Bruins break tie in division with Florida
Boston trails Rangers by point for No. 1 in East
Pavel Zacha scored the winning goal with 2:21 remaining in the game and the Boston Bruins defeated the host Florida Panthers, 4-3, on Tuesday night.
“It gives us confidence in three weeks when it starts for real,” Boston coach Jim Montgomery said, referring to the playoffs. “We were down three times, we kept coming back. So we can believe in our process, believe in our identity and keep playing.”
The Bruins also broke a tie with Florida atop the Atlantic Division and now hold a twopoint lead although the Panthers have played one less game. Boston is also in second place in the Eastern Conference with 99 points, one point behind the New York Rangers.
“I thought it was a good effort by our group,” Bruins captain Brad Marchand said. “It was a playoff- type game there, the teams played hard, they didn’t really have any holes, so it was a good character win.”
Charlie McAvoy, David Pastrnak and Trent Frederic also scored for the Bruins.
Jeremy Swayman made 18 saves, and also had an assist on Federic’s tying goal that came on the power play with less than five minutes to play.
Evan Rodrigues, Sam Reinhart and Carter Verhaeghe scored for the Panthers while Sergei Bobrovsky made 17 saves. Rodrigues scored just 27 seconds into the game, and three times the Panthers took a one-goal lead.
“It was a really good hockey game and you want to win it,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “You get the lead like that and you want to be able to close it out, but suffering is sometimes good. It’s good for you to put that much effort in and come away with nothing.”
Other games
Rangers 6, Flyers 5 (OT):
Adam Fox scored in overtime and Igor Shesterkin made 36 saves as host New York defeated Philadelphia.
After the teams traded seven goals in a frenetic third period, Fox rifled home the winning goal 36 seconds into overtime as the first-place Rangers won for the 48th time and clinched a playoff spot for the third straight season.
Alexis Lafreniere scored twice for the Rangers and Artemi Panarin had two assists for the Rangers.
Vincent Trocheck, Mika Zibanejad and Jonny Brodzinski also scored for the Rangers.
Capitals 4, Red Wings 3
(OT): Dylan Strome scored twice, Charlie Lindgren made 30 saves and host Washington beat Detroit in a pivotal matchup in the Eastern Conference playoff race. The Capitals moved two points ahead of Detroit and still have one more game left to play than Detroit. They’re also right on the heels of Philadelphia for third place in the Metropolitan Division.
Devils 6, Maple Leafs 3:
Nico Hischier had a goal and two assists, Jake Allen made 42 saves and New Jersey beat host Toronto.
Jack Hughes scored twice, including into the empty net, and Timo Meier added a goal and an assist for the Devils, who have won four of their past five games.
Auston Matthews scored his NHL-leading 59th goal for Toronto.
Predators 5, Golden Knights 4 (OT): Roman Josi scored 40 seconds into overtime to lead host Nashville to a win against Vegas, and extend the team’s stretch of consecutive games unbeaten in regulation to a franchiserecord 18.
Oilers 4, Jets 3 (OT): Zach Hyman scored his 51st goal of the season 1:22 into overtime, giving Edmonton a win against host Winnipeg.
Blackhawks 3, Flames 1: Jason Dickinson scored twice, Petr Mrazek made 40 saves and host Chicago beat Calgary.