The visiting Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins meet on Saturday afternoon in what ultimately could become an Eastern Conference first-round playoff matchup.

If that is how things turn out, the series would start in Boston. The Bruins (58-12-5, 121 points) clinched the Presidents’ Trophy with their 2-1 overtime victory against the Columbus Blue Jackets, giving Boston home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs.

But there are seven more games on their regular-season schedule, starting with Saturday’s contest against the Penguins (37-28-10, 84 points).

“It’s an honor to win that,” Bruins winger Tyler Bertuzzi said of the Presidents’ Trophy, “and it just proves how good we have been all year.

“We’ve just got to keep going forward. We have (seven) games left, and then the real thing starts.”

Boston captain Patrice Bergeron also indicated the team already has its sights set on a long playoff run.

“It’s a lot of games, a lot of hard work, and I’m proud of the way we’ve done it by sticking to our process and growing as a team and learning and really playing for each other,” Bergeron said.

“That being said, it’s nice (to clinch the best record), but obviously you have your eyes set on (something) bigger.”

Boston has earned the right to simply hone its game, gear up for the playoffs and perhaps hit a few round numbers.

David Pastrnak, who scored 41 seconds into overtime on Thursday, is a point away from 100 — something only two other Bruins have done over the past 20 years. Brad Marchand reached 100 points in 2018-19, and Joe Thornton finished with 101 in 2002-03.

The Penguins, meanwhile, still are trying to lock up a playoff spot.

They currently hold a one-point edge on the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. Should Pittsburgh finish there, it would set up that first-round series against Boston.

Pittsburgh hasn’t made it easy on itself, including a four-game losing streak from March 14-20. Since then, the team has posted a 3-2-0 record.

That includes a 2-0 win against visiting Nashville on Thursday, a game that provided a blueprint for the way the Penguins want to play.

Pittsburgh has developed a knack for failing to hold leads, but that didn’t happen Thursday.

“Even when we were up, I felt like we kept pushing,” said winger Jason Zucker, who scored in the second period.

Goaltender Tristan Jarry not only returned after failing to play for three games, but he also recorded 28 saves to notch his 13th career shutout.

“Anytime you can get away from it a little bit, it takes a little bit of stress off of you,” Jarry said.

Jarry sat out one game because of his third injury of the season, was well enough to back up Casey DeSmith, then backed up again on Tuesday. DeSmith yielded six goals on 24 shots in a 7-4 setback to the Detroit Red Wings.

So the pendulum swings back to Jarry, who likely will start against the Bruins.

–Field Level Media

The Nashville Predators will continue their push to make the playoffs on Saturday afternoon when they host the surging St. Louis Blues.

The Predators (37-29-8, 82 points) entered play on Friday residing three points out of the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. The Blues (35-34-6, 76 points), in turn, are nine points out with seven games remaining on their schedule.

Nashville has dropped three of its past four games following a 2-0 setback at Pittsburgh on Thursday, marking the ninth time in its past 10 games that it has been held to two goals or fewer.

Juuse Saros made 43 saves in the loss to the Penguins.

“It’s a playoff mindset now,” Predators coach John Hynes said. “You have to move on to the next one. You have to take some lessons from each game, but you certainly have to be able to turn around quick.”

The Predators’ offensive struggles can be traced to injuries to several of their top players.

Captain Roman Josi, who has team-high totals in assists (41) and points (59), hasn’t played since sustaining an upper-body injury against the Jets on March 18. Josi is a game-time decision against the Blues.

Winger Filip Forsberg, whose 42 points (19 goals, 23 assists) are third on the team despite playing in just 50 games, has been on injured reserve with an upper-body ailment since Feb. 28.

Center Ryan Johansen (12 goals, 16 assists) underwent season-ending leg surgery in February. Center Matt Duchene, who is second on the team with 56 points and leads the team with 22 goals, hasn’t played since injuring his hand against Toronto on March 26.

While the Predators are fading, the Blues are hitting a high note.

St. Louis is coming off a 5-3 win over the host Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday for its sixth victory in the past eight games (6-1-1), during which they’ve scored 37 goals.

“We’re scoring lots of goals. I think that’s the biggest thing we’ve got going for us right now,” St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. “We’re scoring goals, and we’ve got a lot of guys playing pretty good offense right now. That’s the bottom line.”

Brandon Saad collected a goal and an assist and Jakub Vrana, Logan Brown, Alexey Toropchenko and Jordan Kyrou also scored against the Blackhawks. Jordan Binnington made 30 saves for St. Louis.

Kyrou has scored a team-high 34 goals to go along with 35 assists for a club-best 69 points. He has three more points than Pavel Buchnevich (25 goals, 41 assists), who missed Thursday’s game with an upper-body injury.

Robert Thomas has a team-high 46 assists to go along with 17 goals this season, but he missed Thursday’s game with an upper-body injury. Thomas and Kyrou are game-time decisions against Nashville.

This will be the Central Division rivals’ fourth — and final — meeting of the regular season.

Nashville cruised to a 6-2 win at home on Oct. 27 before St. Louis knocked off the Predators in the next two games on home ice. The Blues posted a 1-0 victory in overtime on Dec. 12 and 5-2 triumph on Jan. 19.

–Field Level Media

A five-game homestand might be just what the Winnipeg Jets need to lock up a playoff berth.

The Jets, who host the Detroit Red Wings on Friday, are trying to fight off the Calgary Flames and the Nashville Predators for the last Western Conference wild-card spot. Winnipeg played eight of its previous 10 games on the road and went 5-5-0 during that stretch.

In their past two outings, the Jets (41-31-3, 85 points) lost at Los Angeles 4-1 and at San Jose 3-0. Winnipeg is 22-12-2 at home this season.

Jet coach Rick Bowness expressed exasperation after seeing his team get blanked on Tuesday.

“There comes a point when your personal pride has to take over,” he said. “If someone has to go in there and point that out to them, then there is a big problem right there. We’re going to find out what we’re made of and we’re going to find out what everyone in that room is made of over the next little while.”

Winnipeg’s offense has lacked punch over the past nine games, producing three or fewer goals each time. The Jets were shut out in three of their past seven games, though the Sharks’ James Reimer had to make 41 saves to keep them off the scoreboard.

“The offense gave us a chance to win the game, we just didn’t score,” Bowness said. “Then, the inconsistencies with some of our players is hurting us. Some of these guys think they’re giving us everything in their tank. They’re dreaming. We have a lot of guys in there giving us everything they can. We just need a few more guys to jump on board.”

Jets center Mark Scheifele admitted the team’s confidence has been shaken.

“Obviously it’s tough for goals to come by. We’re pretty cold right now,” he said. “Is there things I think we could do differently? For sure. But like I said before, we’re in the thick of it. When confidence is low and you’re cold, you grip the stick a little tighter.”

Detroit (33-32-9, 75 points) will be playing the tail end of a back-to-back set on Friday. The Red Wings have won two straight, including a 3-2 thriller over the visiting Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday. Jake Walman scored the game-winner with four seconds left in regulation.

Dominik Kubalik and Dylan Larkin were the other goal scorers. For Larkin, it was his team-high 28th of the season.

The Red Wings now have more wins than they registered all of last season.

“It’s going to be so hard to judge this team because we are a shell of what we were before the (trade) deadline with injuries,” first-year coach Derek Lalonde said. “I guess you want to take steps forward, but that’s just on paper. No matter what happens in these last eight games, it feels like we’ve moved forward.”

Alex Nedeljkovic, Detroit’s No. 1 goalie last year who has spent much of this season in the American Hockey League, earned wins against Pittsburgh and Carolina in the past two games. Magnus Hellberg likely will get the start in Winnipeg, since No. 1 goaltender Ville Husso is still dealing with a lower-body injury.

Detroit won 7-5 on its home ice against Winnipeg on Jan. 10, as seven different Red Wings scored.

–Field Level Media

David Pastrnak scored 41 seconds into overtime to lift the Boston Bruins to a 2-1 win over the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night, clinching the Presidents’ Trophy and the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.

Pastrnak took Hampus Lindholm’s feed into the offensive zone and finished with the backhand for his 53rd goal of the season. The Bruins (58-12-5, 121 points) also set a franchise record for victories. The Presidents’ Trophy for most points in the NHL regular season is the fourth for Boston since it was first awarded in 1985-86.

Tyler Bertuzzi scored the lone Bruins goal of regulation, tying the game in the second period. Linus Ullmark made 25 saves, including 10 in both the second and third periods.

The Blue Jackets played with a lead after Jack Roslovic scored in the first period. Michael Hutchinson stopped 29 shots.

Sharks 4, Knights 3 (OT)

Logan Couture scored on a breakaway 50 seconds into overtime as San Jose ended a seven-game road winning streak by Vegas.

Mario Ferraro had a goal and an assist and Oskar Lindblom and Tomas Hertl also scored for San Jose. Defenseman Henry Thrun, making his NHL debut after starring at Harvard, added two assists, and James Reimer finished with 23 saves.

Nicolas Hague, Ivan Barbashev and Michael Amadio scored goals and Ben Hutton notched two assists for Vegas, which became the first Western Conference team to clinch a playoff berth before the game when Nashville was blanked 2-0 at Pittsburgh. Brossoit made 21 saves for Vegas.

Kraken 4, Ducks 1

Matty Beniers and Jaden Schwartz each had a goal and an assist and Martin Jones turned aside 18 shots as host Seattle continued its push toward the playoffs by sending Anaheim to its sixth straight loss.

Daniel Sprong and Alex Wennberg also scored for the Kraken, who won at home for the first time in five games and hold the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference with eight games remaining.

Brock McGinn scored for the Ducks, and backup goaltender Lukas Dostal stopped 35 shots.

Oilers 2, Kings 0

Stuart Skinner made 43 saves to lead Edmonton over visiting Los Angeles.

Connor McDavid scored his 61st goal of the season and the 300th of his career, and Evander Kane also scored for Edmonton, which has won three in a row and eight of nine (8-0-1) to overtake the Kings for second place in the Pacific Division.

Joonas Korpisalo made 35 saves for Los Angeles, which has lost two in a row following a franchise-best 12-game point streak (10-0-2).

Lightning 5, Capitals 1

Pat Maroon scored twice, Steven Stamkos and Alex Killorn each had a goal and an assist and Tampa Bay beat visiting Washington.

Maroon netted two in the third period on rebounds while Stamkos recorded his second consecutive multi-point game and third in the past four outings. Erik Cernak scored and Anthony Cirelli posted two assists. Andrei Vasilevskiy (33-20-4) stopped 30 shots.

Craig Smith tallied and goalie Darcy Kuemper (21-24-6) stopped 29 shots as the Capitals slipped to 1-4-2 in their past seven.

Devils 2, Rangers 1

Vitek Vanecek made 24 saves and Erik Haula and Timo Meier scored first-period goals as host New Jersey remained in second place in the Metropolitan Division with a victory over New York in Newark, N.J.

Vanecek joined Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur as the second goalie to win 30 games in a season for the Devils. Brodeur won at least 30 games 14 times during his storied career. The Devils won three of four meetings (3-0-1) with the Rangers to move four points ahead of their likely first-round playoff opponent.

Chris Kreider scored a power-play goal for the Rangers, who fell to 9-2-1 in their past 12 contests. Igor Shesterkin made 29 saves.

Penguins 2, Predators 0

Tristan Jarry, playing in his 200th career game, stopped all 28 shots he faced to lead Pittsburgh past visiting Nashville.

It was the 13th career shutout for Jarry, his first against Nashville and his second of the season. Jason Zucker and Jake Guentzel scored for the Penguins, who maintained their hold on the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference — one point ahead of Florida, which beat Montreal.

The loss kept the Predators from leapfrogging Calgary in the Western Conference wild-card chase. They remain three points out of a playoff spot. The Predators have lost three of their past four games. Juuse Saros also was stellar, making 43 saves.

Panthers 5, Canadiens 2

Matthew Tkachuk collected a hat trick and an assist to lead Florida to a road victory over Montreal.

The four-point performance gives Tkachuk 101 points (38 goals, 63 assists) for the season. Anton Lundell had two goals and an assist for the Panthers, while Sam Reinhart had two assists.

Sean Farrell and Rafael Harvey-Pinard scored for the Canadiens. Farrell scored at 1:23 of the first period before the Panthers netted the next four goals. Harvey-Pinard struck on a power play 18:35 into the third period.

Red Wings 3, Hurricanes 2

Jake Walman scored with 3.2 seconds remaining to give host Detroit a victory over Carolina.

Dominik Kubalik and Dylan Larkin had the other goals for Detroit, which exceeded last season’s win total with its 33rd victory. Alex Nedeljkovic made 31 saves as the Red Wings recorded their second win in three nights.

Brent Burns and Jaccob Slavin scored for the Hurricanes, who lost for the third straight time. It was a damaging defeat for Carolina, which is trying to hold onto the Metropolitan Division lead. Frederik Andersen made 19 saves for the Hurricanes, who came up empty on three power-play opportunities.

Senators 5, Flyers 4 (OT)

Alex DeBrincat scored 1:36 into overtime to lift host Ottawa past Philadelphia in a game in which the Flyers managed just 11 shots on goal.

Tim Stutzle collected a goal and an assist and Austin Watson, Shane Pinto and former Flyers captain Claude Giroux also tallied for Ottawa. Cam Talbot turned aside seven shots in his first game since March 4.

Philadelphia defensemen Cam York and Tony DeAngelo each recorded a goal and an assist and Noah Cates and Owen Tippett also scored. Felix Sandstrom made 41 saves as the Flyers extended their point streak to seven games (5-0-2).

Blues 5, Blackhawks 3

Brandon Saad scored one goal and set up another as St. Louis handed host Chicago its seventh straight loss.

Jakub Vrana, Logan Brown, Alexey Toropchenko and Jordan Kyrou also scored for the Blues, who are 6-1-1 in their last eight games. Justin Faulk earned two assists and Jordan Binnington made 30 saves.

Tyler Johnson had a goal and an assist and Andreas Athanasiou and Boris Katchouk also scored for Chicago. Taylor Raddysh had two assists and Petr Mrazek made 24 saves.

–Field Level Media

With nine games remaining on their regular-season schedule, the Buffalo Sabres face a daunting task to make the Stanley Cup playoffs.

When Buffalo completes its two-game homestand Friday night with a matchup against the New York Rangers, the Sabres should have a pretty good understanding of whether or not their longshot aspirations of postseason play still exist.

Barring a collapse by both the Pittsburgh Penguins and Florida Panthers, the Sabres (35-31-7, 77 points) will have the steepest of uphill climbs to keep playing well into April.

With Pittsburgh and Florida both winning on Thursday night, Buffalo fell seven points behind the Penguins and six back of the Panthers in the chase for the final Eastern Conference wild card.

However, the Sabres do have an X factor in all of this if they can get within striking distance.

They have nine games left, including Friday’s, while Pittsburgh and Florida have seven and six to go, respectively.

Obviously, what can’t happen the rest of the way is what happened to Buffalo in the homestand opener against the Montreal Canadiens on Monday.

The Canadiens’ Brendan Gallagher tied the game in the third period by ringing home his 200th career goal, and Michael Pezzetta scored in the bottom of the sixth round of a shootout as Montreal won 4-3.

“That’s a tough one to swallow tonight,” Sabres goaltender Eric Comrie said of not getting the extra point. “That’s a really tough pill to swallow.”

If the season does go south for the Sabres, they may find solace in the play of winger Lukas Rousek, who had a goal and an assist in his NHL debut on Monday.

The 23-year-old Czech Republic native became the seventh Buffalo player to notch two points in his debut. The last to do it had been Maxim Afinogenov on Nov. 10, 1999.

Rousek replaced Tage Thompson (upper body), who missed his first game this season after getting injured over the weekend.

“He’s got a feel for the game,” Buffalo coach Don Granato said of Rousek. “Obviously, he knows us, he knows our systems, he knows what he’s doing.”

In New Jersey on Thursday night, the Rangers (44-21-10, 98 points) absorbed a 2-1 setback against the club they would meet in the first round of the playoffs if the standings remain as they are.

The Rangers, who sit in third place in the Metropolitan Division, are four points behind the second-place Devils, who would hold home-ice advantage in the best-of-seven series under the current standings.

New York allowed first-period goals to Erik Haula and Timo Meier, and the Rangers could only muster Chris Kreider’s 33rd goal in the match’s remainder.

By scoring for the sixth time in the past 10 games, Kreider notched the 262nd goal of his career, tying him with Vic Hadfield for fifth all-time in franchise history.

The loss broke the three-game winning streak of the Rangers, who are 9-2-1 in their past 12 games.

“They were fast and they were quick and that’s how they play,” Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said of the Devils. “We don’t know who we’re playing yet (in the playoffs), but if this is the team, it’s a good matchup. We’ll see where it goes.”

Added New York defenseman Adam Fox: “This was a big game for us standings-wise, but playing a team like Buffalo, those points matter just as much, too.”

–Field Level Media

Logan Couture scored on a breakaway 50 seconds into overtime to give the San Jose Sharks a 4-3 victory over the visiting Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday night.

Couture intercepted Alex Pietrangelo’s crossing pass for Jack Eichel at the Vegas blue line and then skated in alone and fired a wrist shot through the pads of goalie Laurent Brossoit for the game-winner. It was his 26th goal of the season.

Mario Ferraro had a goal and an assist and Oskar Lindblom and Tomas Hertl also scored goals for San Jose (21-39-15, 57 points), which has won back-to-back games for the first time since sandwiching two victories around the All-Star break on Jan. 28 and Feb. 7.

San Jose defenseman Henry Thrun, making his NHL debut after starring at Harvard, added two assists, and James Reimer finished with 23 saves.

Nicolas Hague, Ivan Barbashev and Michael Amadio scored goals and Ben Hutton notched two assists for Vegas (46-22-7, 99 points), which became the first Western Conference team to clinch a Stanley Cup playoff berth before the game when Nashville was blanked 2-0 at Pittsburgh.

The Golden Knights, who didn’t qualify for the playoffs last season, had a seven-game road winning streak end.

Brossoit made 21 saves for Vegas, which heads into the final two weeks of the regular season with a two-point lead over second-place Edmonton, a 2-0 winner over visiting Los Angeles earlier Thursday. The Golden Knights hold a three-point edge on the Kings.

San Jose held the Golden Knights to just two shots on goal over the first 15 minutes while taking a 2-0 lead on goals by Ferraro and Lindbolm, who snapped a 24-game goalless drought.

Vegas cut it to 2-1 late in the first period. Reimer turned the puck over while trying to clear it behind his net and Hague capitalized with a one-timer off Hutton’s pass at 16:55. It was Hague’s third goal of the season and first in 36 games.

The Golden Knights tied it at the 1:08 mark of the second period on a power-play goal by Barbashev, his 15th tally of the campaign.

San Jose regained the lead, 3-2, midway through the period when Hertl redirected Martin Kaut’s pass off Brossoit’s stick and into the left corner of the net for his 21st goal.

Vegas pulled even at the 10:07 mark of the third period when Amadio swatted in a rebound of Chandler Stephenson’s shot through Reimer’s pads. It was his 14th goal of the season.

–Field Level Media

Matty Beniers and Jaden Schwartz each had a goal and an assist and Martin Jones turned aside 18 shots as the host Seattle Kraken continued their push toward the playoffs with a 4-1 victory over the slumping Anaheim Ducks on Thursday.

The Kraken (41-25-8, 90 points) hold the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference with eight games remaining. Seattle has a five-point edge on the Winnipeg Jets, who have the second wild-card spot.

Daniel Sprong and Alex Wennberg also scored for the Kraken, who won at home for the first time in five games.

Brock McGinn scored for the Ducks (23-42-10, 56 points), who have lost six straight. Backup goaltender Lukas Dostal stopped 35 shots.

Seattle set the tone early as forwards Schwartz and Beniers scored goals in a 2:41 span in the first period.

Schwartz opened the scoring at 7:56 with a slap shot from the top of the left faceoff circle. Schwartz worked a give-and-go with defenseman Will Borgen before beating Dostal to the blocker side.

Beniers, who is one of the favorites to win the league’s Norris Trophy as the rookie of the year, tucked the puck in from the side of the net to make it 2-0 at 10:37 of the first.

McGinn scored for the Ducks with 76 seconds to go in the second period, squeezing a shot between the right arm of Jones and the post to cut the Kraken lead to 2-1.

Sprong scored a power-play goal at 15:41 of the third to restore the Kraken’s two-goal lead, 3-1. Sprong walked in from the point and fired a high shot to the top corner through a maze of Ducks defenders.

Wennberg rounded out the scoring, catching the Ducks off guard with an empty-net goal at 17:45.

Anaheim played without its two top scorers, Trevor Zegras and Troy Terry. Zegras, who leads Anaheim with 22 goals and 37 assists, sustained a lower-body injury in the first period of a 5-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Monday.

Terry did not make the trip because his wife, Dani, is expecting their first child.

–Field Level Media

Stuart Skinner made 43 saves to lead the Edmonton Oilers to a 2-0 win against the visiting Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night.

It was Skinner’s second shutout in his 57th NHL start.

Evander Kane and Connor McDavid scored for Edmonton (44-23-9, 97 points), which has won three in a row and eight of nine (8-0-1) to overtake the Kings for second place in the Pacific Division, with a game in hand.

Joonas Korpisalo made 35 saves for Los Angeles (43-22-10, 96 points), which has lost two in a row following a franchise-best 12-game point streak (10-0-2).

McDavid scored his 61st goal of the season and the 300th of his NHL career. It came on a short-handed breakaway at 3:53 of the third period, stretching the lead to 2-0 and extending his point streak to 10 games (seven goals, 13 assists).

The Oilers scored with 52 seconds left in the first period for a 1-0 lead. Leon Draisaitl made a spinning backhand centering pass off the wall to Kane, who scored on a one-timer. Draisaitl extended his point streak to 11 games with the assist.

Skinner protected the one-goal lead with several great saves in the second period. He made a glove save on Adrian Kempe’s backhand from in close at 9:50.

Los Angeles then went on a power play 1:16 later and Skinner stepped up with three saves during the penalty kill.

He stopped Rasmus Kupari’s wrist shot from the inside edge of the right circle after faking out a defender with about 2:20 left, and then he turned away Blake Lizotte’s short-handed breakaway with 59 seconds left.

McDavid was penalized 1:28 into the game for boarding Los Angeles defenseman Mikey Anderson, which caused Anderson to miss the rest of the game with an undisclosed injury.

The Kings were also without forward Kevin Fiala, the team’s leading point scorer on the season who appeared to aggravate a lower-body injury in a 2-1 loss at the Calgary Flames on Tuesday, as well as 23-goal scorer Gabriel Vilardi, who is not on the trip because of an upper-body injury.

The top two power-play teams in the NHL combined to go 0-for-5 with the man-advantage.

–Field Level Media