PITTSBURGH (AP) — Tuukka Rask turned aside 25 shots and the Boston Bruins edged the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1 on Tuesday night to tighten the playoff race in the hyper-competitive East Division.
David Krejci gave the Bruins the lead with his seventh goal of the season late in the second period. Brad Marchand and Taylor Hall scored in the third as Boston ended a two-game losing streak.
Jeff Carter spoiled Rask’s bid for his 52nd career shutout with his 11th of the season — and third since joining the Penguins at the trade deadline — with 2:21 left, but it wasn’t enough. Tristan Jarry made 28 saves for Pittsburgh, two days after shutting out the Bruins.
PANTHERS 7, PREDATORS 4
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Jonathan Huberdeau had two goals and three assists, and Florida rallied for a victory over Nashville to clinch a playoff berth.
Aleksander Barkov scored twice and had and assist for the Panthers. Anthony Duclair, Owen Tippett and Frank Vatrano also scored, while Sam Bennett had three assists in Florida’s second win in three games.
Ryan Ellis scored twice and Luke Kunin and Tanner Jeannot also scored for the Predators.
CAPITALS 1, ISLANDERS O
WASHINGTON (AP) — Daniel Sprong scored 1:29 in for his third goal in two games, Vitek Vanecek made 18 saves and Washington shut out the Islanders to win their first home game with fans this season and sweep a three-game series.
Washington’s Alex Ovechkin missed a second consecutive game with a lower-body injury. The Capitals leapfrogged Pittsburgh to move back into first place in the tight East Division.
The Islanders have fallen to third after picking up one point out of a possible six in three games against Washington. T
New York’s rookie goalie, Ilya Sorokin made 32 saves.
RANGERS 3, SABRES 1
NEW YORK (AP) — Alexis Lafreniere scored the go-ahead goal in the third period, and the Rangers beat Buffalo.
Mika Zibanejad and Brendan Smith also scored and Igor Shesterkin made 36 saves as New York improved to 9-2-0 in its last eleven home games. Ryan Strome added two assists.
Sam Reinhart scored and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 38 saves for Buffalo, which has lost three of four.
DEVILS 6, FLYERS 4
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Yegor Sharangovich scored the go-ahead goal at 12:36 of the third period and New Jersey snapped a 10-game winless streak with a wild victory over Philadelphia.
Nico Hischier, Pavel Zacha, Miles Wood and Connor Carrick also scored for the Devils, who saw the Flyers rally from third-period deficits twice to tie the game.
Mackenzie Blackwood made 26 saves as the Devils ended an 0-9-1 skid and won for the first time since April 8. Mikhail Maltsev scored into an empty net in the waning seconds to ice the game.
Oskar Lindblom, Philippe Myers, Claude Giroux and Sean Couturier scored for the Flyers, Brian Elliott made 21 saves.
BLUE JACKETS 1, RED WINGS 0, SO
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Patrik Laine and Oliver Bjorkstrand scored in a shootout and Columbus snapped a nine-game losing streak with a win over Detroit.
Laine beat Thomas Greiss between the pads to lead off. Blue Jackets goalie Elvis Merzlikins denied Jakub Vrana and Adam Erne, and Bjorkstrand’s shot sealed the win.
Merzlikins had 41 saves and recorded his second shutout of the season and the seventh of his career.
Greiss had 33 saves for the Red Wings, who have lost five of six.
LIGHTNING 7, BLACKHAWKS 4
CHICAGO (AP) — Alex Killorn had a power-play goal and scored into an empty net, and Tampa Bay defeated Chicago to clinch a playoff berth for the fourth straight season.
Brayden Point stuffed in his team-leading 21st goal and added two assists. Erik Cernak, Yanni Gourde, Alex Barre-Boulet, and Blake Coleman also scored for defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay.
Brandon Hagel, Dominik Kubalik, Wyatt Kalynuk and Duncan Keith had goals for the fading Blackhawks.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 36 saves to earn his league-leading 29th win. Kevin Lankinen yielded three goals on 11 shots in the first period and was replaced by Malcolm Subban to start the second. Subban allowed four goals on 19 shots the rest of the way.
HURRICANES 5, STARS 1
DALLAS (AP) — Jordan Staal scored two power-play goals and Central Division-leading Carolina beat playoff-chasing Dallas.
Sebastian Aho had a goal and two assists for the Hurricanes, and Andrei Svechnikov, had a career-high three assists.
Jason Robertson had his 15th goal for Dallas to extend his point streak to nine games, breaking a tie with Jamie Langenbrunner (1996-97) for the longest by a rookie in Stars history. It is also the longest by any NHL rookie this season.
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