Bruins down Rangers

BOSTON — David Pastrnak scored his team-leading 39th goal after missing the previous eight games with an undisclosed injury, helping the Boston Bruins beat the New York Rangers 3-1 on Saturday.

Taylor Hall and Trent Frederic also scored for Boston, which is jockeying for playoff seeding in the Eastern Conference. Linus Ullmark made 30 stops.

“The timing was fine,” Pastrnak said of his return. “A little bit of puck handling, the ice was not great, and you're coming off injury, so it was a little bit bouncy for a little bit.“

The Bruins had lost four of their previous six games.

Mika Zibanejad scored his 29th goal for New York and Igor Shesterkin made 32 saves.

Having locked up home ice in the opening round of the playoffs with a victory over the Islanders on Thursday, the Rangers had their four-game winning streak snapped.

“I think intensity-wise, I thought we had it,” New York center Barclay Goodrow said. “Obviously, they're preparing for the playoffs like we are also. It's good to play one of those teams and it was a closefought game. We did a lot of things well and some things we could have done better; little mistakes that cost us.“

New York finished the road portion of its regular season with 25 victories, tied for third most in team history.

Boston went 0 for 3 on the power play and hasn't scored in its last 32 opportunities.

“I think our power play over the course of the year has been pretty good,” Pastrnak said. “The season's long and sometimes you go through these slumps. It takes one goal and then you get rolling again.”

Ullmark is competing with Jeremy Swayman to be Boston's No. 1 goalie in the playoffs.

“I don't think about that at all,” he said. “I try to focus on what's important right now. For me, it was this game. … If they ask me to play, I'll play, and if it's Sway that they want to play, I'll be there for him and back him up.”

Charlie McAvoy made a nice cross-ice pass to Pastrnak, who fired the puck past Shesterkin from the left circle with 35 seconds left in the opening period.

Hall beat Shesterkin on a partial breakaway just over a minute into the second, slipping a wrist shot inside the far post. The 25-yearold Pastrnak assisted on the play for his 500th career point.

With Boston short-handed after Ullmark flipped the puck over the glass for a delay-of-game penalty early in the third, Zibanejad fired in a wrist shot from the bottom of the left circle.

But Frederic scored on a rebound with 10:23 to play.

SABRES 5, ISLANDERS 3

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Tage Thompson scored his teamleading 37th goal during a three-goal, second-period surge, and Buffalo defeated New Yorkay in a game between two non-playoff teams.

Jeff Skinner, with his 33rd of the season, stuffed in Thompson's rebound with 7:20 left to secure the win after Buffalo nearly squandered a 4-1 thirdperiod lead. Rasmus Dahlin, Casey Mittelstadt and Vinnie Hinostroza also scored, and Dustin Tokarski stopped 19 shots.

The Sabres hung on for their fourth straight victory, the team's best since a 10-game run in November 2018.

“It's something we can build confidence in. You come down late in games and those are the times when you need big plays,” Skinner said of the Sabres regaining their composure after Noah Dobson and Kieffer Bellows scored 1:37 apart to cut Buffalo's lead to 4-3 with 9:38 remaining.

“You need to cut off momentum when it shifts in their direction,” Skinner added.