Capitals keep playoff hopes alive in win
Carlson’s go-ahead goal sends Washington past Tampa Bay
John Carlson scored the go-ahead goal on a power play with 11:31 left, Charlie Lindgren made 32 saves in another strong performance when his team needed him and the Washington Capitals kept their playoff hopes alive by beating the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2 on Saturday.
Sonny Milano scored twice and Nic Dowd provided an insurance goal with 3:14 remaining as the Capitals won for just the second time in nine games to at least temporarily move into the Eastern Conference’s second and final wild-card spot. They may need to win their final two games of the season to return to the postseason after missing last year.
Beating Tampa Bay was essential to just make that possible. A 5-on-3 power play in the third period gave Washington its best chance to crack 2019 Vezina Trophywinning and 2021 playoff MVP Andrei Vasilevskiy, and Carlson did just that with a blast from the point after the first Lightning penalty had expired.
Other games
Rangers 3, Islanders 2 (SO): Artemi Panarin scored late in the third period to tie game and tallied the shootout winner as the host Rangers rallied to defeat the Islanders for a franchise-record 54th win.
Stars 3, Kraken 1: Defenseman Miro Heiskanen had a goal and two assists, and Jason Robertson had a goal and an assist as Dallas beat visiting Seattle to clinch the Central Division title for the first time in eight years. Craig Smith also scored for the Stars, who remain in contention for both the top seed in the Western Conference and the Presidents’ Trophy with one game to play in the regular season.
Jets 7, Avalanche 0: Josh Morrissey and Adam Lowry scored 10 seconds apart in a four-goal first period that chased Colorado goaltender Alexandar Georgiev from the net, and visiting Winnipeg moved into the driver’s seat for the Central Division’s second seed with a win against the Colorado. Connor Hellebuyck made 30 saves for his fifth shutout of the season.
Panthers 3, Sabres 2 (OT): Sam Reinhart got his 55th goal of the season with 1:02 left in overtime, and Florida clinched home ice for at least Round 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs by beating visiting Buffalo in the next-to-last regularseason game for both teams.
Flyers 1, Devils 0: Travis Konecny scored a shorthanded breakaway goal and Samuel Ersson stopped 20 shots to keep host Philadelphia’s miniscule postseason hopes alive with one game left to play. The Flyers entered Saturday with two games left while Pittsburgh, Washington and Detroit all had three games remaining.
Red Wings 5, Maple Leafs 4 (OT): Dylan Larkin scored on a power play 41 seconds into overtime and visiting Detroit overcame Auston Matthews’ 69th goal of the season to beat Toronto. Alex DeBrincat scored twice, David Perron had a goal and an assist, Simon Edvinsson also scored and J.T. Compher had two assists for Detroit, which led 4-1 after one period.
Senators 5, Canadiens 4 (SO): Brady Tkachuk had two goals and an assist, Drake Batherson scored the only goal in the shootout and Ottawa beat Montreal as the Senators have won three of their last four games.
Predators 6, Blue Jackets 4: Roman Josi scored two goals and assisted on two others, Tommy Novak had two goals and an assist, and Nashville defeated Columbus as the Predators wrap up their season against the Penguins on Monday.
Notes
The Chicago Blackhawks agreed to a three-year contract with Frank Nazar, one of the team’s top prospects.
• The Arizona Coyotes will likely be sold to Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith shortly after the team’s final game and will include a provision guaranteeing current owner Alex Meruelo an expansion team if a new arena is built within five years, a person with knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press on Saturday.