Matthews reaches 60 goals as Leafs top Wings
Maple Leafs 3, Red Wings 0: Auston Matthews scored his NHL-leading 59th and 60th goals of the season as host Toronto defeated Detroit on Tuesday night to clinch home-ice advantage in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The 24-year-old, who snapped a fivegame 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 (53-21-7).
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 (31-40-10).
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 host Tampa Bay beat Columbus for their fourth consecutive victory.
Stamkos had an assist and a powerplay goal in the first period, then got point No. 100 when he took a pass from Nikita Kucherov and beat Elvis Merzlikins from the right circle at 7:29 of the second to put Tampa Bay ahead 3-1.
Stamkos also assisted on Ondrej Palat’s third-period goal for his 101st point; his previous career high was 98 points in 2018-19. He has at least three points in each of his past five games and is the eighth NHL player to reach 100 points this season.
Oliver Bjorkstrand scored a first-period power-play goal and Merzlikins finished with 28 saves for the Blue Jackets, who are 1-4-1 in their last six games.
Islanders 4, Capitals 1: Playing without injured captain Alex Ovechkin, host Washington missed an opportunity to move up in the standings with a loss to the New York Islanders.
The Capitals blew a lead and gave up four unanswered goals to an opponent that has long been out of playoff contention. They allowed power-play goals to Ryan Pulock and Noah Dobson, goaltender Ilya Samsonov botched a puckhandling attempt behind the net to help Casey Cizikas score short-handed and Tom Wilson turned the puck over to Anders Lee for New York’s fourth goal of the game.
Ilya Sorokin made 32 saves to help the Islanders snap a five-game losing streak near the end of what has turned into a lost season a year after reaching the East final.
Oilers 5, Penguins 1: Connor McDavid
had a goal and three assists to outduel Sidney Crosby, and visiting surging Edmonton rolled past Pittsburgh.
McDavid pushed his point total to an NHL-best 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 visiting Carolina beat the New York Rangers 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, who won their second straight division title after winning the realigned Central Division in last year’s shortened season, 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. Jacob Trouba and Alexis Lafrenière also scored, and Igor Shesterkin finished with 31 saves.
Bruins 4, Panthers 2: Jake DeBrusk snapped a 2-2 tie in the second period, Linus Ullmark made 19 saves and host Boston beat Florida to clinch the first wild card in the Eastern Conference.
DeBrusk scored the eventual gamewinner 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. The Bruins were swept in three games in the regular season by the Hurricanes by a 16-1 margin.
Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky had 34 saves as Florida lost for the second straight game.
Senators 5, Devils 4 (OT): Drake Batherson scored in overtime to give host Ottawa a win over New Jersey.
Batherson also scored in regulation, Tim Stutzle had a pair of goals and Thomas Chabot also scored for Ottawa in this matchup of teams near the bottom of the Eastern Conference. Brady Tkachuk chipped in three assists, while Anton Forsberg made 37 saves.
Nolan Foote had a pair of goals for the Devils, whose skid extended to four games. Pavel Zacha and Yegor Sharangovich also scored.
Mackenzie Blackwood, making his first start since Jan. 19, stopped 29 shots for the Devils.
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 visiting Calgary’s victory over Nashville.
Dillon Dube scored twice and Noah Hanifin also had a goal for Calgary, winners of three straight.
Nashville would have clinched its eighth consecutive playoff berth with a regulation win, but spoiled that with a wraparound under Rittich’s pad.
In overtime, Lindholm picked up a rebound and beat Rittich with a wrist shot.