NHL Capsules: Capitals hold off Bruins
BOSTON – Kevin Shattenkirk scored the go-ahead goal 56 seconds after the Bruins tied it in the second period, and the NHL-leading Washington Capitals sent Boston to a season-ending 3-1 loss on Saturday that set up a potential first-round playoff matchup between the teams.
Backup Philipp Grubauer made 21 saves for the Capitals. Marcus Johansson and Justin Williams also scored to help Washington win for the 10th time in its last 11 games.
Bruins No. 2 goalie Anton Khudobin stopped 21 of 24 shots he faced in the first two periods before he was replaced by starter Tuukka Rask. The team said Khudobin wasn’t feeling well. Rask stopped all eight shots he faced in the third period.
Earlier, Ottawa beat the Rangers 3-1 to clinch the No. 2 spot in the Atlantic Division with one game remaining. And Toronto beat Pittsburgh on Saturday night, moving into a tie with Boston at 95 points; the Bruins hold the tiebreaker.
If the Maple Leafs earn a win or an overtime loss in their finale against Columbus on Sunday, they will open the playoffs at Ottawa, and Boston will be stuck with the Capitals.
Washington has already clinched home ice throughout the playoffs.
Maple Leafs 5, Penguins 3
TORONTO – Connor Brown broke a tie with 2:48 left and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Pittsburgh Penguins to wrap up their first playoff spot since 2013.
James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak, Kasperi Kapanen and Auston Matthews also scored for Toronto, and Curtis McElhinney stepped in for an injured Frederik Andersen with 12 saves.
Phil Kessel, Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel scored for Pittsburgh, and Marc-Andre Fleury gave up four goals on 30 shots.
Senators 3, Rangers 1
OTTAWA, Ontario – Ottawa beat New York to wrap up second place in the Atlantic Division and home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
The Senators’ postseason opponent remains unknown at this point, but they have the luxury of resting players for Sunday’s final regular-season game against the New York Islanders.
Mike Hoffman, Derick Brassard and Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored, and Craig Anderson made 18 saves.
Mike Zibanejad scored for New York, and Henrik Lundqvist stopped 30 shots. The Rangers have lost back-to-back games. They have earn3ed the top wild-card spot and will face Montreal in the playoffs.
Wild 3, Coyotes 1
GLENDALE, Ariz. – Darcy Kuemper stopped 20 shots, Martin Hanzal scored in his return to the desert and the Minnesota Wild set a franchise record with their 49th win.
The Wild already clinched home-ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs and the victory over the Coyotes gave them a franchise-record 105 points. Erik Haula and Eric Staal scored in the first period. Hanzal scored in the third in his first game in Arizona since being traded with Ryan White to Minnesota on Feb. 26
Brendon Perlini scored for the Coyotes and captain Shane Doan had an assist in what may be the final game of his 21-year NHL career. Mike Smith stopped 41 shots his 312th game with the Coyotes, passing Bob Essensa for most in franchise history.
Islanders 4, Devils 2
NEWARK, N.J. – Jaroslav Halak made 37 saves and Anders Lee scored twice, but the New York Islanders were eliminated from playoff contention despite running their winning streak to five games.
Roughly an hour after beating the New Jersey Devils 4-2 on Saturday night, the Islanders’ playoff hopes were dashed when Toronto clinched the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference by rallying for a 5-3 win over Pittsburgh.
Adam Pelech and Jason Chimera also scored for the Islanders, who put their final run together with Halak in goal. He is 6-1-0 since being recalled from Bridgeport of the AHL on March 23.
Beau Bennett scored twice for the Devils, who have three wins in their last 23 games (3-16-4). Keith Kinkaid had 16 saves.
Jets 2, Predators 1
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) – Blake Wheeler scored a short-handed goal with 45 seconds left in regulation to lift the Winnipeg Jets to their franchise-record seventh straight victory.
Winnipeg was already eliminated from the playoffs for the fifth time in six seasons since relocating from Atlanta, but ended the season in record-breaking form for the Jets/Thrashers franchise.
Kyle Connor, playing in his first NHL game since Nov. 29, also scored for Winnipeg. Ryan Ellis had a short-handed goal for Nashville.
Flyers 4, Blue Jackets 2
PHILADELPHIA – Steve Mason made 20 saves to help Philadelphia beat reeling Columbus.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Jakub Voracek, Michael Del Zotto and Ivan Provorov scored for Philadelphia. The Flyers will miss the playoffs for the third time in five years.
Seth Jones and Boone Jenner scored for Columbus. They have lost six straight.
Kings 3, Blackhawks 2 (OT)
LOS ANGELES – Drew Doughty scored 27 seconds into overtime, leading Los Angeles over Chicago.
Dustin Brown scored with 55 seconds remaining to send it to overtime and Tyler Toffoli added a power-play goal for the Kings. Jonathan Quick made 25 saves.
Artemi Panarin and Jonathan Toews scored and Corey Crawford made 23 saves for the Blackhawks, who will head into the playoffs on a four-game losing streak. However, Chicago had already locked up home-ice advantage throughout the Western Conference playoffs.
Canadiens 3, Red Wings 2 (OT)
DETROIT – Alex Galchenyuk scored 1:42 into overtime, giving Montreal the victory over Detroit.
The Atlantic Division-champion Canadiens, with nothing at stake, rested many players in their final game of the regular season. Carey Price, Max Pacioretty and Alexander Radulov were among their healthy scratches. A few Montreal players, including Shea Weber, are allowing injuries to heal before facing the New York Rangers in the first round of the playoffs.
Detroit’s Frans Nielsen and Dylan Larkin scored tiebreaking goals in the first and second periods. Montreal’s Nathan Beaulieu and Artturi Lehkonen scored game-tying goals in the second.
Blues 5, Hurricanes 4 (SO)
RALEIGH, N.C. – Vladimir Tarasenko scored in the fourth round of the shootout, and St. Louis beat Carolina.
Scottie Upshall scored a short-handed goal, Alexander Steen, Ryan Reaves and Ivan Barbashev added goals and Alex Pietrangelo and Tarasenko had two assists apiece. The Blues clinched the No. 3 seed in the Central Division after earning at least a point for the 16th time in 18 games.
Jeff Skinner scored twice, giving him an NHL-leading 17 goals since March 1, and Joakim Nordstrom and Klas Dahlbeck also had goals for Carolina.
Panthers 3, Sabres 0
SUNRISE, Fla. – Jonathan Huberdeau scored twice and James Reimer made saves to help Florida beat the Buffalo Sabres in the Panthers’ home finale.
Nick Bjugstad also scored, and Jaromir Jagr had two assists,
The shutout was the second this season for Reimer, who also blanked the Chicago Blackhawks in a 7-0 home victory two weeks ago.
Robin Lehner had 34 saves for the Sabres.
Stars 4, Avalanche 3 (SO)
DALLAS – Tyler Seguin scored the only goal in the shootout, and the Dallas Stars beat the Colorado Avalanche.
Seguin beat Colorado’s Jeremy Smith on Dallas’ first shootout attempt. Kari Lehtonen stopped all three attempts by the Avalanche.
Seguin had tied the game at 3 with 6:16 remaining in regulation.
An apparent goal by John Klingberg with 1:08 left in overtime was disallowed when a video review showed that Dallas was offside.
Devin Shore and Jamie Benn also scored for Dallas. Colorado got goals from Mikko Rantanen, Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon.
Oilers 3, Canucks 2
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Mark Letestu scored the go-ahead goal on a power play in the third period and the Edmonton Oilers clinched at least second place in the Pacific Division.
Jordan Eberle and Iiro Pakarinen also scored for the Oilers, who can still finish first in the division if they beat the Canucks in Sunday’s regular-season finale in Edmonton and the Anaheim Ducks lose to the Los Angeles Kings in regulation. Cam Talbot made 29 saves in his sixth straight start.
Brock Boeser and Alexander Edler had goals for the Canucks, and Ryan Miller made 32 stops.
Sharks 3, Flames 1
SAN JOSE, Calif. – Chris Tierney scored one goal and set up Mikkel Boedker for another in the second period to help the banged-up San Jose Sharks finish the regular season by beating the Calgary Flames.
The Sharks played a mostly meaningless finale without six regular starters and a backup goalie, but still managed to win. Danny O’Regan added his first career goal and Aaron Dell made 19 saves.
Curtis Lazar scored his first goal of the season and Brian Elliott made 15 saves in the first two periods for Calgary.