Miro Heiskanen had a goal and two assists and Jason Robertson added one of each as the Dallas Stars clinched their first Central Division title since 2016 with a 3-1 victory against the visiting Seattle Kraken on Saturday afternoon.
Craig Smith also scored for the Stars, who had a chance to clinch the Western Conference regular-season crown if Vancouver lost in regulation at Edmonton, but the Canucks won 3-1. Jake Oettinger made 26 saves as Dallas remained one point behind the New York Rangers for first place overall in the NHL.
Jake Oettinger made 26 saves as Dallas remained one point behind the New York Rangers for first place overall in the NHL. Kailer Yamamoto scored and Philipp Grubauer stopped 27 of 30 shots for the Kraken, who have already been eliminated from playoff contention.
The Stars scored in the final minute in each of the first two periods. Seattle spoiled Oettinger’s shutout bid at 14:11 as Tomas Tatar stole Oettinger’s clearance attempt along the left-wing boards and fed Yamamoto for a tip-in at the top of the crease.
Rangers 3, Islanders 2 (SO)
Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck scored in the shootout as the host Rangers rallied late for a victory over the Islanders.
Panarin also netted the tying goal to extend his points streak to 12 games when his shot from the right circle went over Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin and banked off the top of the net with 4:17 remaining in regulation. The goal gave him 118 points — five shy of Jaromir Jagr’s 2005-06 single-season team record.
Panarin scored in the first round of the shootout and Trocheck netted the clinching goal in the third round as the Rangers set a team record for regular-season wins (54) and pulled three points ahead of the Carolina Hurricanes in the Metropolitan Division race. Brock Nelson scored twice in the final 8:18 of the second period for the Islanders, who saw a season-high tying six-game winning streak stopped.
Red Wings 5, Maple Leafs 4 (OT)
Captain Dylan Larkin scored a power-play goal 41 seconds into overtime to fuel Detroit’s win over host Toronto.
The Red Wings are tied with the Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers for the Eastern Conference’s second wild card. Alex DeBrincat scored two goals, David Perron and Larkin each collected a goal and an assist and defenseman Simon Edvinsson also tallied. James Reimer celebrated playing in his 500th career game by making 32 saves against his former team for the Red Wings.
Toronto’s Auston Matthews netted his NHL-leading 69th goal to extend his goal-scoring streak to a career-high eight games and his point streak to 14 games. Matthews’ goal total is the most in the NHL since Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux had 69 in 1995-96. Mitch Marner collected a goal and two assists and captain John Tavares and Nicholas Robertson also tallied. Ilya Samsonov turned aside 27 shots for the Maple Leafs.
Bruins 6, Penguins 4
Pavel Zacha had a goal and an assist as visiting Boston beat Pittsburgh to move into first place in the Atlantic Division.
Jake DeBrusk, Kevin Shattenkirk, Brad Marchand, Morgan Geekie and Danton Heinen also scored, and Charlie Coyle and David Pastrnak each added two assists for the Bruins, who have won five of six. Boston goaltender Linus Ullmark made 28 saves.
Michael Bunting scored twice, Drew O’Connor had a goal and an assist, and Bryan Rust also scored for the Penguins, who had their 10-game point streak (7-0-3) snapped and are one point behind a trio of teams that are tied for the second wild-card berth in the East.
Flyers 1, Devils 0
Travis Konecny scored his NHL-best sixth short-handed goal midway through the second period and Philadelphia kept its playoff chances alive with a victory over visiting New Jersey.
The Flyers won their second straight after getting outscored 42-18 in an eight-game losing streak. Philadelphia posted consecutive wins for the first time since a four-game winning streak Feb. 6-12. Konecny scored Philadelphia’s 16th short-handed goal and first since Jan. 6, reaching 400 career points in the process. Philadelphia goalie Samuel Ersson made 20 saves for his fourth shutout this season and his fifth career shutout.
The Devils dropped to 2-5-1 in their past eight games and mustered little offense after earning a 6-5 win in Toronto Thursday. New Jersey was blanked for the fourth time this season after scoring 12 goals in the first three meetings with the Flyers.
Jets 7, Avalanche 0
Sean Monahan had two goals and an assist, Adam Lowry also scored twice, and Winnipeg routed Colorado in a preview of their first-round playoff series.
Connor Hellebuyck had 30 saves for his fifth shutout of the season and the second in a row for the Jets, who have won six straight.
The Avalanche have dropped four of their past six games. Colorado also lost defenseman Samuel Girard to an upper-body injury in the first period. He didn’t return.
Panthers 3, Sabres 2 (OT)
Sam Reinhart scored with 1:02 left in overtime as Florida continued its run of dominance over Buffalo with a win in Sunrise, Fla.
Reinhart beat his former team with his 55th goal this season and his 10th game-winner of the season. The Panthers clinched home-ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs, where they will face either the Toronto Maple Leafs or Tampa Bay Lightning.
Over the past three seasons, Florida has defeated Buffalo in 10 of 11 meetings. Anton Lundell and Kevin Stenlund also scored for the Panthers.
Capitals 4, Lightning 2
John Carlson set a franchise record with a tiebreaking power-play goal in the third period and Washington boosted its playoff chances with a win over visiting Tampa Bay.
At 8:29 of the third, Carlson put Washington ahead 3-2 with his 150th career goal — and ninth of the season. He now has the most markers by a defenseman in Capitals franchise history, passing Kevin Hatcher (149). Washington moved into a tie for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Anthony Duclair and Brandon Hagel found the back of the net for Tampa Bay, which holds the top wild card in the East. Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 30 shots.
Predators 6, Blue Jackets 4
Roman Josi scored twice and added two assists as Nashville dealt Columbus its 11th straight loss on the road (0-10-1).
Nashville increased its lead to five points over the Vegas Golden Knights for the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference. Tommy Novak scored twice and added an assist, and Cody Glass and Filip Forsberg also tallied. Juuse Saros made 31 saves.
Trey Fix-Wolansky scored twice, James Malatesta had a goal and an assist, and Alexandre Texier added a goal for the Jackets. Jet Greaves stopped 31 shots.
Senators 5, Canadiens 4 (SO)
Drake Batherson scored the deciding goal in the shootout to lift Ottawa over visiting Montreal.
Brady Tkachuk had two goals and an assist, and Jake Sanderson had three assists for the Senators. Joonas Korpisalo made 21 saves.
Cole Caufield scored twice, Mike Matheson and Alex Newhook each had a goal and an assist, and Cayden Primeau made 40 saves for the Canadiens.
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