Nikita Kucherov scores 27 seconds into OT to give the Lightning a victory against the Red Wings
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Nikita Kucherov scored 27 seconds into overtime to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 4-3 victory against the Detroit Red Wings on Monday night.
Erik Cernak, Jake Guentzel and Conor Geekie also scored for Tampa Bay. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 27 saves as Tampa Bay recorded at least 50 wins in a season for the fifth time in franchise history.
The Lightning are tied with Montreal for second place in the Atlantic Division. Each team has one game remaining.
Patrick Kane recorded his 1,400th career point for Detroit. Alex DeBrincat, David Perron and Marco Kasper scored for Detroit. Cam Talbot finished with 19 saves.
PANTHERS 3, RANGERS 2
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Cole Reinhardt scored his second goal of the game with 1:50 remaining and spoiled New York goaltender Jonathan Quick’s final NHL game as Florida beat the Rangers.
Quick, a three-time Stanley Cup champion, announced his retirement before Monday’s game after 19 seasons. He won the Cup twice in 16 seasons with the Los Angeles Kings, and was part of the Vegas Golden Knights’ 2023 championship team.
Reinhardt broke a 2-all tie on Florida’s fourth shot of the third period, beating Quick on the glove side.
The Rangers, who have lost three straight, never led.
FLYERS 3, HURRICANES 2, SO
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Tyson Foerster scored the only goal in the shootout to send Philadelphia to a win over the Eastern Conference top seed Carolina and into the playoffs for the first time since 2020.
Flyerss goalie Dan Vladar stopped Carolina’s fourth shootout attempt and set off a wild celebration at the next. The Flyers skated to center ice and raised their sticks toward a packed and rowdy crowd that hasn’t enjoyed a home playoff series since 2018.
The Hurricanes got the point they needed to secure the top seed in the East.
STARS 6, MAPLE LEAFS 5
TORONTO (AP) — Mavrik Bourque had his first NHL hat trick and added an assist as Dallas rallied from a pair of deficits and beat Toronto.
Jason Robertson had a goal and an assist and Wyatt Johnston and Arttu Hyry also score for playoff-bound Dallas, which rallied from deficits of 3-0 and 5-3.
Casey DeSmith made 22 saves for the Stars, who are locked into the Central Division’s No. 2 seed. Matt Duchene had three assists.
William Nylander had a goal and two assists and Jacob Quillan netted his first NHL goal. John Tavares, Nick Robertson and Max Domi also scored for Toronto (32-35-14) in its final home game.
BLUES 6, WILD 3
ST. LOUIS (AP) — (AP) — Theo Lindstein scored and St. Louis Blues overcame a two-goal deficit and beat Minnesota.
Lindstein scored on a backhand shot with 3:19 remaining in the second period to put the Blues up 4-3. Jonathan Drouin and Dalibor Dvorsky each had an assist on the goal.
Pavel Buchnevich scored the 200th goal of his NHL career and Jimmy Snuggerud, Jake Neighbours, Otto Stenberg and Colton Parayko added goals for the Blues.
Parayko’s goal was his 81st and he moved into fourth in franchise history in goals by a Blues defenseman behind Al MacInnis (127), Alex Pietrangelo (109) and Chris Pronger (84). He moved out of a tie with Jeff Brown (80).
Nick Foligno, Michael McCarron and Danila Yurov scored for the Wild.
SHARKS 3, PREDATORS 2
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Macklin Celebrini scored twice in the third period, including an empty-netter with 1:45 remaining, to reach 44 goals on the season and San Jose beat Nashville to end a 15-game losing streak in the series.
With the Predators loss, the idle Anaheim Ducks clinched a playoff berth for the first time since 2018.
Celebrini’s 30th multi-point game of the season moved him into a tie with Owen Nolan (1999-00) and Patrick Marleau (2009-10) for second-most by a Shark in a single season — only trailing Jonathan Cheechoo’s 56 in 2005-06.
Igor Chernyshov netted his third goal in the past two games on a power play to open the scoring for the Sharks.
Luke Evangelista scored both goals for the Predators to reach 12 on the season.
SABRES 5, BLACKHAWKS 1
CHICAGO (AP) — Tage Thompson scored twice to reach 40 goals on the season, and Buffalo clinched the Atlantic Division title by defeating Chicago.
Alex Tuch had a goal and an assist as Buffalo (50-23-8) posted its fourth consecutive win. Ryan McLeod and Josh Norris also scored, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 15 saves.
Buffalo earned its first division title since the 2009-10 season and seventh overall. It reached 50 wins for the third time in franchise history, also accomplishing the feat in 2005-06 and 2006-07.
The Sabres were in the mix for the top spot in the Eastern Conference before Carolina secured the position by earning a point in a shootout loss at Philadelphia.
Ryan Greene scored for Chicago (28-39-14), and Spencer Knight made 21 saves. The last-place Blackhawks dropped to 7-17-7 in their last 31 games.