Mark Kastelic scored two of the Bruins’ four first-period goals as Boston wrapped up the first Eastern Conference wild card with a 4-0 win over the visiting New Jersey Devils on Tuesday.

Boston’s Jeremy Swayman made 21 saves in the regular-season finale for both teams.

Morgan Geekie and Viktor Arvidsson also lit the lamp for Boston (45-27-10, 100 points), which enters its return to the NHL playoffs on a two-game win streak. The Bruins will meet the Atlantic Division champion Buffalo Sabres in the first round of the postseason.

Sean Kuraly notched two assists, and David Pastrnak had one on Geekie’s opening goal, securing his fourth consecutive 100-point season.

Arvidsson became the first Bruin since Jarome Iginla in 2013-14 to reach the 25-goal plateau in his initial season with the team.

Swayman, who logged his second shutout of the season, made 10 of his saves in the opening period.

Nico Daws, in his second straight start for New Jersey (42-37-3, 87 points), stopped 22 shots.

The Bruins opened the scoring just 53 seconds into the opening frame. Pastrnak assisted Geekie with his milestone point, sending a diagonal pass out of the corner to the open winger for a wrist-shot goal in the low slot.

Kastelic slotted home the second Boston goal at 6:14, sliding in from the wing to put home a Tanner Jeannot pass from behind the net.

At 17:42, Kastelic made it a 3-0 game. After Mason Lohrei kept the puck in at the blue line, he started a tic-tac-toe sequence with Kuraly, who slid the puck from the left circle back into the slot, and Katstelic put a wrister top-shelf.

Arvidsson made it a four-goal first period for the Bruins with 8 seconds left. Following a faceoff win, Hampus Lindholm took a shot from the top of the circle, Kuraly grabbed a rebound in front and dished a pass to an open Arvidsson in front to tap past Daws.

Michael Eyssimont nearly upped Boston’s lead to 5-0 on a rebound of a Lohrei shot with 8:15 left in regulation, but New Jersey’s challenge for offside was successful.

–Field Level Media

The Vegas Golden Knights can clinch their third Pacific Division title in four years when they host the Seattle Kraken in their regular-season finale on Wednesday night in Las Vegas.

Vegas (38-26-17, 93 points) brings a season-best nine-game point streak (6-0-3) into the contest and has yet to lose in regulation (6-0-1) since John Tortorella took over for Bruce Cassidy as head coach on March 29. Edmonton (40-30-11, 91 points) is in second in the division with one game remaining.

At the time of the coaching change, the Golden Knights were sputtering, just four points above the playoff line and having lost six of seven games and 12 of their previous 16. But the change to Tortorella, who coached Tampa Bay to the 2004 Stanley Cup title, seemed to revitalize the team.

“I don’t think any of us would have expected to head into the last game of the year with a chance to win the division with the amount of points we had, but here we are,” said center Jack Eichel, a key member of the U.S. gold-medal winning hockey team at the Winter Olympics in February. “It’s been a season of ebbs and flows, but it seems like we’ve gotten things going in the right direction here.

“As you head into the playoffs, you want to be playing your best. It’s a great opportunity to continue to build our game and prepare for the postseason and whatever that looks like.”

Vegas comes in off a 6-2 home win over Winnipeg on Monday, its second straight victory. Eichel led the way with a goal and three assists, his fourth four-point game of the season, while captain Mark Stone added a goal and two assists. Stone has scored five goals in the last five games. Carter Hart made 21 saves to improve to 5-0-0 since returning from a lower-body injury.

“We’ve just got to stay about it. We’ve got to take each day at a time, keep building our game,” Tortorella said. “We’ve got one more regular-season game and, hopefully, we’re playing our best hockey as we’re heading into the playoffs.”

A win would guarantee that Vegas would have home-ice advantage for at least the first two rounds of the playoffs.

“You want to start here,” Eichel said. “You want to start at home in front or our fans. It’s the playoffs. To do that, we still have to go out there and win a hockey game.”

Seattle (34-35-11, 79 points) was in the thick of Western Conference playoff hunt entering the month but has sputtered badly down the stretch, garnering just five points in nine games (2-6-1). The Kraken, who finish their season on Thursday at Presidents’ Trophy-winning Colorado, come in off a 5-3 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Monday.

“I don’t think we got to where we wanted to. Obviously, we’re not in the playoffs,” said center Matty Beniers, second on the team in both goals (20) and points (50) to Jordan Eberle (26, 55). “A little bit disappointing. I think we definitely had the ability to do it. We put ourselves in a spot to do it after the (Olympic) break but just didn’t get it done. It’s frustrating.”

This is the fourth meeting between the two teams, with Seattle winning all three of the previous contests, including 4-3 in a shootout on April 9, the only blip by the Golden Knights under Tortorella.

–Field Level Media

The Buffalo Sabres wrap up the regular season Wednesday at the Dallas Stars, and for the first time since the 2010-11 season, the regular-season finale will not be Buffalo’s last game.

Coach Lindy Ruff’s team has been one of the NHL’s hottest over the past four months, winning 39 out of 52 games since Dec. 8. Thanks to that torrid stretch, the Sabres (50-23-8, 108 points) clinched the Atlantic Division title Monday with a 5-1 road win against the Chicago Blackhawks.

“This last four months has been so much fun coaching this group,” Ruff told reporters Monday. “You hope to get the team in the right place and become consistent, but these guys have exceeded my expectations.”

Tage Thompson scored two goals in Chicago to reach 40 goals for the third time in his career. With his 41 assists, the center leads Buffalo with 81 points. That total is Thompson’s highest since getting 94 points in the 2022-23 season.

Rasmus Dahlin had two assists in the win, giving the 26-year-old Swedish defenseman a career-high 74 points. With 19 goals, the eight-year veteran is one away from his second 20-goal season.

The Stars (49-20-12, 110 points) have also punched their ticket to the postseason and are on a four-game winning streak. A victory in their final regular-season game would give them 50 wins for a third straight season.

On Monday, Dallas rallied from a 5-3 hole with less than 16 minutes remaining to pull out a 6-5 victory at Toronto. Mavrik Bourque recorded the first hat trick and four-point game of his career and scored the game-winner with 5:08 left in regulation.

Bourque, 24, has 40 points in his second full NHL season and, according to coach Glen Gulutzan, the forward has been playing his best hockey over the past month.

“He’s embodied kind of what we wanted to do here,” Gulutzan said after the win over the Maple Leafs. “He’s been very physical. He’s been very responsible, two ways. A guy that you can trust, and I think his game has grown a lot from the start of the year.”

Jason Robertson leads the team with 96 points, which ranks 10th in the league. He and Wyatt Johnston share the team lead with 45 goals, and both are tied with Minnesota Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov for fourth in the league’s goal-scoring race.

Dallas has been one of the league’s better teams all season, overcoming numerous injuries to key players along the way. The Stars are currently without defenseman Miro Heiskanen, who ranks second on the team with 54 assists, and forward Roope Hintz, whose 44 points are sixth-best.

Both are recovering from lower-body injuries and are questionable to return for the start of Dallas’ first-round series against Minnesota. In addition, Sam Steel, who has 12 goals and 21 assists in 72 games, is listed as questionable for Wednesday’s game with a hip issue.

Wednesday’s matchup features the league’s third- and fourth-best teams by record. It will also pit Dallas’ power play, which leads the league with 70 goals, against the Sabres, who rank fourth in killing penalties at 82.1% (41 allowed on 229 times short-handed).

–Field Level Media

When Tampa Bay hosts the New York Rangers in the regular-season finale on Wednesday, the Lightning know they won’t need to pack their bags postgame.

Thanks to the Canadiens’ 4-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday, the Lightning (50-25-6, 106 points) clinched second place in the Atlantic Division, and Montreal (48-24-10, 106 points) will finish third. The Canadiens will open a first-round playoff series in Tampa this weekend.

While the Lightning, if they lose in regulation to the Rangers, would finish level on points with the Canadiens, Tampa Bay owns the regulation-wins tiebreaker (40-34).

The Rangers (33-39-9, 75 points), who will finish a dreadful campaign last in the Eastern Conference, are 1-1-0 against the Lightning.

The previous matchups have been blowouts. New York won 7-3 at Tampa on Nov. 12, while the Lightning returned the favor in a 4-1 win on the road against the Rangers on Nov. 29.

Darker times were ahead for the Rangers after Black Friday.

Coach Mike Sullivan’s crew fell out of the wild-card race after going 10-17-5 during a three-month stretch in December, January and a truncated February due to the Winter Olympics.

On Monday, the Rangers celebrated the career of retiring goaltender Jonathan Quick, who was starting his final game. However, they lost 3-2 as the Florida Panthers played a defensive-minded game and cashed in three times in their 16 shots and beat the 2011-12 Conn Smythe Trophy winner.

“I thought Quicky played well for us,” said Sullivan, whose group all wore the goalie’s No. 32 sweater in warmups. “Obviously, tonight was about a celebration for him. … He’s an inspiration to all of us, just in his example and how he carries himself. In a lot of ways, he personifies what we hope to become as a group.

“His work ethic, his attention to detail, just incredible attitude. His professionalism is second to no one’s. … We’re all better that we’ve had the opportunity to work with him.”

The Lightning recorded a 4-3 overtime victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Monday, helping them keep pace with Montreal after they squandered a two-goal lead entering the third period.

Nikita Kucherov scored 27 seconds into overtime on his team’s first possession by finishing a give-and-go created by Brayden Point, leading to a two-on-one rush that produced the victory.

Lightning coach Jon Cooper thinks Kucherov should be awarded a second Hart Trophy after winning his first for the 2018-19 season. He leads Tampa Bay in goals (44), assists (86) and points (130).

“There are some fabulous players in this league. … He’s pretty darn important to us,” said Cooper after his team put itself in position to control its playoff destination this weekend. “Could you make a case for a bunch of guys? Yes. But I think it’s pretty evident that Kuch has made a name for himself this year, that he should be the guy.”

Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy got a toe on Alex DeBrincat’s breakaway try on the first shot in overtime, keeping the match alive and leading to Kucherov’s winner nine seconds later.

A strong Vezina Trophy candidate, Vasilevskiy leads the NHL in wins and owns a 39-15-4 record. The 2018-19 Vezina winner boasts a 2.31 goals-against average (second-best in the league) and a .912 save percentage (tied for third).

–Field Level Media

The Chicago Blackhawks hope to leave a better impression on their fans when they play their season finale against the visiting San Jose Sharks on Wednesday night.

The Blackhawks (28-39-14, 70 points) heard boos from their home crowd during a listless 5-1 loss to the visiting Buffalo Sabres on Monday night.

“I don’t know if it’s unwarranted, but it’s not fun,” Chicago defenseman Wyatt Kaiser said.

The Blackhawks will miss the playoffs for the sixth straight season and haven’t made the postseason in a regular 82-game slate since 2017. They haven’t won a playoff round since winning the Stanley Cup in 2015.

“At some point, I know that this is a young team and we will take off,” Chicago coach Jeff Blashill said. “I just don’t know when. Is it next year? That’s up to us.”

Chicago has lost four in a row and nine of 10, giving up at least five goals in six of those losses.

“I think it’s a little unfortunate these last couple games have gone this way because honestly we’ve done tons of good things to build this in the right direction, and unfortunately this sours your taste,” Blashill said. “In the end, when we look back, we’ll know we built a lot of building blocks to have success in the future.”

Chicago forward Connor Bedard, the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2023, said he hopes to get his teammates together over the summer for some much-needed bonding.

“Hopefully we’ll get a week or two where everyone’s schedule lines up and we can either come here (to Chicago) or go somewhere,” Bedard said. “When you ask guys about teams that they win with, (they say) they’re all very tight off the ice as well. That’s such a big part of it. We’ve already got that down, which is nice.”

The Sharks (38-34-8, 84 points) ended a 15-game winless streak against the Nashville Predators with a 3-2 win on Monday.

“They were fighting for their lives, and it just felt good to end it,” San Jose defenseman Vincent Desharnais said. “They had our number the first two games (of the season), and we came here and kind of broke up the party. It was fun.”

Both the Sharks and Predators were eliminated from the playoffs later on Monday when the Los Angeles Kings beat the Seattle Kraken. Despite that, Sharks goalie Alex Nedeljkovic likes the mood in the locker room.

“We got a lot of guys that care a lot, that want to win and want to compete every single night,” Nedeljkovic said. “Those are the guys that I want to play with, you want to go to war with, and do something special with. Those are the guys that you end up winning with at the end of the day.”

San Jose center Macklin Celebrini, the No. 1 overall pick in 2024, scored two goals on Monday to increase his point total to 112, which is two behind Joe Thornton for the club record he set in 2006-07.

Celebrini’s 44 goals are also tied with Owen Nolan (1999-2000) and Patrick Marleau (2009-10) for the second most in San Jose history behind Jonathan Cheechoo’s 56 goals in 2005-06.

The Sharks play their regular-season finale on Thursday at the Winnipeg Jets.

“I don’t think we’re ever going to give up,” Celebrini said. “We’re going to keep playing as best we can and give it our all.”

–Field Level Media

The Toronto Maple Leafs will end their season Wednesday night when they visit the Ottawa Senators, in a dramatic reversal from nearly a year ago.

When the Maple Leafs (32-35-14, 78 points) visited the Senators (43-27-11, 97 points) last May 1, they won Game 6 to clinch a victory in the first-round playoff series.

This time, the Maple Leafs will be packing their gear following the game after they were eliminated from playoff contention several games ago.

Ottawa, meanwhile, has clinched an Eastern Conference wild-card spot and will use the regular-season finale to prepare for the playoffs.

Toronto has dropped six in a row (0-5-1) after blowing a 3-0 first-period lead Monday and losing their final home game of the season 6-5 to the playoff-bound Dallas Stars.

The Maple Leafs also led by two goals in the third period before Dallas scored three straight.

The highlight for Toronto came when Jacob Quillan scored his first career NHL goal in the first period.

The Senators are coming off a 4-3 overtime road loss Sunday to the New Jersey Devils that snapped their four-game winning streak.

Tim Stutzle, Brady Tkachuk, Jake Sanderson and Thomas Chabot did not play for Ottawa on Sunday.

Dawson Mercer tied the game 3-3 in the third period with New Jersey’s second short-handed goal of the contest.

“It was a big point,” Senators coach Travis Green said. “We had a lot of good players out of the lineup tonight. Guys battled, but when you give up two short-handed goals, it’s tough to win in the NHL.”

The Senators overcame a 2-0 first-period deficit to earn the point.

“I didn’t like the first 10 minutes of our game,” Green said.

“We did a lot of good things,” said forward Claude Giroux, who had an assist. “We just played more to our identity. We want to play more as a team, and we did that in the second period. ”

“We’re playing pretty well going into the playoffs,” said forward Shane Pinto, who scored a power-play goal.

Fabian Zetterlund has been surging for the Senators and scored his fourth goal in four games on Sunday.

Tkachuk is also expected to sit out Wednesday after taking a hit Saturday that forced him to leave the 3-0 win over the New York Islanders. He said on Tuesday that he will be ready for the playoffs.

Ottawa has won two of three from Toronto this season.

The Maple Leafs started Monday as if they would finish their home schedule on a positive note.

“I was disappointed,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said. “We got a 3-0 lead, and then we gave it back to them that quickly in the second period, just on mistakes. With the coverage, we’re right there, but we’re not close enough.

“It is disappointing on my end, for sure. We talked about getting a win here tonight. It would have been nice, but it didn’t happen.”

Maple Leafs forward John Tavares opened the scoring with his team-leading 31st goal of the season.

The 35-year-old will have played in all 82 games this season when he takes to the ice on Wednesday.

“It’s impressive,” Berube said. “I talk about him all the time with you guys, about his preparation and work ethic. It’s the same every day, every practice, every game. When things aren’t going well, he works his way out of it. He’s a great pro. He’s been a great pro his whole career.”

–Field Level Media