Pens shut out Caps to reclaim 1st place in East
WASHINGTON » Bryan Rust scored two unassisted goals, Tristan Jarry made 23 saves and the Pittsburgh Penguins shut out the Washington Capitals 3-0 Saturday night to reclaim first place in the East Division.
Trade deadline pickup Jeff Carter also scored his fourth goal in 10 games in a Penguins uniform. Rust’s goals were the 99th and 100th of his NHL career, and Jarry registered his second shutout of the season.
Two nights after each team clinched a playoff berth, this potential postseason preview looked awfully lopsided. The Penguins pounced on opportunities and scored on three of their first 13 shots against Ilya Samsonov to suck the life out of the crowd of just over 2,000.
But it was also far from the complement of talent either team would want in a playoff series. The Capitals didn’t have captain and leading goal-scorer Alex Ovechkin and top defenseman John Carlson because of lower-body injuries, and the Penguins remained without forward Evgeni Malkin and Brandon Tanev with injuries that have kept them out for several weeks. ISLANDERS 3, RANGERS 0 » Anthony Beauvillier scored twice and Semyon Varlamov stopped 28 shots for his league-leading seventh shutout of the season as the Islanders beat the rival Rangers to clinch a playoff spot for the third straight year.
Mathew Barzal added a breakaway goal and Josh Bailey had three assists to help the Islanders beat the Rangers for the sixth time in eight meetings this season, including the last three by a combined 13-1 margin.
BRUINS 6, SABRES 2 » Craig Smith scored three goals Saturday to help Boston Bruins complete its season-series dominance over Buffalo.
Nick Ritchie added a goal and an assist, and Sean Kuraly and Patrice Bergeron also had a goal for Boston. Rookie goalie Jeremy Swayman made 18 saves in his eighth start, and David Krejci had three assists.