Bruins extend their roll behind Pastrnak's trick

The Boston Bruins have been playing hockey for nearly a century.

Never, however, quite like this.

David Pastrnak finished off his 14th career hat trick with a blast by Tristan Jarry with 2:26 remaining to lift the Bruins to a 4-3 win over the Penguins in Pittsburgh on Saturday.

Boston improved to 5912-5 with the win and is now within three games of the NHL's all-time single-season victory mark of 62 set by Detroit in 1996 and tied by Tampa Bay in 2019. Boston has six games remaining.

The Bruins, which entered the NHL in 1924, also set a franchise record for most points in a season, moving past the 121 points produced by the 1970-71 team.

“It's a great accomplishment, but it's hard when you're right in the moment to embrace it, I guess maybe, enjoy it,” first-year Boston coach Jim Montgomery said. “I think after the season is over, we'll be able to sit back. It's historical, what we're doing. It's a pleasure to coach these guys.”

Pastrnak's three goals gave him 56 on the season and pushed him across the 100-point plateau for the first time in his nine-year career. Charlie McAvoy scored his seventh goal for the Bruins. Jeremy Swayman stopped 21 shots as Boston won for the ninth time in 10 games.

Bryan Rust scored twice for Pittsburgh.

PANTHERS 7, BLUE JACKETS 0>>

Carter Verhaeghe scored four goals to reach 40 for the season, Alex Lyon made 21 saves for his first shutout and visiting Florida moved into the final Eastern Conference playoff spot. Sam Reinhart added a goal and two assists, Nick Cousins and Eric Staal also scored and Anthony Duclair and Aleksander Barkov each had three assists in the Panthers' third straight road victory.

PREDATORS 6, BLUES 1>>

Tommy Novak scored a goal and added three assists to lead the Predators in Nashville. Luke Evangelista had a goal and two assists; Cody Glass and Colton Sissons also scored; and Juuse Saros made 21 saves for the Predators.

LIGHTNING 5, ISLANDERS 0 >>

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 38 saves, Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos scored 1:48 apart midway through the second period, and the host earned their sixth straight playoff berth. Tampa Bay will play Toronto in the first round of the postseason.

HURRICANES 3, CANADIENS 0 >>

Paul Stastny had a goal and an assist, and Antti Raanta got his fourth shutout of the season for Carolina in Montreal. Sebastian Aho and Brady Skjei also scored to help the Metropolitan Divisionleading Hurricanes snap a three-game skid (0-2-1) and get their second win in six games. Raanta finished with 14 saves for his 19th career shutout.

MAPLE LEAFS 3, SENATORS 0 >>

Ilya Samsonov made 30 saves for his fourth shutout of the season and 10th overall and Toronto won in Ottawa. Michael Bunting, William Nylander and Radim Zohorna — playing his first game with Toronto — each scored to help the Maple Leafs improve to 44-20-10.

SABRES 6, FLYERS 3 >> Alex Tuch had his second career hat trick, Jeff Skinner had a goal and an assist for Buffalo in Philadelphia. Jordan Greenway and Kyle Okposo also scored, and Casey Mittelstadt added three assists for Buffalo in its fourth win in five games.