Stars top Blues in shootout, wrap up No. 1 seed in West
Jake Oettinger made 26 saves in regulation and overtime before stopping all three shootout attempts as Central Division-champion Dallas beat visiting St. Louis 2-1 in their regular-season finale Wednesday.
When they earned one point by getting to overtime, the Stars clinched the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference playoffs. They ended up with two points thanks to Oettinger and Jason Robertson, who scored on the first shot of the shootout, which held up for the victory.
The last time Dallas was the top seed in the West was 2016, also the year of its previous Central Division title. The Stars (52-21-9) finished with 113 points, the most since the franchise-record 114 they had in 1998-99 on the way to winning their lone Stanley Cup.
They were one win shy of the franchiserecord 53 set in 2005-06.
■ Islanders 5, Penguins 4: At New York, Simon Holmstrom scored the go-ahead goal with 5:33 left and had an assist for New York, which closed the regular season on an 8-0-1 run. Samuel Bolduc and Brock Nelson each had a goal and an assist for the Islanders to back Ilya Sorokin, who stopped 39 shots — including a penalty shot by Sidney Crosby in the final minute. Crosby had two assists to end the season with 94 points — 42 goals and 52 assists.
■ Lightning 6, Maple Leafs 4: At Tampa, Fla., NHL scoring leader Nikita Kucherov notched his 44th goal in the first period and his 100th assist in the second for Tampa Bay, becoming the fifth player ever with a 100-assist season. Lightning rookie Matt Tomkins had 35 saves in his sixth NHL start, including 12 on Auston Matthews, who came up empty in his bid to become the ninth NHL player with a 70goal season.
■ Coyotes 5, Oilers 2: At Tempe, Ariz., Dylan Guenther had a goal and assist for the Coyotes, who closed their 28-year Arizona tenure before moving to Salt Lake City. Liam O’brien scored 2:18 into the first period, and the Coyotes never trailed despite being outshot 30-24. Sam Carrick and Warren Foegele scored for playoffbound Edmonton.