Canes win division, Leafs lock home ice, Bruins get WC
TORONTO >> Auston Matthews scored his NHLleading 59th and 60th goals of the season, and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-0 on Tuesday night to clinch home-ice advantage in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The 24-year-old Matthews, who snapped a five-game goal drought, is the first player to score 60 times in a campaign since Steven Stamkos in 2011-12.
John Tavares had the other goal and Jack Campbell made 20 saves to register his fifth shutout of the season for Toronto, which set a franchise record with its 30th home victory of the season.
The Leafs are now locked into the No. 2 seed in the Atlantic Division and will open the playoffs next week at Scotiabank Arena against either the Boston Bruins or Tampa Bay Lightning.
Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 33 shots for Detroit.
BRUINS 4, PANTHERS 2 >> Jake DeBrusk snapped a 2-2 tie in the second period, Linus Ullmark made 19 saves and Boston beat Florida to clinch the first wild card in the Eastern Conference.
DeBrusk scored the eventual game-winner when he slammed home the rebound of a Brad Marchand shot at 4:59. Ullmark is 5-1 in his last eight appearances and has only allowed 10 goals in that span.
Erik Haula and Taylor Hall scored six seconds apart in the first period and Marchand notched his 32nd goal late in the third for Boston, which will travel to Carolina in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky had 34 saves as Florida lost for the second straight game after rattling off 13 wins.
OILERS 5, PENGUINS 1 >> Connor McDavid had a goal and three assists to outduel Sidney Crosby, and surging Edmonton rolled past Pittsburgh.
McDavid pushed his point total to an NHLbest 122 by finishing off his 22nd career four-point game with a pretty shot from a tight angle 9:13 into the third period. His 44th goal gave the Oilers a three-goal lead.
Evander Kane scored his sixth goal in his last four games for Edmonton. Evan Bouchard, Zach Hyman and Zack Kassian also scored as the Oilers improved to 17-4-2 in their last 23 games. Mike Smith stopped 33 shots to win his ninth straight start.
Jeff Carter picked up his 19th goal for the Penguins, who fell to Edmonton at home in regulation for the first time since 2006.
HURRICANES 4, RANGERS 3 >> Vincent Trochek had a goal and an assist, rookie Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 31 shots and Carolina beat New York to clinch the Metropolitan Division title.
Sebastian Aho, Teuvo Teravainen and Jordan Martinook also scored for Carolina, and Brady Skjei had two assists.
The Hurricanes set franchise records with 53 wins and 114 points, topping marks set in 2005-06.
Chris Kreider scored his 52nd goal for the Rangers, who have lost two straight and three of seven and are assured of finishing second in the Metropolitan Division.
Jacob Trouba and Alexis Lafrenière also scored, and Igor Shesterkin finished with 31 saves.
LIGHTNING 4, BLUE JACKETS 1>> Steven Stamkos reached the 100-point mark for the first time in his NHL career by scoring two goals and assisting on two more, and Tampa Bay beat Columbus.
Stamkos has at least three points in each of his past five games and is the eighth NHL player to reach 100 points this season.
ISLANDERS 4, CAPITALS 1 >> Playing without injured captain Alex Ovechkin, Washington missed an opportunity to move up in the standings with a loss to New York.
SENATORS 5, DEVILS 4 >> Drake Batherson scored in overtime to give Ottawa a win over New Jersey.
COYOTES 5, WILD 3 >> Travis Boyd scored the go-ahead goal, which stood after a long review, and last-place Arizona beat Minnesota to slow their pursuit of homeice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
FLAMES 5, PREDATORS 4 (OT) >> Matthew Tkachuk forced overtime by scoring with a second left in the third and Elias Lindholm's OT goal secured Calgary's victory over Nashville.
STARS 3, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 2 >> Miro Heiskanen made the only shot in a sevenround shootout and Dallas moved closer to clinching a playoff spot with a victory Tuesday night over Vegas, who are still hanging on to slim playoff hopes.