The New York Islanders made their final scheduled game against the New York Rangers in Uniondale, N.Y., a memorable one, as they clinched a postseason berth with a 3-0 victory Saturday.
The Islanders’ Anthony Beauvillier scored twice, and goalie Semyon Varlamov extended his shutout streak to a team-record 213 minutes, 56 seconds.
The playoff berth is the third straight for the Islanders, their longest streak since qualifying for the postseason each season from 2001-02 through 2003-04. The loss all but eliminated the Rangers from playoff contention. They got 22 saves from goalie Alexandar Georgiev.
Mathew Barzal also scored for the Islanders while Varlamov made 28 saves in blanking the Rangers for the second time in three nights and earning his NHL-high seventh shutout. He broke Chico Resch’s franchise record for longest shutout streak (178:26 during the 1975-76 season). Varlamov hasn’t been scored on since April 20 against the Rangers.
Penguins 3, Capitals 0
Bryan Rust scored two breakaway goals and goalie Tristan Jarry made 24 saves as visiting Pittsburgh moved into first place in the East Division with a victory over Washington.
Rust scored unassisted goals early in each of the first two periods, and Jeff Carter added a goal in the second. Jarry denied the Capitals, especially in the final 25 minutes, and improved to 8-1-1 in his last 10 games.
The Penguins went 6-2-0 against Washington this season and won both games of this two-game set in D.C. Washington captain Alex Ovechkin sat out his fourth straight game with a lower-body injury while top defenseman John Carlson missed a second consecutive contest due to the same problem.
Wild 4, Blues 3 (OT)
Kevin Fiala scored the game-winner in overtime as Minnesota rallied past St. Louis in Saint Paul, Minn.
Mats Zuccarello, Nico Sturm and Jonas Brodin also scored for the Wild, who erased a 3-1 deficit in the third period. Kaapo Kahkonen stopped 28 of 31 shots to earn the victory.
Jordan Kyrou, Sammy Blais and David Perron scored for the Blues, whose four-game winning streak was snapped. Jordan Binnington made 34 saves in defeat.
Oilers 4, Flames 1
Connor McDavid collected a goal and two assists and Leon Draisaitl added four assists to lead host Edmonton to a victory over Calgary and deliver a blow to their rivals’ playoff hopes.
Ethan Bear, Josh Archibald and Darnell Nurse also scored for the Oilers. Mike Smith made 29 saves for the team on the verge of clinching a playoff berth. The Oilers are nine points behind the North Division-leading Toronto Maple Leafs with two games in hand.
Johnny Gaudreau scored for the Flames, and goalie Jacob Markstrom stopped 25 shots. Calgary is eight points back of the Montreal Canadiens for the fourth spot in the North Division. Both teams have six games remaining.
Golden Knights 3, Coyotes 2 (OT)
Jonathan Marchessault scored the winning goal in overtime and Marc-Andre Fleury moved into a tie for third place on the NHL’s all-time wins list with his 489th career victory as Vegas won in Glendale, Ariz.
Fleury finished with 19 saves and tied Roberto Luongo for third behind Martin Brodeur (691) and Patrick Roy (551) with his 23rd win of the season. William Karlsson and Mark Stone each scored goals and Marchessault added an assist for Vegas, which maintained a four-point lead over second-place Colorado in the Western Division.
Christian Dvorak and Christian Fischer scored goals and Darcy Kuemper finished with 31 saves for Arizona, which remained three points behind fourth-place St. Louis in the race for the final playoff spot in the West.
Bruins 6, Sabres 2
Craig Smith recorded his second career hat trick and David Krejci assisted on all three goals as surging Boston hammered visiting Buffalo. The Bruins produced a 43-19 shot advantage while winning for the ninth time in 11 games.
Nick Ritchie had a goal with an assist while Sean Kuraly and Patrice Bergeron also scored for the Bruins, who are closing in on a playoff spot in the East Division following their sixth consecutive home victory.
Riley Sheahan and rookie Arttu Ruotsalainen scored for Buffalo. Netminder Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 26 saves in his fourth NHL start before he was helped off the ice with an apparent lower-body injury at the end of the second period. The Sabres have dropped four straight and six of seven.
Red Wings 1, Lightning 0 (SO)
Sam Gagner scored in the eighth round of a shootout to give Detroit a home win over Tampa Bay.
Tampa Bay outshot Detroit in regulation and overtime 33-15 but couldn’t put anything past Red Wings goalie Thomas Greiss, who recorded his second consecutive shutout.
The Lightning thought they had taken the lead with 9:23 left in the third period on a goal off of a point shot by Ryan McDonagh, but following a challenge by the Red Wings, it was called back due to goalie interference. Ondrej Palat was ruled to have bumped Greiss and thrown him out of position as the puck sailed into the net.
Predators 1, Stars 0 (OT)
Erik Haula scored the overtime winner and Juuse Saros posted the shutout to give host Nashville a victory over Dallas and maintain its hold on fourth place in the Central Division standings.
Saros made 28 saves for the Predators, who earned a bit more breathing room. Nashville has a three-point edge on the Stars, who have one game in hand.
Anton Khudobin stopped 33 shots for Dallas, who have dropped three straight games. Nashville finished with five victories in eight games in the head-to-head season series with the Stars, with all five of the wins coming in extra time.
Canadiens 3, Senators 2 (OT)
Cole Caufield was the overtime hero with his first NHL goal to lead host Montreal to a comeback victory over Ottawa as the Canadiens strengthened their hold on a playoff spot.
Tyler Toffoli and Jeff Petry netted one goal and one assist apiece while Cayden Primeau made 21 saves for the Canadiens. Caufield, the heralded rookie who joined the team after winning the NCAA’s Hobey Baker Award, scored in his fourth career game when he drove to the net and redirected a pass from Petry at 2:25 of the extra period.
Tim Stutzle and Thomas Chabot replied for the Senators, who saw their two-game winning streak snapped. Goaltender Filip Gustavsson stopped 36 shots.
Devils 4, Flyers 1
Mackenzie Blackwood made 31 saves and came within 1:18 of a shutout as visiting New Jersey scored early in each period en route to a victory over Philadelphia.
The Devils matched a season high with their third straight win following a 10-game skid (0-9-1). After losing April 25 in Philadelphia in a shootout, the Devils never trailed in the final three games of the four-game series and scored in the first six minutes of each period Saturday.
Jesper Bratt scored five minutes into the game, Janne Kuokkanen tallied less than a minute into the second and Nico Hischier netted a short-handed goal 5:14 into the third. Yegor Sharangovich scored New Jersey’s final goal with about five minutes remaining.
Avalanche 4, Sharks 3
Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen had a goal and an assist each, Andre Burakovsky and Patrik Nemeth also scored, and Colorado beat San Jose in Denver.
Conor Timmons had two assists and Devan Dubnyk made 22 saves for the Avalanche, who also beat the Sharks 3-0 on Friday night.
Tomas Hertl and Alexander Barabanov had a goal and an assist each, Logan Couture also scored and Josef Korenar stopped 40 shots for San Jose.
Maple Leafs 5, Canucks 1
Auston Matthews scored twice to give him a league-leading 38 goals as Toronto defeated visiting Vancouver.
Adam Brooks, Alex Galchenyuk and Joe Thornton also scored for the Maple Leafs, who swept the two-game set with the Canucks and extended their winning streak to five games. Mitchell Marner added two assists for Toronto.
Tanner Pearson scored for the Canucks, who have lost four in a row while scoring only one goal in three of those defeats. Jack Campbell made 26 saves for Toronto, and Thatcher Demko stopped 25 shots for Vancouver.
Panthers 5, Blackhawks 4
Florida scored three goals between the final minute of the second period and the opening minute of the third to beat Chicago for its third consecutive road win.
Anthony Duclair scored twice for the Panthers and added an assist. Nikita Gusev, Aleksander Barkov and Owen Tippett also had goals for Florida, which got 31 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky.
Connor Murphy, Alex DeBrincat, Kirby Dach and Dominik Kubalik were the goal-scorers for the Blackhawks. Kevin Lankinen made 37 saves in the loss.
Hurricanes 2, Blue Jackets 1 (OT)
Defenseman Dougie Hamilton scored on a breakaway with 52.1 seconds to play in overtime, sending Carolina to a victory over Columbus in Raleigh, N.C.
Goalie Alex Nedeljkovic assisted on the winning sequence as the Hurricanes’ points streak reached 10 games (7-0-3). Teuvo Teravainen had the other Carolina goal, and Nedeljkovic made 31 saves.
Max Domi scored for the Blue Jackets, who were in playing their road finale. Elvis Merzlikins stopped 31 shots for Columbus.
Ducks 6, Kings 2
Ryan Miller made 23 saves to win his last career home start and 20-year-old Trevor Zegras had a goal and an assist as Anaheim topped visiting Los Angeles.
Miller, the 40-year-old veteran who announced this week that he will retire at the end of the season, earned his 391st career victory, while appearing in his 795th all-time game, tied for 18th all-time among goaltenders with Rogie Vachon. Both teams congratulated Miller on the ice afterward.
Danton Heinen and Jacob Larsson added a goal and two assists apiece for the Ducks while Nicolas Deslauriers, Max Jones and Max Comtois also scored. The Kings got goals from Brendan Lemieux and Tobias Bjornfot, and goaltender Calvin Petersen had 27 saves.
–Field Level Media
