Leafs edge Bruins, extend home winning streak

Ron Hainsey scored the winner with 1:24 left in the game and the Toronto Maple Leafs extended their home winning streak to nine games with a 4-3 victory over the Boston Bruins on Saturday night.

Toronto has also won 14 of its past 17 games and is surging as the playoffs near. Nazem Kadri had two power-play goals and Mitch Marner also scored for the Maple Leafs, who outshot the Bruins 36-23.

Brad Marchand had two goals for the Bruins, who are 2-2-0 during a five-game road trip. They are 17-3-2 in their past 21 games on the road. Boston has gone 0-for-12 on the power play during this road trip.

In other NHL action, Claude Giroux continued his surge with a goal and an assist as the Philadelphia Flyers continued their roll with a 5-3 victory over the host Ottawa Senators.

Giroux has 16 points in his last nine games after setting up defenseman Ivan Provorov’s goal 28 seconds into the game and scoring on a breakaway in the third period.

He helped the Flyers gain a point in their 11th straight game (9-0-2) and improve to 25-8-3 in their last 36 games since a 10-game losing streak.

Meanwhile, Evgeny Kuznetsov had a goal and three assists and Alex Ovechkin scored twice as the Washington Capitals defeated the Buffalo Sabres 5-1.

Ovechkin played in his 983rd game, which tied Calle Johansson for the top spot in franchise history. Ovechkin already leads the franchise by comfortable margins in goals (596) and points (1,105).

The victory let the Caps (77 points) jump over Pittsburgh (76) and the Flyers (76) for first in the Metropolitan Division.

Also, Evgenii Dadonov scored a hat trick to lift the Florida Panthers to a 6-5 conquest of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Vincent Trocheck, Jamie McGinn and Derek MacKenzie also scored for the Panthers.

Evgeni Malkin scored twice for the Penguins, and Carl Hagelin, Patric Hornqvist and Bryan Rust also tallied.

In trade deadline news, on Sunday the New York Rangers traded 33-year-old six-time All-Star forward Rick Nash to the Boston Bruins for a 2018 first-round pick, forwards Ryan Spooner and Matt Beleskey, defense prospect Ryan Lindgren and a 2019 seventh-round pick.