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Highlights of Thursday's NHL games

[March 31, 2017] March 30 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights of Thursday's National Hockey League games:

Canadiens 6, Panthers 2

Brendan Gallagher enjoyed a career night with a goal and three assists to send the Canadiens to a 6-2 win over the Florida Panthers that allowed Montreal to clinch a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Paul Byron scored twice for the Canadiens, who also got goals from Tomas Plekanec, Max Pacioretty and Phillip Danault.

Bruins 2, Stars 0

Tuukka Rask stopped 27 shots for his seventh shutout of the season, and Brad Marchand scored his career-high 38th goal and added an assist to lead Boston over Dallas.

Marchand scored with 4:46 remaining in the first period, and Torey Krug added a power-play goal 1:18 into the second period for the Bruins.

Lightning 5, Red Wings 3

Tampa Bay kept pace in a tight Eastern Conference wild-card race with a win over Detroit at Amalie Arena.

J.T. Brown, Andrej Sustr, Alex Killorn, Jonathan Drouin and Yanni Gourde scored for the Lightning and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 31 saves.

Wild 5, Senators 1

Nino Niederreiter scored twice, and rookie Joel Eriksson Ek picked up his third goal of the season in his first NHL game since November as Minnesota snapped a four-game losing streak with a win over Ottawa.

Alex Stalock finished 18 saves to pick up his first NHL victory since a Jan. 12, 2016, win for San Jose at Winnipeg. Chris Stewart added a pair of assists for the wild, who also got goals from Matt Dumba and Jason Pominville.

Maple Leafs 3, Predators 1

Toronto used superior special-teams play to score a critical late-season win that could hamper Nashville's hopes of improving their postseason positioning.

James van Riemsdyk, Auston Matthews and Connor Brown scored while Frederik Andersen made 29 saves for the Maple Leafs.

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Flyers 6, Islanders 3

Dale Weise and Wayne Simmonds each had a goal, an assist and a fight in the first period, and Philadelphia never looked back in a dismantling of New York.

Sean Couturier and Simmonds each had a goal and two assists. Brayden Schenn picked up two assists, and Jordan Weal, Radko Gudas and Valtteri Filppula added goals for the Flyers, who won for the third straight game to keep their fading playoff hopes alive.

Hurricanes 2, Blue Jackets 1 (overtime)

Carolina extended its point streak to a franchise-record 13 straight with an overtime win against Columbus.

Noah Hanifin scored with 2:44 left in OT as the Hurricanes improved to 9-0-4 in their last 13 games in pursuit of Boston for the final wild-card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Hurricanes, with six games remaining, trail the Bruins by four points with one game in hand.

Jets 4, Ducks 3 (OT)

Dustin Byfuglien scored with 12 seconds left in regulation and set up Mark Scheifele for the overtime winner as Winnipeg rallied from two goals down to beat Anaheim in a thriller.

Blake Wheeler and Joel Armia also scored for the Jets.

Oilers 3, Sharks 2

Patrick Maroon scored twice, and Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid each extended their point streaks to nine game as Edmonton beat San Jose.

With the win, the Oilers take over second spot in the Pacific, one point behind the Anaheim Ducks. The Sharks, holding onto third spot in the Pacific, have lost seven of their last eight.

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