DENVER (AP) — J.T. Compher had his first career hat trick to lead the Colorado Avalanche to a 6-0 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night.
Colorado remained in the hunt for the Presidents’ Trophy and home-ice advantage throughout the postseason. The Avalanche clinched home ice for the first round and could finish first overall in the NHL by beating Los Angeles again Thursday night.
A win would give Colorado 82 points, tied with West Division rival Vegas, but the Avalanche hold the tiebreaker of regulation wins. The Golden Knights beat San Jose 6-0 on Wednesday night. If Colorado doesn’t earn two points, it will open the playoffs against Minnesota.
Philipp Grubauer made 18 saves for his seventh shutout of the season and 18th of his career. Gabriel Landeskog scored his 20th goal, the eighth time he’s reached the mark, and added an assist. Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Joonas Donskoi also scored, and Mikko Rantanen had three assists.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 6, SHARKS 0
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Alex Pietrangelo and Keegan Kolesar scored in the first period, Marc-Andre Fleury had his 67th career shutout and Vegas finished the regular season with a victory over San Jose that keeps it alive in the race for the division title.
Vegas matched Colorado’s win over Los Angeles and remained two points ahead of the Avalanche in the West Division and for the top mark in the NHL. Colorado holds the tiebreaker based on regular-season wins and can take the top spot by beating the Kings on Thursday night. The Golden Knights will have to wait until then to determine whether they will play third-place Minnesota or fourth-place St. Louis in the first round.
Dylan Sikura scored twice in the third period, and William Carrier and Jonathan Marchessault also scored to help Vegas complete a sweep of the eight-game season series against the Sharks. Fleury made 17 saves.
San Jose missed the playoffs in back-to-back seasons from the first since 1996 and ’97 with just 49 points in 56 games.
OILERS 4, CANADIENS 3, OT
MONTREAL (AP) — Dominik Kahun scored 27 seconds into overtime to lift Edmonton past Montreal.
Kahun went backhand to forehand on a feed from Leon Draisaitl to beat goalie Cayden Primeau, spoiling the Canadiens’ regular-season finale.
Edmonton also beat Montreal 4-3 in overtime Monday night on Connor McDavid’s goal. The Oilers will finish the regular season at home Saturday against Vancouver, then face Winnipeg in the playoffs.
Draisaitl, Alex Chaisson and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins also scored for the Oilers, and Mike Smith made 26 saves. McDavid had two assists to push his NHL-leading points total to 104 in 55 games.
Tyson Barrie also had two assists for the Oilers to take the scoring lead among NHL defenseman with 48, one more than the New York Rangers’ Adam Fox.
Nick Suzuki scored twice for Montreal, Cole Caufield had a goal and an assist, and Primeau stopped 18 shots. The Canadiens will face North Division champion Toronto in the playoffs.
SENATORS 4, MAPLE LEAFS 3, OT
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Josh Norris scored nine seconds into overtime and Ottawa beat Toronto to finish the season.
Mitch Marner turned over the the puck to Brady Tkachuk off the opening face in the extra period, and Tkachuk fed Norris for his 17th of the season.
Parker Kelly scored in his NHL debut for Ottawa, Connor Brown had his league-leading fifth short-handed goal, Nikita Zaitsev had a goal and an assist, and Filip Gustavsson stopped 30 shots.
Auston Matthews scored his NHL-best 41st goal for Toronto. Jake Muzzin had a goal and an assist, and John Tavares also scored.
Frederik Andersen made 24 saves in his return following an eight-week injury absence for the North Division champion Maple Leafs.
The Maple Leafs will complete the regular season Friday night at Winnipeg, then open the playoffs against Montreal.
BLUES 4, WILD 0
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Ville Husso stopped 31 shots for his first career shutout and David Perron had a goal and two assists in St. Louis’ victory over Minnesota.
Torey Krug, Ivan Barbashev and Jaden Schwartz also scored. The Blues have won two in a row and seven of 11.
After winning four of its previous five, Minnesota was locked into the third spot in the West Division with the loss. St. Louis had already nailed down the fourth spot.
The teams will finish the regular season Thursday night in St. Louis.
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