NHL-Highlights of Friday's NHL games

March 27 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights of Friday's National Hockey League games. - - - Blue Jackets 5, Blackhawks 2 Cam Atkinson scored a hat-trick to lead the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 5-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks. Ryan Johansen and Kevin Connauton also scored for Columbus, who set a franchise record with their seventh straight road win. The Blue Jackets (35-35-4) increased their overall winning streak to five games and improved to 9-2-0 since March 6. Brandon Saad and Jonathan Toews scored for Chicago (44-24-6), who dropped to 0-3-1 in their past four games. - - - Wild 4, Flames 2 Minnesota winger Thomas Vanek scored in the third period as the Wild eked out a 4-2 win over the Flames, boosting their playoff chances while dealing a serious blow to Calgary's. Matt Dumba, Zach Parise and Mikko Koivu also scored for Minnesota (43-25-7), who got 23 saves from goalie Devan Dubnyk and moved within a point of Chicago for third in the Central. Calgary (40-28-7) could have overtaken the Los Angeles Kings for third in the Pacific Division with a win. (Editing by Peter Rutherford)