Panthers clinch postseason spot with 5-3 win over Sabres

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Jonathan Huberdeau set Florida’s single-season points record, and the Panthers clinched a playoff berth with a 5-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday.

Huberdeau scored his 24th goal to extend his point streak to eight games and raise his season total to 97, one more than teammate Aleksander Barkov’s record set in 2019.

Anthony Duclair scored twice as the Panthers (48-15-6) established a franchise record for victories. Winning for the seventh time in eight games, Florida closed a two-game trip by improving to 20-9-6 on the road.

MacKenzie Weegar had a goal and an assist for Florida. Anton Lundell also scored, and Spencer Knight made 26 saves.

Jeff Skinner had a goal and an assist for the Sabres, who are on the cusp of missing the playoffs for an NHL-record 11th consecutive season. Tage Thompson and Kyle Okposo also scored, and Dustin Tokarski stopped 35 shots. Buffalo lost an eight-game point streak (5-0-3), its longest in three seasons.

SENATORS 5, RED WINGS 2

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Josh Norris scored three goals for his first career hat trick and Ottawa completed a sweep of its home-and-home series with Detroit.

Artem Zub and Nikita Zaitsev also scored for the Senators, and Anton Forsberg made 30 saves.

The 22-year-old Norris, who reached the 30-goal milestone for the first time in his young NHL career, also scored in Ottawa’s 5-2 victory in Detroit on Friday night.

Michael Rasmussen and Dylan Larkin scored for the Red Wings, who have lost six straight. Thomas Greiss stopped 31 shots.

The Senators honored late owner Eugene Melnyk before the game. Melnyk, 62, died last Monday after a lengthy illness.

ISLANDERS 4, DEVILS 3

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Jean-Gabriel Pageau had three goals and an assist, and New York held off New Jersey to extend its winning streak to a season-high four straight games.

Former Devil Cory Schneider made 27 saves in his first NHL start since March 6, 2020. The 36-year-old goaltender was recalled from Bridgeport of the American Hockey League last month with Ilya Sorokin sidelined and Semyon Varlamov needing a break.

Kyle Palmieri added New York’s other goal and added two assists, and defenseman Adam Pelech matched his career best with three assists as the Islanders improved to 11-3-1 in their last 14.

Jesper Boqvist, Tomas Tatar and Nico Hischier scored for the Devils, who have lost three straight. Nico Daws made 25 saves.

FLYERS 4, RANGERS 3, SO

NEW YORK (AP) — Kevin Hayes scored the only goal of the shootout and Martin Jones made 43 saves to lift Philadelphia over New York.

Hayes lifted the puck past Igor Shesterkin as the Flyers got just their ninth road win in 34 games this season.

Cam York and Owen Tippett scored early in the first period and Joel Farabee tallied 44 seconds into the third to give the Flyers a 3-0 lead before the Rangers rallied for three goals to send the game to overtime.

Artemi Panarin had a goal and an assist, and Mika Zibanejad and Andrew Copp also scored for the Rangers, who lost their second straight at home. Shesterkin finished with 23 saves.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3, CANUCKS 2, OT

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Shea Theodore scored 2:05 into overtime, leading Vegas to its fifth straight win.

Jonathan Marchessault had a goal and assist, and Alex Pietrangelo also scored in regulation for Vegas. Robin Lehner returned from a lower-body injury to make 26 saves in his first start since March 8.

J.T. Miller and Bo Horvat scored in the third period for the Canucks, who trailed 2-0 in the first. Thatcher Demko stopped 27 shots for Vancouver, which lost its third in a row.

WILD 5, CAPITALS 1

WASHINGTON (AP) — Joel Eriksson Ek scored his career-best 20th and 21st goals of the season and added an assist, and Minnesota cruised past Washington.

Marcus Foligno built on one career high with his 20th goal and set another with his 16th assist for the Wild, who have won nine of their last 10 while earning a point in the other. Tyson Jost and Nicolas Deslauriers also scored as second-place Minnesota extended its lead to five points over third-place St. Louis in the Central Division. Jordan Greenway had three assists and Cam Talbot made 25 saves to extend his point streak to nine games.

Garnet Hathaway scored midway through the third period for Washington to end a stretch of eight unanswered goals allowed, dating to Monday’s 6-1 loss to Carolina.

COYOTES 3, BLACKHAWKS 2, OT

CHICAGO (AP) — Shayne Gostisbehere scored on a deflection with 14.7 seconds left in overtime, Michael Carcone and Travis Boyd also scored, and Arizona beat Chicago.

The win was only struggling Arizona’s second in the last nine games (2-6-1). The slumping Blackhawks lost their fifth straight (0-3-2) after a two-game winning streak.

Gostisbehere’s winner came with Chicago’s Patrick Kane in the penalty box and deflected off Chicago center Jonathan Toews’ left toe before sliding by Kevin Lankinen.

Kane and Dylan Strome scored for Chicago.

OILERS 6, DUCKS 1

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Connor McDavid had a goal and two assists to extend his point streak to 13 games, Leon Draisaitl scored his 50th goal of the season, and Edmonton won its fourth straight game.

Tyson Barrie and Brett Kulak each had a goal and two assists, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a goal and an assist as the Oilers pulled within one point of Los Angeles for second place in the Pacific Division with a game in hand. Jesse Puljujarvi also scored, and Mike Smith made 31 saves.

The Oilers play at the Kings on Thursday.

Zach Aston-Reese scored for Anaheim, and John Gibson made 40 saves. The Ducks have lost 12 of their last 13 games.

KRAKEN 4, STARS 1

SEATTLE (AP) — Jared McCann scored a short-handed goal in the first period and Ryan Donato converted on a breakaway early in the third period in Seattle’s win over Dallas.

McCann’s early goal was his 25th of the season and Donato’s 14th of the season came five minutes into the third period to give the Kraken a cushion.

Yanni Gourde added a breakaway goal with 2:13 left and Karson Kuhlman scored an empty-netter in the final minute as Seattle snapped a two-game losing streak. Chris Driedger finished with 29 saves.

John Klingberg scored with 5:35 remaining on a shot through traffic to pull the Stars within 2-1. It was Klingberg’s fifth goal of the season. Jake Oettinger had 25 saves while losing for the second time in his last five games as Dallas missed a chance to jump into the top wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

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