Maple Leafs defeat Hurricanes 4-1, move closer to Atlantic Division title
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Joseph Woll made 25 saves and the Toronto Maple Leafs moved closer to clinching the Atlantic Division title by defeating the Carolina Hurricanes 4-1 on Sunday, reaching the 50-win mark.
Pontus Holmberg, Auston Matthews, William Nylander and John Tavares scored for Toronto, which has won three straight and seven of its last eight overall. Morgan Rielly had three assists.
Toronto has 104 points, and Tampa Bay, which began the day four points back, could equal that mark at best.
Sebastian Aho scored on a third-period power play, but the Hurricanes have lost five of their last six games. Frederik Andersen, who stopped 16 shots, lost his third consecutive game.
The Maple Leafs scored on their fourth and sixth shots of the game. They had only 12 shots on goal through two periods.
SENATORS 4, FLYERS 3, OT
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Tim Stutzle capped a two-goal effort with the power-play winner 1:40 into overtime to lead Ottawa to a comeback win over Philadelphia.
With a playoff spot already secured, the Senators opted to rest several regulars against the Flyers. Nick Jensen, who’s been managing a lower-body injury, along with David Perron, Ridly Greig, and Nick Matinpalo, were all given the game off.
Fabian Zetterlund tied it at 2-2 at 4:41 of the third period, taking Shane Pinto’s pass at the top of the slot to beat Ivan Fedotov glove side.
The Flyers regained the lead at 7:33 when Garnet Hathaway beat Anton Forsberg, who had 29 saves.
The Senators tied it again when Thomas Chabot stepped into a shot and beat Fedotov high for his eighth of the season.
Philadelphia’s Nicolas Deslauriers opened the scoring 11:43 into the second period. He grabbed a rebound in front and backhanded it past Forsberg.
Ottawa tied it 53 seconds later when Stutzle called for the puck from Chabot and cut across Egor Zamula and beat Fedotov, who had 21 saves.
The Flyers regained the lead with 2:43 left in the period courtesy of Noah Cates’s wraparound goal.
ISLANDERS 1, DEVILS 0
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Bo Horvat scored late in the second period and Ilya Sorokin made 25 saves as New York topped New Jersey.
Horvat intercepted an attempted pass by Devils forward Timo Meier and fired a shot past goalie Jacob Markstrom with 57 seconds left in the middle period for his 28th goal this season. The Islanders held on as Sorokin improved to 30-23-6 with his fourth shutout this season and the 22nd of his career. This is the second time the 29-year-old Sorokin has reached the 30-win mark in his five-year NHL career.
Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech did not return after he was hit high by Devils forward Paul Cotter at the six-minute mark of the second period. Cotter received a five-minute major match penalty and game misconduct. After the game, Islanders coach Patrick Roy had no update on Pelech.
The Islanders snapped a three-game losing streak by winning a day after they were eliminated from postseason contention with a shootout loss at Philadelphia. New York made the playoffs the past two seasons, losing to Carolina both times in the first round.
BRUINS 4, PENGUINS 1
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Elias Lindholm had a goal and an assist, Joonas Korpisalo made 24 saves and Boston beat Pittsburgh.
Fabian Lysell, Morgan Geekie and Jakub Lauko also scored for the Bruins, who ended the Penguins’ three-game home winning streak. David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha each had two assists.
Rickard Rakell had the lone goal for Pittsburgh and Tristan Jarry made 28 saves.
The Bruins never trailed after Lindholm put them ahead 1-0 with 3 seconds left in the first period when he deflected a pass from Pastrnak just outside the crease and put his wrister past Jarry.
Lysell and Geekie scored about three minutes apart in the second period to give Boston a three-goal lead.
Rakell cut the Penguins’ deficit to 3-1 with 6 seconds left in the second period, but Lauko’s empty-netter with 2:30 left sealed it for the Bruins.
BLUE JACKETS 4, CAPITALS 1
WASHINGTON (AP) — Adam Fantilli scored twice, Jet Greaves made 29 saves to win his third start in four days and Columbus remained in playoff contention by beating Eastern Conference-leading Washington.
The Blue Jackets outscored the Capitals 11-1, sweeping the teams’ weekend home-and-home back to back and winning their fourth in a row. They still need to win their final two regular-season games and get some help from Montreal’s opponents the rest of the way to get the East’s second and final wild card.
Alex Ovechkin scored his 896th career goal to extend the NHL record he broke a week earlier. That gave Washington a 1-0 lead 70 seconds in before Columbus got goals from top defenseman Zach Werenski, Fantilli and Dmitri Voronkov to keep their playoff chances going.
LIGHTNING 7, SABRES 4
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Jake Guentzel scored twice to reach the 40-goal mark, NHL scoring leader Nikita Kucherov had two goals and an assist and Tampa Bay rallied to beat Buffalo.
Conor Geekie, Ryan McDonagh and Emil Lilleberg also scored for Tampa Bay, and Jonas Johansson made with 21 saves. Brandon Hagel had three assists.
Jiri Kulich, Conor Clifton, Sam Lafferty and Alex Tuch scored for Buffalo. James Reimer stopped 24 shots.
Guentzel put Tampa Bay in front with 3:25 left in the first period. Buffalo took the lead with two goals in the final 30 seconds of the period as Kulich and Clifton scored 15 seconds apart.
But the Lightning scored four times in the second period to pull away. McDonagh tied it at 3:02. Kucherov scored his first of the night at 6:34. Geekie made it 4-2 with 5:39 left, and Lilleberg’s added his first career goal wth 3:15 to go for a 5-2 lead.
The teams traded goals in the third period.
OILERS 4, JETS 1
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Corey Perry had a goal and an assist, Connor McDavid had two assists and Edmonton beat Winnipeg, hours after the Jets wrapped up their first Presidents’ Trophy as NHL regular-season leader.
Winnipeg — at 55-22-4 with a game left — took the Presidents’ Trophy when Washington lost to Columbus earlier Sunday. Against the Oilers, the Jets rested star goalie Connor Hellebuyck along with Josh Morrissey, Adam Lowry, Neal Pionk and Luke Schenn.
Edmonton won its third straight to close within two points of first-round playoff opponent Los Angeles for second place in the Pacific Division. The Oilers and Kings will play in Edmonton on Monday night, with home-ice advantage yet to be determined.
Connor Brown, Adam Henrique and Viktor Arvidsson also scored for Edmonton. Stuart Skinner made 17 saves in his first start after missing eight games because of a head injury.
Alex Iafallo scored for Winnipeg. Eric Comrie stopped 35 shots.
FLAMES 5, SHARKS 2
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Yegor Sharangovich broke a tie at 1:30 of the third period with the first of his two goals and Calgary beat San Jose to bolster their late playoff push.
Calgary won for the third time in four games to pull within two points of St. Louis for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference and three of Minnesota for the first wild card. The Flames have two games left, while the Blues and Wild each have one to go.
MacKenzie Weegar, Adam Klapka and Matt Coronato also scored for Calgary, and Dustin Wolf made 28 saves.
Tyler Toffoli scored his 30th goal for San Jose. Jan Rutta also scored, and Georgi Romanov stopped 25 shots. Last overall in the NHL, the Sharks have lost nine straight.
AVALANCHE 4, DUCKS 2
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Charlie Coyle had a goal and two assists in Colorado’s four-goal third period, and the Avalanche rallied to beat Anaheim.
Jack Drury had a goal and an assist, and Wyatt Aamodt and Erik Johnson also scored for Colorado, which trailed 2-0 midway through the third. Scott Wedgewood had 18 saves.
The Avalanche, locked into a first-round matchup with Dallas, rested several stars, including Nathan MacKinnon, Artturi Lehkonen, Cale Makar, Jonathan Drouin and Valeri Nichushkin
Mason McTavish and Sam Colangelo scored, and Lukas Dostal finished with 20 saves as the Ducks lost their second straight.