Lightning take lead in Atlantic
Nikita Kucherov became the second player in the NHL to reach 100 points this season, and the Tampa Bay Lightning took a two-point lead in the Atlantic Division by beating the Buffalo Sabres last night in Tampa.
Kucherov scored in the first period and got his 100th point assisting on Dan Girardi’s goal 1:04 into the second that gave Tampa Bay a 4-2 lead.
Edmonton’s Connor McDavid tops the league with 106 points. According to the NHL, this is the first season since 2009-10 with multiple 100-point players.
The Lightning got two goals from Anthony Cirelli, while Yanni Gourde, Brayden Point and Victor Hedman also scored. Alex Killorn had three assists and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 27 shots.
Tampa Bay can wrap up the division title and the Eastern Conference’s best record with a win in its season finale tonight at Carolina, or a loss by the second-place Bruins in either of their final two games.
The Lightning played their second consecutive game without center Steven Stamkos, who is expected to be back for the playoffs.
Casey Mittelstadt and Alexander Nylander each got his first NHL goal for the last-place Sabres. The Elias Sports Bureau says it was first time since May 3, 1995, that two Buffalo players — Curtis Brown and Wayne Primeau — both scored their first NHL goal in the same game.
Penguins 4, Senators 0 — The Penguins will start their bid for a Stanley Cup three-peat home.
Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel banked in goals off Craig Anderson minutes apart in the second period, Casey DeSmith stopped 34 shots and host Pittsburgh beat Ottawa to clinch second place in the Metropolitan Division and home-ice advantage in the opening round of the playoffs.
Phil Kessel collected his 34th goal of the season and Patric Hornqvist pushed his career-high to 29 when he beat Anderson late in the third period for the Penguins, who will host Columbus, New Jersey or Philadelphia next week.
Anderson finished with 19 saves but was beaten twice from behind the goal line in the second period as the Senators lost for the ninth time in 11 games.
Crosby was standing just off the right post when fired a shot that smacked off Anderson’s left pad and into the net 1:25 into the second period. Guentzel scored from nearly the same spot just over six minutes later, flicking a rebound off the end boards that hit Anderson’s left leg and skittered in for his 22nd of the season.
Blues 4, Blackhawks 1 — Patrik Berglund scored three times, including a tiebreaking rebound goal in the third period, and visiting St. Louis moved into position for the last Western Conference wild card with a victory over Chicago.
Carter Hutton made 19 saves as St. Louis stopped a three-game slide that included a 4-3 home loss to Chicago on Wednesday night on Duncan Keith’s power-play goal with 8.5 seconds left. Jaden Schwartz also scored in the third after an ugly turnover by the Blackhawks.
Elsewhere in the NHL — If the Philadelphia Flyers and Florida Panthers are even in points, regulation and overtime wins, and goal differential at the end of the season, they will play a one-game tiebreaker to determine who goes to the playoffs.