Budaj, Carter lead Kings over Flyers in OT, 5th win in row

Budaj posted his NHL-leading seventh shutout, Carter scored midway through overtime and the Kings won their fifth in a row, beating the Flyers 1-0 on Saturday in Philadelphia.

Anze Kopitar set up the winning goal at 2:35 with a backhand pass across the crease to Carter, who whizzed a wrist shot off goalie Michal Neuvirth and into the net.

Budaj is filling in for starting goalie Jonathan Quick, who hasn’t played since suffering a groin injury on opening night.

Jarome Iginla had a goal and an assist, Matt Nieto scored twice and Matt Duchene added three assists, helping host Colorado stop a nine-game losing streak.

Kessel slammed home a loose puck in front of the Columbus net 3:15 into overtime for his 17th of the season and second of the night as the Penguins pulled two points behind the second-place Blue Jackets in the taut Metropolitan Division.

Pittsburgh squandered a two-goal third-period lead, but improved to an NHL-best 22-3-2 at home when Kessel turned the only power play of the game into the 626th point of his 11-year career.

Following a slow start to the season, Kessel has 29 points (11 goals, 18 assists) in his past 27 games.

Reilly Smith also tallied for the Panthers, and Aleksander Barkov had an assist in his return after missing 15 games because of injury.

Red Wings 5, Islanders 4:

The Red Wings avoided losing a season-high sixth straight game.

Defenseman TJ Brodie had four assists, the last on Mikael Backlund’s goal at 1:13 of overtime, and Calgary handed New Jersey its seventh straight loss at home.

Sebastian Aho scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period as host Carolina split the season series.