PITTSBURGH (AP) — Evgeni Malkin scored his 20th goal of the season and had an assist, and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-3 Friday night in the season finale to clinch third place in the Metropolitan Division.
Kris Letang, Brian Boyle, Evan Rodrigues and Marcus Pettersson also scored for the Penguins, who will open the Stanley Cup playoffs next week at the New York Rangers.
Casey DeSmith, starting for the fifth time in six games with All-Star goalie Tristan Jarry out indefinitely with a foot injury, stopped 33 shots.
Oliver Bjorkstrand had a goal for the fourth straight game for Columbus, and Gustav Nyquist and Justin danforth also scored. The Blue Jackets lost for the sixth time in their last eight games. J-F Berube started in goal for Columbus and gave up three goals on eight shots in the first 6 1/2 minutes. He was replaced by Elvis Merzilikins, who had 40 saves the rest of the way.
STARS 4, DUCKS 2
DALLAS (AP) — Jason Robertson scored on a power play against an emergency replacement goalie midway through the third period and Dallas beat Anaheim.
Robertson gave Dallas a 3-2 lead with his 41st goal of the season, with puck going off an Anaheim stick and Thomas Hodges, making his first appearance in an NHL game after goalies John Gibson (upper body) and Anthony Stolarz (lower body) were injured.
Defensemen Thomas Harley and Joel Hanley scored second-period goals for Dallas, and Vladislav Namestikov scored into an empty net with a minute left.
Gibson made five saves, Stolarz eight and Hodges two. Hodges has been the emergency goalie for the Stars and the ECHL’s Allen Americans for three seasons.
Max Comtois scored for Anaheim 7:33 into the game, and Troy Terry tied it in the second period. Jake Oettinger made 19 saves.
WILD 4, AVALANCHE 1
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Kirill Kaprizov had a goal and an assist and Minnesota clinched home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
Jordan Greenway had two goals and Tyson Jost also scored for the Wild. Finishing second in the Central Division, Minnesota is 10-1-2 in its past 13 games and 21-3-4 in its past 28. Minnesota will face St. Louis in the first round next week. The Wild were 0-3 against the Blues this season.
Marc-Andre Fleury made 27 saves for the Wild, improving to 9-2-0 since coming over from Chicago at the trade deadline. Minnesota’s other goaltender, Cam Talbot, is 13-0-3 in his past 16 starts.
Nazem Kadri scored and Pavel Francouz stopped 18 shots for Colorado, locked in as the Western Conference’s top seed. The Avalanche rested a handful of key players, including Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 7, BLUES 4
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jack Eichel had two goals and an assist, leading Vegas past St. Louis.
William Karlsson scored the go-ahead goal 3:40 into the third period on a wrist shot, handing the Blues just their second loss (14-2-2) in their last 17 games. Jonathan Marchessault’s 30th goal, which was unassisted, came at 6:41.
Zach Whitecloud and Mark Stone also scored for Vegas. Max Pacioretty added an empty net goal at 17:44. Logan Thompson faced just 18 shots in making his 17th NHL start in goal and first against the Blues.
For the first time since entering the NHL as an expansion franchise in the 2017-18 season, the Golden Knights missed the playoffs.
Ryan O’Reilly had two goals and Jordan Kyrou and David Perron also scored for St. Louis. The Blues, who finished third in the Central Division, will open the postseason at Minnesota next week. Ville Husso had 38 saves to fall to 9-1-2 in his last 12 appearances.
CAPITALS 6, ISLANDERS 4
NEW YORK (AP) — Steven Stamkos scored three goals for his first hat trick of the season, and Tampa Bay rallied to beat New York.
Corey Perry, Ryan McDonagh and Brandon Hagel also scored for Tampa Bay, which trailed by two before scoring five times in the third period. Ondrej Palat added three assists and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 33 shots as the Lightning secured third place in the Atlantic Division. Tampa Bay will face Toronto in the first round.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Kieffer Bellows, Josh Bailey and Zdeno Chara scored for the Islanders, who will miss the playoffs for the first time since 2018. New York reached the Stanley Cup semifinals the last two years before losing to the Lightning, who went on to win the finals each time. Ilya Sorokin had 28 saves.
SABRES 3, BLACKHAWKS 2, OT
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Casey Mittelstadt scored 2:07 into overtime to lift Buffalo.
Tage Thompson scored his 38th goal for the Sabres, and defenseman Owen Power, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 draft, added his second goal in eight NHL games. Buffalo rallied for its fifth win in six games to close out its 12th consecutive season missing the playoffs, an NHL record. Dustin Tokarski made 19 saves.
Dominik Kubalik and Dylan Strome scored for the Blackhawks. Collin Delia stopped 33 shots.
JETS 3, FLAMES 1
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Connor Hellebuyck made 32 saves to help Winnipeg beat playoff-bound Calgary.
Blake Wheeler, Mason Appleton and Brenden Dillon scored for Winnipeg. The Jets will conclude the season Sunday at home against the Seattle Kraken.
Matthew Tkachuk scored his 42nd goal of the season for Calgary. Dan Vladar stopped 40 shots for the Pacific Division’s top club.
MAPLE LEAFS 5, BRUINS 2
TORONTO (AP) — William Nylander scored twice and Toronto beat Boston in a regular-season finale with both teams resting most of their stars.
The Maple Leafs ensured they will face the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round, while the Bruins are set to meet the Carolina Hurricanes.
Ilya Mikheyev, Nick Abruzzese, with his first NHL goal, and Pierre Engvall, into an empty net, also scored for Toronto. Erik Kallgren made 24 saves.
Trent Frederic and Jake DeBrusk scored for Boston. Jeremy Swayman stopped 22 shots.
SENATORS 4, FLYERS 2
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Brady Tkachuk had a goal and an assist to lead Ottawa past Philadelphia.
Josh Norris and Travis Hamonic also scored and Austin Watson had an empty-netter for the Senators, who finished out of the playoffs for the fifth straight season.
James van Riemsdyk and Owen Tippett scored for the Flyers, who capped one of the worst seasons in franchise history. Boos reigned down as they skated off the ice.
Tkachuck reached the 30-goal plateau for the first time in his career with the eventual winning tally on a wrist shot on a power play with 3:22 left in regulation.
RANGERS 3, CAPITALS 2
NEW YORK (AP) — Dryden Hunt scored the go-ahead goal in the third period, Alexandar Georgiev made 34 saves and New York beat Washington in the regular-season finale.
Filip Chytil and Alexis Lafreniere also scored for the Rangers, who snapped a three-game losing streak. New York will open the playoffs against Pittsburgh next week.
Justin Schultz and John Carlson scored for the Capitals, and Ilya Samsonov had 30 saves. Washington, which has lost four straight, will go into the playoffs as the East’s second wild card, and will match up with the top-seeded Florida Panthers.
RED WINGS 5, DEVILS 3
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Pius Suter scored the tiebreaking goal midway through the third period and Detroit beat New Jersey.
Tyler Bertuzzi and Michael Rasmussen each had a goal and an assist, and Moritz Seider and Joe Veleno also scored for the Red Wings. Sam Gagner had two assists and Magnus Hellberg stopped 23 shots.
Fabian Zetterlund had a goal and an assist, and Dawson Mercer and Nolan Foote also scored for the Devils, who closed the season with six straight losses (0-4-2) overall and eight straight at home. Mackenzie Blackwood finished with 30 saves.
CANADIENS 10, PANTHERS 2
MONTREAL (AP) — Cole Caufield had his first NHL hat trick and Montreal routed Presidents’ Trophy champion Florida.
As Tyler Pitlick netted Montreal’s 10th goal, “Guy! Guy! Guy!” chants rained from the Bell Centre rafters honoring late Habs great Guy Lafleur.
Carey Price made 37 saves in his 700th career start for his first victory of the season. Florida’s Jonas Johansson allowed 10 goals on 37 shots.
The Canadiens (22-49-11) scored on their first three shots. Jordan Harris had his first career goal to open the spree, Mike Hoffman tapped in a loose puck in the crease and Caufield scored on a wrist shot.
Brendan Gallagher, Mathieu Perreault, Jake Evans and Christian Dvorak also scored for Montreal.
Ben Chiarot and Noel Acciari scored for Florida.
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