NHL roundup: Rangers tip Islanders 3-2 in SO, record franchise-best 54th win

The Islanders are 8-2-1 in their last 11 games and moved closer to clinching a playoff spot, thanks to their late-season surge under Patrick Roy who replaced Lane Lambert as head coach on Jan. 20. The Islanders are third in the Metropolitan Division with 90 points and two games remaining.

Elsewhere in the NHL on Saturday:

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STARS 3 KRAKEN 1

DALLAS (AP) — Defenceman Miro Heiskanen had a goal and two assists, and Jason Robertson had a goal and an assist as Dallas beat Seattle to clinch the Central Division title for the first time in eight years.

Craig Smith also scored for the Stars, who remain in contention for both the top seed in the Western Conference and the Presidents’ Trophy with one game to play in the regular season.

Heiskanen scored Dallas’ final goal on a wraparound with 7:37 left to play for his fourth game of at least three points this season.

The Stars’ other goals came late in periods. Smith with 2.5 seconds left in the first period and Robertson with 35.9 left in the second, coming on a 5-on-3 power play.

Three Seattle shots struck either the crossbar or a post.

Jake Oettinger stopped 26 shots. Kailer Yamamoto spoiled Oettinger’s bid to shut out Seattle for the second time in two weeks late in the third period. Philipp Grubauer made 28 saves for the Kraken, who began a season-ending four-game road trip.

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JETS 7 AVALANCHE 0

DENVER (AP) — Josh Morrissey and Adam Lowry scored 10 seconds apart in a four-goal first period that chased Colorado goaltender Alexandar Georgiev from the net, and Winnipeg moved into the driver’s seat for the Central Division’s second seed with a win against Colorado

Connor Hellebuyck made 30 saves for his fifth shutout of the season.

Sean Monahan and Lowry each had two goals, while Gabriel Vilardi and Tyler Toffoli also scored to help the Jets extend their win streak to six in a row. Winnipeg led 7-0 after two periods as 10 players had a point. It’s the first time in franchise history the team has scored seven consecutive goals in a game, according to NHL Stats.

The Dallas Stars wrapped up the Central Division title by beating Seattle earlier in the day. It set the stage for Colorado and Winnipeg meeting in the first round, with all that remains to sort out is which team has home-ice advantage. The Jets are two points ahead of the Avalanche for the No. 2 spot in the division with two games to play. They also hold the tiebreaker.

Winnipeg finished 3-0 against Colorado this season, outscoring the Avalanche by a 17-4 margin.

Nathan MacKinnon and the Avalanche entered the game as the league’s highest scoring team (3.72 goals per game) but were bottled up by Hellebuyck. It’s the fifth time the Avalanche have been blanked this season — and first time at home.

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FLYERS 1 DEVILS 0

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Travis Konecny scored a short-handed breakaway goal and Samuel Ersson stopped 20 shots to keep Philadelphia’s miniscule post-season hopes alive with one game left to play in a win over New Jersey.

The Flyers entered Saturday with two games left while Pittsburgh, Washington and Detroit all had three games remaining as they competed for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

The Flyers had to win both games to have a shot at a playoff berth. The rest hinged on Detroit, Pittsburgh and Washington all losing or tying their games to give the Flyers a slim mathematical edge at making the post-season for the first time since they reached the Eastern Conference semifinals in 2020.

Konecny’s NHL-best sixth short-handed goal past Kaapo Kahkonen in the second period stood as the difference maker and ensured the Flyers at least ended the game with a chance to extend their season.

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PANTHERS 3 SABRES 2 (OT)

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Sam Reinhart got his 55th goal of the season with 1:02 left in overtime, and Florida clinched home ice for at least Round 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs by beating Buffalo in the next-to-last regular-season game for both teams.

Reinhart took a pass from Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov and delivered the winner. Anton Lundell and Kevin Stenlund also scored for Florida, and Matthew Tkachuk had an assist — his 60th of the season, the third straight year he’s had that many.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 27 shots for Florida.

Tyson Jost and Jack Quinn scored for Buffalo, which got 39 saves from Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. The Sabres got a point off Florida for only the second time in the teams’ last 11 meetings; they’re 1-9-1 in that span.

Florida had a 5-minute power play in the third after Buffalo defenceman Connor Clifton was given a match penalty for an illegal check to the head of Panthers’ centre Nick Cousins. But the Panthers got nothing past Luukkonen, who stopped seven shots to preserve what was a 2-2 tie.

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CAPITALS 4 LIGHTNING 2

WASHINGTON (AP) — John Carlson scored the go-ahead goal on a power play with 11:31 left, Charlie Lindgren made 32 saves in another strong performance when his team needed him, and Washington kept their playoff hopes alive by beating Tampa Bay.

Sonny Milano scored twice and Nic Dowd provided an insurance goal with 3:14 remaining as the Capitals won for just the second time in nine games to at least temporarily move into the Eastern Conference’s second and final wild-card spot. They may need to win their final two games of the season to return to the post-season after missing last year.

Beating Tampa Bay was essential to just make that possible. A 5-on-3 power play in the third period gave Washington its best chance to crack 2019 Vezina Trophy-winning and 2021 playoff MVP Andrei Vasilevskiy, and Carlson did just that with a blast from the point after the first Lightning penalty had expired.

Milano’s goals helped the Caps keep pace earlier, while Anthony Duclair scored on a double deflection and Brandon Hagel got his 25th of the season for Tampa Bay. Lindgren did the rest, robbing Steven Stamkos of his 40th among a handful of quality saves throughout.

Vasilevskiy at the other end was on his game as well, looking unbeatable for long stretches of the game and finishing with 30 saves.

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SENATORS 5 CANADIENS 4 (SO)

OTTAWA, Ont. (AP) — Brady Tkachuk had two goals and an assist, Drake Batherson scored the only goal in the shootout and Ottawa beat Montreal.

Shane Pinto and Thomas Chabot also scored for Ottawa, which swept the season series against the Canadiens 3-0 and extended its winning streak against Montreal to nine games.

Joonas Korpisalo made 21 saves for Ottawa.

Cole Caufield had two goals for Montreal, while Mike Matheson and Alex Newhook also scored. Cayden Primeau stopped 40 shots.

With the game tied 3-3 Newhook put a shot on net that deflected in off Ottawa’s Jakob Chychrun to put Montreal up 4-3 with 4:11 left in regulation. But with Korpisalo on the bench Chabot tied the game at 4-all with 1:05 remaining.

Tkachuk tied the game, 3-3, with his second power-play goal of the game 47 seconds into the third period.

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RED WINGS 5 MAPLE LEAFS 4 (OT)

TORONTO (AP) — Dylan Larkin scored on a power play 41 seconds into overtime and Detroit overcame Auston Matthews’ 69th goal of the season to beat Toronto.

Alex DeBrincat scored twice, David Perron had a goal and an assist, Simon Edvinsson also scored and J.T. Compher had two assists for Detroit, which led 4-1 after one period. James Reimer stopped 32 shots against his former team in his 500th NHL game.

Mitch Marner had a goal and two assists, John Tavares and Nick Robertson also scored, and Morgan Rielly had two assists for Toronto. Ilya Samsonov finished with 28 saves.

Matthews, who has scored 10 times in his last eight games, moved one away from becoming the first to player to hit 70 goals in a season in more than 30 years. He matched Mario Lemieux’s total of 69 in the 1995-96 season.

In the extra period, Larkin redirected a shot by Patrick Kane past Samsonov with Max Domi off for high-sticking.

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PREDATORS 6 BLUE JACKETS 4

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Roman Josi scored two goals and assisted on two others, Tommy Novak had two goals and an assist, and Nashville defeated Columbus.

Cody Glass and Filip Forsberg also scored and Juuse Saros made 31 saves for the playoff-bound Predators, winners of three of four. Gustav Nyquist and Luke Evangelista each had two assists.

Trey Fix-Wolansky scored twice and James Malatesta and Alexandre Texier also scored and Jet Greaves made 31 saves for Columbus, losers of four straight. Justin Danforth had three assists.

Saturday was the 101st all-time meeting between Columbus and Nashville. The Predators have now won 69 of the 101 matchups.

After Malatesta scored his first-career NHL goal at 2:04 of the opening period, Nashville reeled off the next four goals, including two by Novak.

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BRUINS 6 PENGUINS 4

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Brad Marchand scored short-handed to cap Boston’s four-goal second period, as they beat Pittsburgh.

Pavel Zacha had a goal and an assist, and Jake DeBrusk, Kevin Shattenkirk, Danton Heinen and Morgan Geekie also scored as the Bruins regained the top spot in the Atlantic Division with their fifth win in six games. Linus Ullmark finished with 28 saves.

Michael Buntin scored twice, Drew O’Connor had a goal and an assist, and Bryan Rust also scored for the Penguins, who lost in regulation for the first time in 11 games (7-1-3). Alex Nedeljkovic was pulled after giving up three goals on 16 shots midway through the second period. He was replaced by Tristan Jarry, who stopped 12 of the 14 shots he faced.

The Penguins fell out of the second wild card in the Eastern Conference and now trail Washington, Detroit and Philadelphia by one point.

After O’Connor scored short-handed for Pittsburgh at 4:32 of the third to cut the deficit to 4-3, Geekie got his 17th of the season with 5:50 left to restore a two-goal lead.

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WILD 6 SHARKS 2

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Liam Ohgren scored his first career goal and Minnesota beat San Jose to assure the Sharks of having the best odds to win the NHL draft lottery.

Ohgren, a first-round pick from the 2022 draft, made his NHL debut on Friday night in Las Vegas and delivered in a big way in his second career game.

He had an assist in the first period and then scored late in the second when Jonas Brodin’s point shot ricocheted right to Ohgren, who knocked it past Mackenzie Blackwood to make it 3-1.

Kirill Kaprizov added two goals in the final minute of the second period for the Wild, who were eliminated from playoff contention Tuesday night.

Matt Boldy, Declan Chisholm and Marcus Johansson also scored for Minnesota. Jesper Wallstedt made 27 saves.

Jan Rutta and Mario Ferraro scored for the Sharks and Mikael Granlund had two assists to extend his points streak to 11 straight games.

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CANUCKS 3 OILERS 1

EDMONTON, Alta. (AP) — Casey DeSmith made 32 saves and Vancouver strengthened their lead atop the Pacific Division with a win over Edmonton.

Sam Lafferty, Pius Suter and Dakota Joshua scored for the Canucks, who won all four games between the teams this season. Vancouver has a five-point lead in the division over Edmonton, which still has an extremely slight chance with three games remaining to Vancouver’s two.

Evander Kane scored for the Oilers, who were again without captain Connor McDavid, who missed his third straight game with a lower-body injury and is considered day-to-day. Stuart Skinner had 24 saves.

Lafferty scored with just 16 seconds remaining in the first period when he blasted a shot stick-side that beat Skinner for his career-best 13th goal of the season. J.T. Miller picked up an assist to extend his points streak to 10 games.

The Canucks went up 2-0 with nine minutes to play in the second period as Tyler Myers sent a puck toward the net that was deflected in by Suter.

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KINGS 3 DUCKS 1

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Pierre-Luc Dubois and Matt Roy ended long goal droughts and Los Angeles beat Anaheim to remain in third place in the Pacific Division.

Kevin Fiala also scored for the Kings, who have won five of their last six, and David Rittich stopped 28 shots. The victory gave them a three-point lead over Vegas with two games remaining in the regular season.

Trevor Zegras scored for Anaheim, which has dropped four of its last five. Lukas Dostal made 25 saves.

Dubois found the net for the first time in 14 games while Roy ended a 10-game drought.

Dubois opened the scoring 2:45 into the second period while the Kings were on the power play with his first goal since March 15. The centre was able to get the rebound near the net and went top shelf.

The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

NHL roundup: Rangers tip Islanders 3-2 in SO, record franchise-best 54th win

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