Nashville locks up Central playoff berth
Luke Kunin scored twice and Juuse Saros made 21 saves as the Nashville Predators beat the Carolina Hurricanes 3-1 on Saturday night to secure the Central Division’s fourth and final playoff berth.
Erik Haula also scored and Mikael Granlund had two assists for Nashville, which has won three of four.
The Hurricanes and Predators will meet in the opening round of the playoffs.
MAPLE LEAFS 3, CANADIENS 2 >> Mitch Marner scored his 20th goal of the season and Toronto wrapped up the North Division title. It was the Leaf’s first division crown since 2000. Toronto was 7-2-1 against the Canadiens in the season series as the Original Six rivals look poised to meet in the playoffs for the first time since 1979. CAPITALS 2, FLYERS 1, OT >> Lars Eller tied it with 39.8 seconds left in regulation, Conor Sheary scored the overtime winner and short-handed Washington locked up the No. 2 seed in the East Division, guaranteeing it will open the playoffs at home. PANTHERS 5, LIGHTNING 1 >> Alex Wennberg scored three goals, keeping alive Florida’s hopes of earning home-ice advantage in the upcoming first-round playoff series between the intrastate rivals. The win moved the Panthers two points ahead of the Lightning and into second place in the Central Division. VACCINATED TEAMS TO GET RELAXED PROTOCOLS >> Just in time for the playoffs, the NHL is relaxing virus protocols for teams that reach a vaccination threshold. The changes take effect once 85% or more of the traveling party has been fully vaccinated. For a team with 56 members in its traveling party, 48 would need to be fully vaccinated.
The changes include loosened restrictions on indoor and outdoor dining, testing frequency and mask-wearing and quarantine requirements. Under the new regulations, fully vaccinated individuals can dine outdoors or inside (in a private section or room with masked servers), visit each other’s hotel rooms, go golfing and have other social gatherings without masking or distancing requirements. They also won’t have to quarantine for potential exposure or be subject to testing on off days.