/Nordiques franchise history to score two shorthanded goals in a regular-season game, joiningWilf Paiement on March 13, 1982 vs. CHI, Tony McKegney on Oct. 20, 1984 at TOR and Ryan O'Reilly on Feb. 2, 2010 vs. CBJ.

* In addition, he became the 20th player to score two shorthanded goals in a span of two minutes or less since 1933-34 and just the fourth in the past 15 years, joining Michael Grabner on Feb. 27, 2014 vs. TOR (0:48 w/ NYI), Tobias Rieder on Dec. 1, 2014 at EDM (0:58 w/ ARI) and Chris Tierney on Nov. 11, 2017 vs. VAN (0:26 w/ SJS).

FLYERS BLANK RANGERS IN 2018 DISCOVER NHL THANKSGIVING SHOWDOWN

Sean Couturier (2-1—3), Travis Konecny (1-2—3) and Claude Giroux (0-3—3) each collected three points to power the Flyers to a 4-0 win over the Rangers in the 2018 Discover NHL Thanksgiving Showdown.

* Calvin Pickard, who was acquired by Philadelphia on Oct. 2, turned aside all 31 shots he faced to record his first shutout in a Flyers uniform (10 GP). Philadelphia, which earned a 5-0 win over New York on April 8, blanked the Rangers in two straight regular-season meetings for the third time in franchise history (also Oct. 20-22, 1999 and Dec. 30, 2009 – Jan. 21, 2010).

* Giroux registered his 481st, 482nd and 483rd career assists (all w/ PHI) to pass Brian Propp (480) for sole possession of second place on the franchise’s all-time list. He leads all active Flyers players with 10-38—48 in his regular-season career against the Rangers (50 GP), his second-highest total against one opponent (17-32—49 in 46 GP vs. NYI).

NOTEWORTHY ACHIEVEMENTS REACHED ON FRIDAY

* Joe Thornton, who was honored in a pre-game ceremony at SAP Center for recently reaching the 400-goal and 1,500-game milestones, collected the 1,034th and 1,035th assists of his NHL career to pass Mario Lemieux (1,033) for sole possession of 11th place on the League’s all-time list. Every player ahead of Thornton – other than Jaromir Jagr, who is not yet eligible – has been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

* Marc-Andre Fleury turned aside all 29 shots he faced to record his League-leading fourth shutout of the season and the 52nd of his NHL career to pass Curtis Joseph, Dave Kerr, Rogie Vachon and Tomas Vokoun for sole possession of 24th place on the League’s all-time list.

* Alex Pietrangelo scored his 84th career goal in Friday's contest to move into a tie with Chris Pronger for the second-most goals by a blueliner in Blues franchise history. Al MacInnis (127) is the only defenseman in franchise history with more career tallies with the club.

* Jordan Martinook recorded his first career hat trick to propel the Hurricanes to their third straight win. Martinook, who boosted his season totals to 7-3—10, surpassed his goal total from all of 2017-18 (6 in 81 GP w/ ARI).

QUICK CLICKS

● Brian Boyle scores on Devils’ Hockey Fights Cancer Awareness night
● Filip Forsberg's father was role model, key to his success with Predators

● THIS DATE IN 2000: Scotty Bowman coached his 2,000th regular-season game

● Miro Heiskanen scores twice as Stars put up six goals in win

SNEAK PEEK AT SATURDAY’S ACTION

BROADWAY MATINEE TAKES SPOTLIGHT ON EUROPEAN GAME OF THE WEEK

The Capitals visit the Rangers for a matinee showdown on Broadway between two of the top three clubs in the Metropolitan Division, a contest that will be aired live in primetime across Europe. The full European Game of the Week schedule is available at NHL.com/EGOTW.

* Alex Ovechkin (Moscow, Russia) has scored four goals in his past four games and now sits two goals shy of tying Joe Sakic (625) and Jarome Iginla (625) for 15th place on the NHL’s all-time goals list. Ovechkin will play his 1,026th career game Saturday; Wayne Gretzky (752 GP), Mario Lemieux (758 GP) and Brett Hull (965 GP) are the only players to accumulate 625 career goals in fewer than 1,069 games.