Brad Marchand had a goal and two assists as the Boston Bruins continued their record-breaking season with a 5-2 win over the visiting Washington Capitals on Tuesday night.
A game after setting the NHL single-season standard for wins, Boston passed the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens for the most points in a single season in league history. Linus Ullmark became the fastest NHL goalie ever to 40 wins in a season, making 19 saves before exiting in the third period due to an apparent lower-body injury. Ullmark (40-6-1), who was making his 49th appearance of the season, topped the mark set by Braden Holtby with the Capitals in 2015-16. Holtby reached 40 wins in 52 games.
Tomas Nosek also had a goal and an assist while David Pastrnak had two assists to help Boston to its seventh straight win. Boston’s Garnet Hathaway, Tyler Bertuzzi and Jake DeBrusk also scored.
Nick Jensen and Tom Wilson tallied for Washington, which is 1-6-1 in its past eight games. Charlie Lindgren (33 saves) also left the game in the third period. Darcy Kuemper finished up, making six saves on seven shots.
Devils 6, Sabres 2
Tomas Tatar scored twice and had an assist for New Jersey, which eliminated Buffalo from playoff contention with a win in Newark, N.J.
Miles Wood added a goal and an assist, Nathan Bastian had three assists, and Nico Hischier had two assists for the Devils (51-22-8, 110 points), who clinched home ice in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs with the victory. Vitek Vanecek made 36 saves.
Jeff Skinner and Mattias Samuelsson scored, Alex Tuch had two assists and Devon Levi made 24 saves for the Sabres (40-33-7, 87 points), who have not made the playoffs since 2011.
Oilers 2, Avalanche 1 (OT)
Evan Bouchard scored the game-winning goal in overtime to give Edmonton a win at Denver and keep alive the Oilers’ hopes of the top seed in the Western Conference.
The Oilers (49-23-9, 107 points) are riding an eight-game winning streak and have compiled a 13-0-1 record in their last 14 outings that has them in the mix for top spot in the Western Conference. They are two points back of Vegas for first in the Pacific Division and best record in the conference. Both teams have one game left.
Ben Meyers scored the lone goal for the Avalanche (49-24-7, 105 points), who saw their five-game winning streak snapped but remain on a 14-2-1 roll. Colorado holds a one-point edge on the Dallas Stars for first place in the Central Division with both teams having two games remaining.
Jets 3, Wild 1
Connor Hellebuyck made 33 saves and Winnipeg clinched a spot in the Western Conference playoffs by beating Minnesota in Saint Paul, Minn.
Adam Lowry, Mark Scheifele and Mason Appleton scored for the Jets (46-32-3, 95 points), who entered the night needing just a single point to seal their spot as the West’s second and final wild-card team.
Kirill Kaprizov scored the lone goal for Minnesota (46-25-10, 102 points), and Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 17 shots. Minnesota already had clinched a playoff spot. The Wild are three points behind Colorado and two behind Dallas in the Central Division, with both the Avalanche and Stars having two games remaining to the Wild’s one.
Golden Knights 4, Kraken 1
Michael Amadio scored two goals and also had an assist and Reilly Smith had a goal and two assists to power Vegas to a victory over Seattle in Las Vegas.
With the win, Vegas will take a two-point lead over the Edmonton Oilers for the Pacific Division title into their regular-season finales on Thursday. Jonathan Marchessault scored his team-leading 28th goal and William Karlsson added a pair of assists for the Golden Knights, who got 20 saves from Laurent Brossoit.
Yanni Gourde scored for Seattle, which had a five-game winning streak snapped. Joey Daccord, recalled on an emergency basis Sunday from AHL Coachella Valley due to an injury to starter Martin Jones, made 33 saves.
Blackhawks 5, Penguins 2
Buddy Robinson broke a third-period tie and Andreas Athanasiou scored 26 seconds later to lift Chicago to a stunning win in Pittsburgh.
The Penguins (40-31-10, 90 points) had control of their playoff hopes prior to the defeat. Now they sit one point behind the New York Islanders (41-31-9, 91 points) in the battle for the second Eastern Conference wild-card spot.
The Blackhawks (26-49-6, 58 points) pulled out of last place overall in the NHL, a position that would give them the best shot at winning the draft lottery for the top pick.
Hurricanes 4, Red Wings 1
Jesperi Kotkaniemi had a goal and an assist as Carolina moved closer to a Metropolitan Division championship by defeating Detroit in Raleigh, N.C.
Carolina maintained a one-point lead over New Jersey for the top spot. The Devils defeated the Buffalo Sabres 6-2 on Tuesday. Stefan Noesen, Jordan Martinook and Brent Burns had the other goals for Carolina, which snapped a three-game losing streak. Antti Raanta made 20 saves for the win.
The Red Wings have lost four straight (0-3-1), and they scored just one goal for the third consecutive game. Robert Hagg had the lone tally on Tuesday, while Alex Nedeljkovic was credited with 24 saves.
Maple Leafs 4, Lightning 3
William Nylander had a goal and two assists as visiting Toronto defeated Tampa Bay in a first-round Stanley Cup playoff preview.
Ryan O’Reilly and Calle Jarnkrok each had a goal and an assist for the Maple Leafs. Luke Schenn also scored. Toronto goalie Joseph Woll, recalled from the Toronto Marlies of the AHL prior to the game, was stellar, making 45 saves.
Mikhail Sergachev had a goal and an assist for the Lightning, who have lost four straight. Nick Perbix and Alex Killorn added a goal apiece, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 20 saves. Toronto will finish second in the Atlantic Division and open the playoffs against third-place Tampa Bay next week.
Flyers 4, Blue Jackets 3 (OT)
Owen Tippett’s second goal of the game came in overtime as host Philadelphia topped Columbus to end a seven-game winless drought.
With 16 seconds remaining in the extra period, Tippett took a pass from Ivan Provorov and displayed some nice stickwork in converting his first career overtime goal. The Flyers were 0-6-1 in their previous seven games.
Tippett also scored a power-play goal 47 seconds into the second period to give the Flyers (30-38-13, 73 points) a 3-2 lead. However, the Blue Jackets (24-47-9, 57 points) equalized on a power-play marker of their own from Sean Kuraly 5:50 into the third period.
Canucks 3, Ducks 2
Elias Pettersson crafted his first career 100-point season as visiting Vancouver handed Anaheim its 12th straight defeat.
In notching his fifth straight multipoint outing against Anaheim, Pettersson dealt out two assists to give him 38 goals and 63 helpers on the season. The Canucks (37-37-7, 81 points) won all four games against Anaheim this season and are 16-9-1 within the Pacific Division.
Falling to 0-10-2 in their past dozen matches, the Ducks (23-46-12, 58 points) got goals from Mason McTavish and Drew Helleson. Trevor Zegras had two assists.
–Field Level Media
