PITTSBURGH (AP) — David Pastrnak finished off his 14th career hat trick with 2:26 remaining to lift the Boston Bruins to a 4-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday.
The Bruins’ 59th win of the season moved them within three games of the NHL’s all-time victory mark set by Detroit in 1996 and tied by Tampa Bay in 2019. Boston has six games remaining.
Pastrnak’s three goals gave him 56 on the season and pushed him across the 100-point plateau for the first time in his nine-year career. Charlie McAvoy scored his seventh goal and Jeremy Swayman stopped 21 shots as Boston won for the ninth time in 10 games.
Bryan Rust scored twice for Pittsburgh, his first multigoal game since Feb. 1, 2022, against Washington. Jake Guentzel’s 35th of the season with 7:30 left in regulation tied the score. Tristan Jarry stopped 31 shots.
HURRICANES 3, CANADIENS 0
MONTREAL (AP) — Paul Stastny had a goal and an assist, Antti Raanta got his fourth shutout of the season, and Carolina beat Montreal.
Sebastian Aho and Brady Skjei also scored to help the Metropolitan Division-leading Hurricanes snap a three-game skid (0-2-1) and get their second win in six games. Raanta, back from a lower-body injury that kept him out since March 7, finished with 14 saves for his 19th career shutout.
Sam Montembault had a season-high 47 saves for the the Canadiens, who lost their third straight.
Carolina outshot Montreal 18-5 in each of the first two periods, and 14-4 in the third.
KINGS 3, KRAKEN 1
SEATTLE (AP) — Pheonix Copley made 25 saves, Sean Durzi, Carl Grundstrom and Kevin Fiala scored, and Los Angeles moved to the cusp of clinching a playoff spot.
The victory by Los Angeles likely ended Seattle’s hopes of catching the Kings in the standings. Los Angeles moved eight points ahead of the Kraken with six games remaining while Seattle has a game in hand. The Kraken’s path to the playoffs is likely one of the two wild cards in the Western Conference.
Oliver Bjorkstrand spoiled Copley’s shutout bid with 11:35 left, and Martin Jones had 16 saves for the Kraken.
MAPLE LEAFS 3, SENATORS 0
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Ilya Samsonov made 30 saves for his fourth shutout of the season and 10th of his career to lead Toronto.
Michael Bunting, William Nylander and Radim Zohorna — playing his first game with Toronto — each scored for the Maple Leafs.
Mads Sogaard allowed the three goals on 16 shots in the first two periods for Ottawa. Cam Talbot stopped four shots in the final 20 minutes.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 4, WILD 1
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Chandler Stephenson had a goal and an assist and Vegas beat Minnesota in a battle of division leaders to open a home-and-home series.
Ben Hutton, Zach Whitecloud and Brett Howden also scored and Jack Eichel had two assists for the Golden Knights. Laurent Broissoit had 29 saves.
Matt Boldy scored for the Wild. Marc-Andre Fleury had 35 saves against his former team. Fleury was 8-0-1 over his previous nine starts with a 2.19 goals-against average.
The teams will meet again Monday night in Minnesota.
AVALANCHE 5, STARS 2
DENVER (AP) — Nathan MacKinnon scored twice, Mikko Rantanen had a goal and three assists, and Colorado beat Dallas.
Logan O’Connor and Valeri Nichushkin also scored to help the Avalanche win for the 10th time in their last 12 games. Alexandar Georgiev stopped 26 shots as Colorado pulled into a tie with Dallas for second place in the Central Division, one point behind first-place Minnesota.
Tyler Seguin and Joe Pavelski scored for the Stars, and Jason Robertson had two assists. Jake Oettinger finished with 27 saves.
SABRES 6, FLYERS 3
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Alex Tuch had his second career hat trick, Jeff Skinner had a goal and an assist, and Buffalo beat Philadelphia.
Jordan Greenway and Kyle Okposo also scored, and Casey Mittelstadt added three assists for Buffalo in its fourth win in five games. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 39 saves.
Morgan Frost scored twice for Philadelphia, and Travis Konecny also had a goal in his return to the lineup after a 16-game absence due to an upper-body injury. Felix Sandstrom had 23 saves.
The loss officially eliminated the Flyers from the playoffs. They entered with the seventh-fewest points in the NHL.
DEVILS 6, BLACKHAWKS 3
CHICAGO (AP) — Dougie Hamilton, Erik Haula, Jesper Boqvist and Timo Meier each had a goal and an assist and New Jersey won its second straight.
Ryan Graves also scored and Dawson Mercer added a empty-netter for the Devils. They improved to 104 points and remained one behind first-place Carolina in the Metropolitan Division. New Jersey’s leading scorer, 21-year-old Jack Hughes, added two assists. Mackenzie Blackwood made 14 saves.
Andreas Athanasiou had a goal and assist for last-place Chicago in its eighth straight loss. Tyler Johnson scored for the third straight game and rookie Lukas Reichel deflected in a goal. Alex Stalock stopped 34 shots.
Longtime Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews returned from two-month medical leave of absence.
LIGHTNING 5, ISLANDERS 0
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Andrei Vasilevskiy made 38 saves, Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos scored 1:48 apart midway through the second period, and Tampa Bay earned its sixth straight playoff berth.
Tampa Bay will play Toronto in the first round of the postseason.
Mikhail Sergachev, Tanner Jeannot and Brayden Point also scored for the Lightning. Vasilevskiy has two shutouts in his last three game and four overall this season. He has allowed one goal during Tampa Bay’s three-game winning streak.
The Islanders hold a two-point lead over Florida for the top wild card in the Eastern Conference.
New York goalie Ilya Sorokin was pulled with 8:15 left in the second after allowing four goals on 21 shots. He is 0-4 against the Lightning.
PREDATORS 6, BLUES 1
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tommy Novak had a goal and three assists to lead the Nashville.
Luke Evangelista had a goal and two assists, Cody Glass and Colton Sissons also scored, and Juuse Saros made 21 saves for the Predators, winners of two of three.
Nashville kept its slim playoff hopes alive, now three points behind Winnipeg for the Western Conference’s second wild card. The Predators have played one fewer game than Winnipeg.
Calle Rosen scored and Thomas Greiss made 29 saves for the Blues. St. Louis had won four of five, but the loss placed the Blues on the brink of mathematical elimination from the playoffs.
SHARKS 7, COYOTES 2
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Noah Gregor had three goals, Kyle Criscuolo and Danil Guschin scored their first NHL goals and San Jose beat Arizona.
Criscuolo and Gushchin were recalled from the minors Saturday and helped the Sharks to their third straight victory after a nine-game losing streak that left them at the bottom of the NHL standings. Chicago and Columbus have since moved into a tie for the worst record.
Jacob Peterson and Logan Couture also scored for San Jose — with Peterson’s goal his first of the season. Erik Karlsson had four assists, giving him 73 for the season. He added to his franchise season record for defensemen with his 95th point. Nico Sturm assisted on Gregor’s first two goals. Kaapo Kahkonen stopped 29 shots for San Jose.
Milos Kelemen and J.J. Moser scored for Arizona, which has lost seven in a row and its last three at home (0-5-2). Ivan Prosvetov had 24 saves and took his first loss of the season in four starts.
OILERS 6, DUCKS 0
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Leon Draisaitl scored three goals, Connor McDavid had a goal and an assist and the Edmonton clinched its fourth straight playoff berth.
Zach Hyman also had a goal and an assist, and Darnell Nurse also scored, and Mattias Ekholm had two assists to help Edmonton win its fourth straight and earn at least a point for the 10th straight game (9-0-1). Jack Campbell stopped 36 shots for his 10th career shutout — first since last April 26 against Detroit.
John Gibson was pulled in the third period after giving up five goals on 36 shots for Anaheim, which has lost eight straight and 10 of 11 (1-9-1). Lukas Dostal came on and finished with eight saves.
PANTHERS 7, BLUE JACKETS 0
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Carter Verhaeghe scored four goals to reach 40 for the season, Alex Lyon made 21 saves for his first shutout and Florida moved into the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.
Sam Reinhart added a goal and two assists, Nick Cousins and Eric Staal also scored and Anthony Duclair and Aleksander Barkov each had three assists in the Panthers’ third straight road victory.
Florida moved a point ahead of Pittsburgh for the second wild card in the conference, with five games left on the Panthers’ schedule.
Michael Hutchinson stopped 42 shots for Columbus, which was shut out for the fifth time this season and has lost four straight. The Blue Jackets are tied with Chicago for the worst record in the NHL.
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