The Winnipeg Jets had goals from six different players as they opened a five-game homestand with a 6-2 romp past the Detroit Red Wings on Friday night.

Kyle Connor, Blake Wheeler, Mark Scheifele, Dylan DeMelo and Nikolaj Ehlers each had a goal and an assist. Nino Niederreiter also scored for Winnipeg.

Connor Hellebuyck stopped 23 shots for the Jets (42-31-3, 87 points), who are trying to fight off Calgary and Nashville for the final Western Conference wild-card spot.

David Perron and Joe Veleno scored for Detroit (33-33-9, 75 points), which had won two straight. Magnus Hellberg made 23 saves.

Winnipeg’s offense had lacked punch over the previous nine games, producing three or fewer goals each time. The Jets notched three goals in the first 14 minutes on Friday.

Connor’s 29th goal was achieved when he redirected a shot from the point by Brenden Dillon. Scheifele picked up the second assist.

Wheeler’s 16th goal came off a perfect feed from Ehlers, who shoveled the puck from the left side to Wheeler in front. Vladislav Namestnikov was credited with the second assist on Wheeler’s first goal in 22 games.

Scheifele scored when a shot from the point by Neil Pionk deflected to him. Connor collected the other assist on Scheifele’s 39th goal.

DeMelo made it 4-0 at 1:20 of the second period with a blast from the point. Mason Appleton and Adam Lowry had the assists.

Niederreiter scored off his own rebound for a 5-0 lead at 13:42 of the period. Appleton and DeMelo had the assists.

Ehlers’ 10th goal five minutes into the third period gave the Jets a six-goal advantage. Wheeler and Namestnikov supplied the assists.

Perron and Veleno scored 21 seconds apart to break up the shutout. Perron, who had a hat trick earlier in the week against Pittsburgh, scored on a power play. Moritz Seider and Dylan Larkin contributed assists on Perron’s 20th goal.

Veleno’s goal was his first since Feb. 7.

–Field Level Media

As the regular season winds down for the Central Division-leading Minnesota Wild, coach Dean Evason watched his club play its best month of hockey in March.

But now it’s April, when the regular season ends and preparations begin for the Stanley Cup playoffs, which the Wild will compete in for the fourth straight season.

A strong test and maybe a sneak preview of a Western Conference Final matchup takes place in the desert on Saturday when Minnesota travels to face the Vegas Golden Knights, owners of the top spot in the Pacific Division.

The matchup will be the first of a home-and-home set, with the return meeting in St. Paul, Minn., on Monday.

Following a 16-point February in which they went 7-4-2, the Wild (44-22-9, 97 points) authored their best month by going 9-1-3 in March for 21 points — helping them pass the Dallas Stars atop the division.

In Wednesday night’s game in Denver against the Colorado Avalanche, Minnesota put forth a strong defensive effort in a 4-2 win, the club’s first win in three tries against the defending Stanley Cup champions.

Winning its third straight game, Minnesota moved to 8-1-2 in its past 11 matches.

With his team ahead 3-1 in the third period, Evason was pleased with the defensive showing, especially a portion of the Wild’s 21 blocked shots.

“The biggest takeaway in the third was our blocks,” Evason said. “Obviously, they pushed, and you knew they were going to have that effort. Our effort defensively was pretty strong.”

The Wild won the battle of special teams, too — though neither team tallied on the power play.

However, center Frederick Gaudreau scored two short-handed goals, including the second into an empty net with 33 seconds left.

“I don’t think so,” joked Gaudreau when asked if he’d ever had two shorties before. “Those empty-netters, they don’t really count.”

Against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday, the Golden Knights (46-22-7, 99 points) lost 4-3 in overtime after learning earlier they had become the first Western Conference squad to qualify for the playoffs, courtesy of Nashville’s 2-0 setback in Pittsburgh.

That put Vegas back in after a one-year absence, the franchise’s first time missing the postseason. That led to the offseason dismissal of former coach Peter DeBoer and the arrival of current coach Bruce Cassidy.

But other than gaining one point on idle Minnesota, there was little glory to be found in losing to the lowly Sharks, who started the night in last place in the Pacific Division but vaulted past the Anaheim Ducks following Logan Couture’s overtime winner.

“Clinched a playoff spot, so checked that box off,” Cassidy said. “Now we want to try to win the next thing, which was a game in front of us, and we looked out of sorts a lot of the night.

“They put some pressure on us. They were skating well. Reloading well. (It) was probably one of our poor nights executing.”

Vegas chased the match all evening, falling behind 2-0 in the first period and 3-2 in the third. Michael Amadio knotted it 3-all, but Couture sealed the Sharks’ win 50 seconds into overtime.

The Knights lost their second straight (0-1-1) after winning four consecutive and eight of nine during a stretch. They went 11-3-1 in 15 March matches.

–Field Level Media

The Edmonton Oilers are showing they can win in a variety of ways, a recent trait that should provide them a boost heading into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Oilers will carry a nine-game point streak into their matchup against the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday night.

The Oilers (44-23-9, 97 points) beat the visiting Los Angeles Kings 2-0 on Thursday night to overtake them for second place in the Pacific Division and pull within two points of the first-place Vegas Golden Knights.

Two days earlier, Edmonton outscored the Golden Knights in a 7-4 win in Las Vegas.

“Good thing for our team is we’re learning how to win different types of games,” Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said. “If you were to compare the game in Las Vegas, compared to (Thursday) night’s game, two completely different games. The most important thing is we found a way. At this time of year, that’s all that’s important.”

The superstars for Edmonton also continue to perform at a meteoric level.

Connor McDavid scored on a short-handed breakaway against the Kings to extend his point streak to 10 games (seven goals, 13 assists).

Leon Draisaitl had the primary assist on the other goal by Evander Kane to extend his point streak to 11 games (six goals, 15 assists).

“I thought that was a really good message to send, not only to them, but to everyone, that we can play that patient game and win,” said McDavid, who leads the NHL with 61 goals, which is 17 more than the career high he set last season.

The return of Kane has also been a major boost for the Oilers.

He missed 2 1/2 months earlier this season after sustaining a deep gash on his wrist with a skate blade, and then missed another three weeks with a rib injury.

In the 11 games since his latest return, Kane has six goals, hitting the back of the net twice in the past two games.

“Kaner’s game is rounding into form right now,” Woodcroft said. “He’s always been known as a big-game player, and these last two he’s shown the level that he can play at. The good news is there’s not a lot of miles on that chassis this year. He’s just kind of rounding into form and at the right time of the year, and we need him.”

The Ducks (23-42-10, 56 points) haven’t been putting up much of a fight in recent games and seem to be counting down to the end of another disappointing season.

Anaheim has lost six in a row, getting outscored 15-5 in the past three.

Making things more difficult, the Ducks could be without their top two point scorers against the Oilers.

Trevor Zegras sustained a lower-body injury in a 5-1 loss to the visiting Colorado Avalanche on Monday and did not play in the 4-1 loss at the Seattle Kraken on Thursday.

Troy Terry is not on the three-game road trip because his wife, Dani, is expecting their first child.

Ducks coach Dallas Eakins, however, continues to be pleased with the team’s demeanor.

“I’ve been so proud of this group during an adverse year,” Eakins said. “We’ve bent a few times but never broken. They continue to have great attitudes. We just have some amazing young men here.”

–Field Level Media

After winning the opener of a three-game homestand, the Seattle Kraken will continue their pursuit of a wild-card spot Saturday night against the Los Angeles Kings.

The Kraken (41-25-8, 90 points) defeated the Anaheim Ducks 4-1 on Thursday to solidify their hold on the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

It was the start of a stretch of five of six games at home for Seattle.

“This group inside of this room has continued to find its way, to push for some things that we’ve wanted to push for,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said.

“We continue to be in that position, and there’s still work to do in order to get to that first goal that we have on the list.”

The Kings (43-22-10, 96 points), third in the Pacific Division, lost 2-0 to the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday to go 0-2-0 halfway through a four-game trip.

The losses followed a 12-game points streak (10-0-2) that matched a franchise record.

Except for the Kings, the Kraken are playing a stretch of games mostly against teams out of playoff contention.

“I mean, we want to take advantage of every game,” said Jaden Schwartz, who had a goal and assist Thursday. “We want to get better. We want to keep improving. The two points are big, obviously.

“When you look at the standings, teams are trying to move up and you don’t want to leave it to the last two games of the year to have to win to get in. You want to build as much of a lead as you can. And so these are big.”

“Other teams are pretty good, too, right?” Hakstol said. “They’re trying to win. It’s the National Hockey League. You build wins through 60 minutes.”

The Ducks were stubborn and trailed 2-1 after two periods. Daniel Sprong scored a power-play goal late in the third period for the Kraken and Alex Wennberg added an empty-net goal.

“The power play did its job in extending the lead in the third period,” Hakstol said. “And that’s it. It closes out a good two points for us. It’s a real positive night.”

Joonas Korpisalo made 35 saves for the Kings on Thursday, but Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner stopped 43 shots to earn the shutout.

“I thought it was a (heck) of a game, both teams played really hard, and it came down to a bounce or a break or two, and they were able to score,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said.

“We had some real good looks, and we ran into a hot goaltender and didn’t quite get it over the goal line. But I thought it was a heck of a game.”

The Kings were without leading scorer Kevin Fiala (22 goals, 48 assists), who was a late scratch with a lower-body injury, and they lost defenseman Mikey Anderson 1:28 into the first period when he was hit from behind by Connor McDavid, who later scored his 300th career goal.

The Kings were also without forward Gabriel Vilardi (upper-body injury) for the second consecutive game.

“That’s not something you want, obviously — that’s three key guys out,” Kings defenseman Matt Roy said. “But there are no excuses. You just need to find ways to win, and hopefully they can get healthy and join us as soon as they can.”

–Field Level Media

Jeff Skinner scored 1:50 into overtime, goaltender Devon Levi made 31 saves in his NHL debut, and the Buffalo Sabres beat the visiting New York Rangers 3-2 on Friday night.

In three-on-three play, Skinner skated in and split New York’s Mika Zibanejad and Vladimir Tarasenko, then roofed his 32nd goal over Jaroslav Halak (31 saves) for the winner.

Buffalo (36-31-7, 79 points) won for just the second time in the past 11 matches (2-6-3) against New York.

Levi, 21, became the fourth-youngest goalie to play for the Sabres and the youngest since 18-year-old Martin Biron on Dec. 26, 1995.

A 2020 seventh-round pick by Florida (212th overall), the Quebec native was part of the July 24, 2021, trade that sent Buffalo center Sam Reinhart to the Panthers.

Levi flourished in a 15-shutout career at Northeastern, boasting a 1.90 goals-against average and a .942 save percentage, the latter the second-best mark in NCAA history.

Buffalo’s JJ Peterka hit the back of the net, Jordan Greenway returned after missing four games and scored, and Casey Mittelstadt had two assists.

The Rangers (44-21-11, 99 points) got goals from Kaapo Kakko and Adam Fox but lost for the second straight night.

They stretched their point streak against Buffalo to 12 games (10-0-2) and finished 10-4-2 in March.

In the first period, Peterka gave Levi an early lead after fighting through contact with New York’s Vincent Trocheck and finishing a slick pass from Dylan Cozens for his 11th goal at 11:20.

During a light first 20 minutes of work, Levi stopped both of New York’s shots, the best being Chris Kreider’s from in close 30 seconds after Peterka’s tally, as Buffalo held a 11-2 shot advantage.

With a strong power move at 7:39 of the second, Greenway took a neutral-zone flip pass by Mittelstadt and muscled his way past New York’s Ben Harpur, scoring his fourth goal — his second with Buffalo — on a one-handed shot.

The Rangers finally solved Levi when Kakko reached out behind him and batted in a Filip Chytil chip for his 15th marker at 12:17.

But Levi got his revenge by making a sprawling, head-first save on Kakko’s one-timer from the right circle with 84 seconds left in the period.

At 9:45 of the third, Fox tied the game at 2-all by shoving in his 12th goal as no one appeared to find the loose puck near Levi.

–Field Level Media

With only postseason home-ice advantage to be determined, the playoff-bound Toronto Maple Leafs visit the Ottawa Senators, a team desperately trying to stay alive in the Eastern Conference wild-card race, on Saturday night.

The Senators (37-33-5, 79 points) defeated the visiting Philadelphia Flyers 5-4 in overtime Thursday and enter Saturday five points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second wild-card spot.

“The job is not finished and we’ve got seven games left,” said Shane Pinto, who scored for Ottawa on Thursday. “We’ve just got to keep winning games. That’s all that matters.”

Ottawa has won two straight and three of four.

Philadelphia tied the game with three consecutive third-period goals.

“We worked extremely hard, created a lot, I thought, and we laid off a little bit in the third,” Senators coach D.J. Smith said.

The Maple Leafs (44-20-10, 98 points) enter Saturday second in the Atlantic Division, four points ahead of the Tampa Bay Lighting. Finishing second would give Toronto home-ice advantage in a first-round playoff series with Tampa Bay.

Toronto returned from a 3-2-0 road trip Wednesday and lost 3-2 in overtime to the Florida Panthers, who tied the game with one minute left in regulation.

“We had opportunities to bury them and build a substantial lead,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. “We’ve seen this a lot. We let teams hang around and get points from you.”

Ottawa enters the matchup with injury concerns. Defenseman Travis Hamonic and forward Derick Brassard each left Thursday’s game with a lower-body injury.

“Both guys, not good,” Smith said. “Neither were able to return and it doesn’t look like they’ll be able to return anytime soon, but we’ll know more (Saturday) morning.”

Ottawa was already without defensemen Thomas Chabot and Jakob Chychrun.

“It’s tough to see,” said Alex DeBrincat, who scored the overtime goal. “Two important guys to our team go down. It’s not an easy thing to move past, but we’ve got to do it anyway.”

With the defense depleted, Tyler Kleven got more playing time and had an assist in his NHL debut.

With the playoffs looming, Toronto will be considering the home-and-away discrepancies of its goaltenders.

Ilya Samsonov is 18-2-3 at home with a 2.00 goals-against average and a .927 save percentage. On the road, he is 6-7-1 with a 3.23 GAA and a .892 save percentage.

Matt Murray is 9-6-1 with a 2.75 GAA and a .915 save percentage in away games. He is 5-2-1 (3.37, .880) at home.

“There’s two extremes on both sides for both goalies, something that we’re looking at for sure,” Keefe said. “I don’t know how applicable it might be beyond the regular season. You get into the playoffs, everything equalizes in terms of scheduling and both teams are going through the same thing.

“But it’s certainly something that has my attention. Not a lot of games left, but for Sammy, we need him to play on the road and get more reps in there. And then Murray the other way. I think you’ll see some of that the rest of the season.”

With forward Noel Acciari (neck) out Saturday, the Maple Leafs recalled forward Radim Zohorna from their AHL affiliate.

–Field Level Media

While the New Jersey Devils seem likely to finish second in the Metropolitan Division and get home-ice advantage for the first round of the postseason, first place also is a possibility.

Especially if the Devils get a favorable result Saturday when they visit the Chicago Blackhawks, about an hour after the first-place Carolina Hurricanes begin their game at the Montreal Canadiens.

With seven games, left New Jersey (47-20-8, 102 points) is one point behind Carolina for the division lead. Carolina has eight games left and the teams both have 35 of their 47 wins in regulation.

Both teams are playing a back-to-back set, as the Devils visit Winnipeg on Sunday while the Hurricanes host the New York Islanders.

The Islanders handed the Devils their most lopsided loss of the season Monday when they pulled away for a 5-1 win, but New Jersey responded with a sound defensive showing in a 2-1 win over the visiting New York Rangers Thursday.

“Defensively it was a huge game for us and feel like we’re getting ready for the playoffs and it’s huge for us,” New Jersey goalie Vitek Vanecek said.

New Jersey’s third win over the Rangers gave them a four-point lead over their rival for second in the Metro. Erik Haula scored about five minutes in and Timo Meier added a power-play goal late in the first period in a game that the Devils allowed just 25 shots. Vanecek made 24 saves and joined Martin Brodeur as the second goalie in team history to reach 30 wins.

“I think we stuck with it and tried to take away some of their creativity and rush chances and, for the most part, I thought we took a step,” Haula said. “It was a full game, it was tight, and (all their lines) can score, so I thought we executed our game plan pretty well.”

Besides looking to get into first place, the Devils are one win shy of tying their third-best win total in a season. The Devils last won 48 games in the 2011-12 season, the year they lost to the Los Angeles Kings in the Stanley Cup Final.

The Blackhawks (24-45-6, 54 points) are tied with the Columbus Blue Jackets for the fewest points in the NHL. But they will be buoyed by the return of captain Jonathan Toews to the lineup for the first time in more than two months.

Toews hasn’t played since Jan. 28, sidelined by the effects of long COVID-19 and chronic immune response syndrome.

“He said he’s all good today, feels really good and he’s like, ‘Well, it’s not going to be perfect, it might be ugly,'” Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson said. “I said we’re a little bit ugly right now, so you’ll fit right now.'”

Chicago heads into Saturday on a seven-game losing streak, one shy of its season high. Since a 2-1 win over the Nashville Predators on March 16, the Blackhawks are getting outscored 31-10 while allowing the first goal in five of those games.

Chicago’s latest loss was a 5-3 setback to the visiting St. Louis Blues, when it allowed two goals in a span of 38 seconds in the second period after Andreas Athanasiou scored the tying goal on a power play.

“It’s frustrating,” Richardson said. “I’m sure the guys are frustrated. They put a lot of really good effort in. They did what we talked about all day, really good start. We just didn’t have the finish. We just don’t have that natural finish. Maybe that’s just where our squad is right now, but I liked how we pushed back.”

–Field Level Media

The Florida Panthers will aim to ascend into the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference on Saturday when they conclude a four-game road trip against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The Panthers (38-31-7, 83 points) have answered a four-game losing streak by winning back-to-back contests to move within one point of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Florida, however, has just six games remaining on its schedule — one fewer than Pittsburgh, which hosts the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Boston Bruins on Saturday.

“Very important. Back-to-backs, being able to get them both, was huge,” forward Matthew Tkachuk said after he collected three goals and an assist in the Panthers’ 5-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.

“We know where we’re at right now, so we know how important these two points are each and every night. Very important one to end the road trip here in Columbus on Saturday.”

Tkachuk’s performance pushed his point total over 100 for the second straight season, allowing him to join Wayne Gretzky, Jimmy Carson and Mike Rogers as the lone NHL players to reach triple digits in consecutive campaigns for two different teams. Tkachuk played for the Calgary Flames before being traded to Florida last summer.

“It doesn’t mean a whole lot if we don’t make the playoffs,” said Tkachuk, who boasts team-leading totals in goals (38), assists (63), points (101) and plus/minus rating (plus-26).

“I’m sure, maybe, being able to reflect on it, it’s obviously a pretty cool milestone. I’m surrounded by so many great teammates.”

Tkachuk scored a goal in Florida’s 5-3 loss in Columbus on Nov. 20 and recorded a goal and an assist in the Panthers’ 4-0 victory over the visiting Blue Jackets on Dec. 13.

Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky turned aside all 22 shots he faced against his former team in the latter contest. The two-time Vezina Trophy recipient, however, has sat out the Panthers’ last two games due to a non-COVID illness.

Alex Lyon has turned aside 56 of 60 shots while making the team’s last two starts in place of Bobrovsky.

While Florida is battling for a spot in the postseason, Columbus (23-43-8, 54 points) fell out of contention long ago. The Blue Jackets lost their third straight game following a 2-1 setback in overtime to the Bruins on Thursday.

“We play hard (and) with a lot of effort,” Columbus goalie Michael Hutchinson said following his 29-save performance. “Coming down the stretch, we’re not going to lay down for anyone and give them space out there just because of where they are in the standings and where we are. So, I don’t know if they were expecting us to come out that hard, but it turned into a really good hockey game.”

Johnny Gaudreau, who leads the team in assists (50) and points (69), had two and three, respectively, in the first meeting with Florida. Captain Boone Jenner scored one of his club-best 25 goals in that encounter as well.

Jenner, however, is focused on having his team finish the season on a strong note.

“That was a good hockey game,” Jenner said of Thursday’s contest. “Obviously you want to come out and get the two points for that, but like I said, we’ve got a lot to take from that game.”

–Field Level Media