Penguins move to second spot in division
Jake Guentzel and Conor Sheary scored power-play goals and Scott Wilson picked up his eight of the season as the Pittsburgh Penguins held off the Carolina Hurricanes 3 -2 on Sunday. Matt Murray finished with 33 saves for the Penguins, who moved into second place in the Metropolitan Division with a week to go in the regular season. Jeff Skinner collected his 33rd goal of the season for Carolina and Justin Faulk’s 17th of the year halfway through the third period gave the Hurricanes momentum but Pittsburgh tightened up in front of Murray to beat Carolina for the seventh straight time. Eddie Lack made 23 stops for the Hurricanes in his first start since being taken to the hospital with a strained neck last week. The loss inched Carolina closer to missing the playoffs for an eighth consecutive season.
CAPITALS 3, BLUE JACKETS 2
Braden Holtby stopped 35 shots, Andre Burakovsky had a goal and an assist and Washington held on to beat Columbus. T.J. Oshie and Matt Niskanen also scored for the Capitals, who improved to 8-1-1 in their last 10 games. Washington, with a league-best 112 points, leads Pittsburgh by five points in the Metropolitan Division. The Blue Jackets are another point back in third. Holtby’s 41st win of the season also tied him with his Blue Jackets counterpart Sergei Bobrovsky for best in the league. Bobrovsky finished with 27 saves, and Jack Johnson and Kyle Quincey scored in the third period for Columbus, which has lost three straight games for the first time this season.
RANGERS 4, FLYERS 3
Oscar Lindberg and Chris Kreider scored 2:09 apart midway through the third period, and New York held on for its first home win in six weeks. Mika Zibanejad and Brendan Smith scored in the first period, and Henrik Lundqvist stopped 20 shots to help the Rangers win at Madison Square Garden for the first time since beating Washington on Feb. 19. New York was 0-5-3 on home ice since. The Rangers are guaranteed to fall no lower than the first wild card in the Eastern Conference. They are fourth in the Metropolitan Division, trailing third-place Columbus by six points. New York has three games remaining and Columbus has four. Valtteri Filppula had two goals and Brayden Schenn also scored for Philadelphia. Anthony Stolarz finished with 20 saves.
DUCKS 4, FLAMES 3
Logan Shaw scored with 3:06 left in the third period to lift Anaheim past Calgary. Patrick Eaves, Jakob Silfverberg and Korbinian Holzer also scored for the Ducks, who moved ahead of Edmonton into sole possession of first place in the Pacific Division. Ryan Kesler finished with three assists and Jonathan Bernier made 18 saves to improve to 10-0-2 in his past 12 games. Kris Versteeg had two goals and Michael Frolik also scored for Calgary. TJ Brodie and Mark Giordano each had two assists and Brian Elliott finijshed with 30 saves. On the winning goal, Shaw swatted a rebound past Elliott for just his third of the season - and second against the Flames - to help the Ducks bounce back from a 3-2 overtime loss at Edmonton the previous night.
BLUES 4, PREDATORS 1
Alexander Steen scored the tiebreaking goal early in the second period, David Perron had a goal and two assists, and St. Louis prevented Nashville from clinching a playoff berth. Vladimir Tarasenko and Joel Edmundson also scored, and Jake Allen stopped 35 shots as St. Louis earned at least at point for the ninth straight game (7-0-2). Allen improved to 9-1-2 with two shutouts and 16 goals allowed his past 12 starts. Ryan Johansen scored for Nashville and Juuse Saros finished with 21 saves. The Predators had won four of the last five meetings with St. Louis. Nashville needed one point in the game to clinch a postseason spot, but can still qualify if Los Angeles doesn’t win against Arizona later Sunday.
ISLANDERS 4, SABRES 2
Anders Lee scored third-period goals a little more than five minutes apart, and New York overcame the absence of captain John Tavares to stay in the playoff hunt. Cal Clutterbuck and Joshua Ho-Sang also scored and Jaroslav Halak stopped 35 shots to improve to 3-1 since being recalled from the minors. With four games left, New York earned its 86th point to inch within five of Ottawa for the Eastern Conference’s second wild card. It was the Islanders’ first game since Tavares was sidelined by a left hamstring injury in a 2-1 win over New Jersey on Friday.
BRUINS 3, BLACKHAWKS 2
Backup goalie Anton Khudobin made 41 saves and Boston held on for its fifth straight win. Ryan Spooner, Patrice Bergeron and Kevan Miller scored for the Bruins, who jumped over idle Toronto and Ottawa into second place in the Atlantic Division. Boston began the day in wildcard position, four points ahead of Tampa Bay for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Chicago’s Artemi Panarin extended his goal-scoring streak to four games with his 29th. Jordin Tootoo also scored for the Blackhawks, who got 26 saves from Corey Crawford in their final regular-season home game. The Blackhawks clinched first place in the Central Division and Western Conference on Saturday when Minnesota lost at Nashville. Chicago is assured of home-ice advantage through the first three playoff rounds.
LIGHTNING 6, STARS 3
Adam Erne scored twice and Ondrej Palat added a power-play goal and two assists as Tampa Bay beat Dallas. Brayden Point scored the go-ahead goal in the third period to break a 2-2 tie, and Braydon Coburn and Anton Stralman also had goals for Tampa Bay. Backup Peter Budaj made 23 saves to help the Lightning move within three points of the idle Ottawa Senators, who hold the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. Gemel Smith, Jason Spezza and Brett Ritchie scored for Dallas, and Esa Lindell assisted on all three goals.
WILD 5, AVALANCHE 2
Erik Haula had a goal and assist, Devan Dubnyk stopped 30 shots and Minnesota beat Colorado. Martin Hanzal, Jared Spurgeon, Zach Parise and Jordan Schroeder also scored for Minnesota, which recovered from a tough 3-0 loss at Nashville a day earlier with a resounding win against the NHL’s worst team. The Wild remained seven points ahead of St. Louis for second place in the Central Division and closed to within seven points of firstplace
Chicago. Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen scored for Colorado, which has lost eight of nine overall and 10 in a row on the road. The Avalanche have a league-low 45 points this season. Calvin Pickard started in goal for Colorado but was pulled after allowing four goals on 16 shots. Jeremy Smith made 11 saves in relief.
SHARKS 3, CANUCKS 1
Tomas Hertl scored twice in the first period and Martin Jones made 29 saves as San Jose beat Vancouver after losing Joe Thornton to an apparent injury to his left leg. Patrick Marleau scored an empty-netter and Jannik Hansen picked up an assist in his return to Vancouver for the Sharks, who have won 11 straight regular-season games at Rogers Arena dating back to Jan. 21, 2012. Sven Baertschi scored for the Canucks and Ryan Miller finished with 22 saves. Already missing center Logan Couture because of a facial injury, Thornton crumpled to the ice with about three minutes left
in the first when he ran into Vancouver forward Michael Chaput from behind. The 37-year-old managed to get to the San Jose bench under his own power, but couldn’t put any weight on his left leg and had to be helped to the locker room.
COYOTES 2, KINGS 1
Anthony Duclair scored 3:09 into the second period, Mike Smith made 34 saves and Arizona ended Los Angeles’ slim playoff hopes. Alexander Burmistrov scored a power-play goal and Oliver Ekman-Larsson had two assists for the Coyotes, who followed up an impressive 6-3 win over Presidents’ Trophy-leading Washington by guaranteeing the Kings would miss the postseason for the second time in three seasons. Alec Martinez was credited with a power-play goal and Jonathan Quick made 13 saves for Los Angeles, which needed to win its final five games and have Nashville lose each of its last three in regulation to reach the playoffs. —AP