Faulk leads ’Canes to win over Caps

CONFERENCE GLANCE

WASHINGTON » Justin Faulk scored midway through the second period, and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Washington Capitals 4-1 on Friday night to stay in the playoff race.

The Hurricanes, who haven’t made the playoffs for the last eight years, have won four of five. Carolina, which has four games remaining, remains a long shot to qualify for the postseason.

Metropolitan Divisionleading Washington had won five in a row. Michal Kempny scored his first goal with the Capitals after he was acquired in a February trade with Chicago.

Carolina goaltender Scott Darling stopped 20 shots, and Braden Holtby had 26 saves for Washington.

Kempny put the Capitals in front at 2:35 of the second, but Carolina’s Derek Ryan quickly responded. He beat Holtby for his 14th goal at 3:15.

Faulk’s eighth goal of the season put the Hurricanes ahead to stay at 11:43. It was Faulk’s first goal since he scored three times in a 7-3 victory over the Kings on Feb. 13. MAPLE LEAFS 5, ISLANDERS4» Auston Matthews scored the tiebreaking goal with just under four minutes remaining to lift playoff-bound Toronto to a victory over New York.

Mitch Marner and Nazem Kadri each had a goal and an assist, and Nikita Zaitsev and James van Riemsdyk also scored for Toronto. Frederik Andersen stopped 29 shots to help the Maple Leafs win for the eighth time in 10 games and extend a franchise record 47th win.

Toronto, which clinched a postseason berth when Florida lost in overtime at Ottawa on Thursday, is all but locked into third place in the Atlantic Division.

Van Riemsdyk gave the Maple Leafs their first lead of the game — at 4-3 — as he put in the rebound of a shot by Ron Hainsey for his 36th at 2:01 of the third. LIGHTNING 7, RANGERS 3 » Brayden Point and Cedric Paquette each scored two goals, and Tampa Bay stopped a three-game slide with a victory over New York.

J.T. Miller added a power-play goal in the third period as Tampa Bay regained first place in the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference with 108 points.

Dan Girardi also scored against his former team, Alex Killorn had a goal and an assist, and backup goalie Louis Domingue made 28 saves.

The Lightning fell from the top spot for the first time since mid-October when they lost to the Bruins on Thursday night. with their