NHL roundup: Bruins beat Detroit as playoff races heat up

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[April 09, 2016]  The Sports Xchange

BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins seriously brightened their playoff picture Thursday night.

Coming off back-to-back losses that left their postseason chances very much in doubt, the Bruins scored twice in the first 2:44, then added two more in the first 45 seconds of the third period in a 5-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings.

The Bruins, who host the Ottawa Senators on Saturday, are tied with Detroit but trail in the tiebreaker. Both teams have 93 points with one game remaining.

The Philadelphia Flyers earned a point Thursday night with a 4-3 overtime loss to the lowly Toronto Maple Leafs and now have 92 on the campaign. Philadelphia has two games left and still could steal the wild card.

The Red Wings, meanwhile, were denied clinching their 25th straight trip to the playoffs, which they can take care of with a win over the Rangers in New York on Saturday.

Torey Krug, Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak, Lee Stempniak and Loui Eriksson scored for the Bruins, while Alexey Marchenko and Andreas Athanasiou scored for the Red Wings.
 


Maple Leafs 4, Flyers 3 (OT)

PHILADELPHIA -- Playing the role of spoiler to near perfection, Toronto was under constant duress from a desperate Philadelphia team, yet prevailed thanks to Jonathan Bernier's 41 saves.

The Leafs, who have the worst record in the NHL, knocked the Flyers from the final wild card position, and Philadelphia is now one point behind both Detroit and Boston with just two games to play.

Jake Gardiner, William Nylander, Colin Greening and Michael Grabner scored for the Maple Leafs and Brayden Schenn, Andrew MacDonald and Wayne Simmonds scored for the Flyers.

Islanders 4, Rangers 1

NEW YORK -- Thomas Greiss made 36 saves as the Islanders took over third place in the Metropolitan Division with a victory against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden.

Both the Islanders and Rangers have 99 points, but the Islanders own the tiebreaker by virtue of having two games remaining while the Rangers have one. The Islanders swept the season series, winning all four games.

Shane Prince had a goal and an assist for the Islanders, who also received goals from Casey Cizkias, Frans Nielsen and John Tavares. Kevin Klein scored the Rangers' lone goal.

Penguins 4, Capitals 3 (OT)

WASHINGTON -- Sidney Crosby scored the game-winner with 1:00 left in overtime and Pittsburgh defeated Washington despite squandering a 3-0 second-period lead.

The Penguins, winners of eight straight and 14 of 15, clinched second-place in the Metropolitan Division and home ice in the first round of the playoffs. If form holds, Washington and Pittsburgh would meet in the second round.

Matt Cullen scored twice and Conor Sheary once in regulation or the Penguins and Marcus Johansson scored twice and Andre Burakovsky once for the Captials.
 


Canadiens 4, Hurricanes 2

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Max Pacioretty scored his 28th goal of the season and Charlie Lindgren won his NHL debut as Montreal defeated Carolina.

The 22-year-old Lindgren was playing college hockey for St. Cloud State a few weeks ago and allowed a goal on his first NHL shot, but settled down to stop 26 shots for the victory.

Darren Dietz, Daniel Carr and Lars Eller also scored for the Canadiens while Riley Nash and Noah Hanifin scored for the Hurricanes.

Lightning 4, Devils 2

NEWARK, N.J. -- Jonathan Drouin scored his first NHL goal in 127 days to help lead Tampa Bay over New Jersey at the Prudential Center.

The win allowed the Lightning to clinch second place in the Atlantic Division.

Erik Condra, Cedric Paquette and Valtteri Filppula also scored for the Lighting, while Ben Bishop stopped 20 of 22 shots. Keith Kinkaid made 18 saves and Sergey Kalinin scored both of the Devils' goals.

Senators 3, Panthers 1

OTTAWA -- Ottawa left a positive impression with its fans by defeating Florida in the last game at Canadian Tire Centre this season.

The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Panthers, who have already secured home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. The Senators will miss the playoffs for the fourth time in seven years.

Buddy Robinson scored his first NHL goal, while Mika Zibanejad and Cody Ceci had the others for the Senators. Jaromir Jagr replied for the Panthers.

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Predators 3, Coyotes 2

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Roman Josi potted the overtime goal at 20 seconds of overtime, enabling Nashville to dump Arizona at Bridgestone Arena.

It was the second straight win for the Predators, who are locked into the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference and will play the Pacific Division winner -- either Anaheim or Los Angeles -- in the first round next week.

Filip Forsberg and Shea Weber scored in regulation for the Predators, and Antoine Vermette and Shane Doan scored for the Coyotes.

Stars 4, Avalanche 2

DALLAS -- Colton Sceviour scored the eventual game-winning goal early in the second period and Kari Lehtonen stopped 17 of 19 shots for Dallas in a win against Colorado at American Airlines Center.

Jason Dickinson, Jordie Benn and Antoine Roussel also scored for the Stars while Radek Faksa and Ales Hemsky had two assists each.

Francois Beauchemin and Jarome Iginla scored for the Avalanche, who were eliminated from playoff contention on Tuesday in Nashville.

Blues 2, Blackhawks 1 (OT)

CHICAGO -- Vladimir Tarasenko scored late in the third period and scored again in overtime to lift St. Louis over Chicago.

Tarasenko evened the score at 1 when he scored with 1:16 remaining in regulation time after the Blues had pulled Brian Elliott in favor of an extra skater. Tarasenko won the game when he scored on a wrist shot with 1:23 remaining in overtime, securing home-ice advantage for his team in the first round of the playoffs.

Jonathan Toews scored for the Blackhawks.

Flames 7, Canucks 3

CALGARY, Alberta -- Mikael Backlund recorded his first career hat trick to lead Calgary to a convincing win over Vancouver at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

Joe Colborne, Dougie Hamilton, Deryk Engelland and Sam Bennett also scored for the Flames. Making his fourth straight start in goal, Joni Ortio made 24 saves to improve his record to 7-9-5.

Bo Horvat led the Canucks with a goal and an assist, while Emerson Etem and Nikita Tryamkin, with his first NHL goal, also scored and Ryan Miller stopped 35 of 42 shots.

Kings 2, Ducks 1

LOS ANGELES -- In a showdown between the co-leaders of the Pacific Division, Los Angeles used a second-half flurry to floor Anaheim.

Kris Versteeg and Milan Lucic scored, and the Kings took sole possession of first place in the Pacific Division. Coupled with San Jose's loss, Los Angeles clinched home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs and will win the division Saturday with a win vs. the Winnipeg Jets.

Jonathan Quick stopped 19 of 2 shots as the Kings ended a three-game skid to the Ducks. Quick also set a new career high in wins in a season with 40.

John Gibson recorded 27 saves and Ryan Kesler scored the Ducks lone goal.

Jets 5, Sharks 4

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Dustin Byfuglien's shot deflected off the stick of Brent Burns and into the net with just 9.9 seconds left to give Winnipeg a win over San Jose at SAP Center.

Mark Scheifele scored two goals and Blake Wheeler and Andrew Copp one each for the Jets.

Patrick Marleau, Paul Martin, Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski scored for the Sharks.

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