LDN - Sports

NHL roundup: Avs' loss sends Wild, Sharks to playoffs

[April 03, 2018] Jonathan Quick made 27 saves, and the Los Angeles Kings moved into third place in the Pacific Division with a 3-1 victory over the visiting Colorado Avalanche on Monday.

The loss by the Avalanche clinched Western Conference playoff berths for both the Minnesota Wild and the San Jose Sharks.

The Kings, who host Minnesota on Thursday and the Dallas Stars on Saturday, need to get just one point in their final two games to guarantee themselves a Stanley Cup playoff berth. Colorado holds a one-point lead over the St. Louis Blues, who have a game in hand, for the second wild-card spot.

Torrey Mitchell, Dustin Brown and Kyle Clifford scored for Los Angeles, which moved past the idle Anaheim Ducks into third place with its fifth straight win over Colorado. Alexander Kerfoot scored the Avalanche's lone goal, and Jonathan Bernier stopped 22 shots for Colorado.

Wild 3, Oilers 0

Zach Parise scored twice to continue his torrid stretch, and Devan Dubnyk made 22 saves for his fifth shutout of the season as Minnesota beat visiting Edmonton.

The news wasn't all good for the Wild, though. The team announced prior to puck drop that Ryan Suter needs surgery for a right ankle fracture sustained Saturday night at Dallas, and the defenseman will miss the remainder of the season.

Dubnyk, who was drafted by the Oilers in the first round in 2004 and spent five seasons in Edmonton, made his 400th career start a perfect night with his 29th career shutout. Joel Eriksson Ek iced the game with an empty-netter with 44 seconds remaining.

Panthers 3, Hurricanes 2

Alex Petrovic scored with 7:58 left in the third period as Florida defeated visiting Carolina.

MacKenzie Weegar and Evgenii Dadonov also scored for Florida, and goalie Roberto Luongo made 26 saves for the win. The Panthers improved their points total to 88, five behind the idle New Jersey Devils in the battle for the last wild-card playoff berth in the Eastern Conference.

Carolina got goals from Trevor van Riemsdyk and Derek Ryan.

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Maple Leafs 5, Sabres 2

Auston Matthews and William Nylander each had two goals and an assist as Toronto cruised to a victory over visiting Buffalo.

Andreas Johnsson also had a goal and an assist for the Maple Leafs, who are already locked into the third playoff spot in the Atlantic Division but matched the team record for most points (103) in a regular season. Toronto's Curtis McElhinney had 32 saves.

Sam Reinhart and Jason Pominville scored for Buffalo.

Capitals 4, Blues 2

Nicklas Backstrom finished with a goal and an assist as Washington defeated host St. Louis to improve to 12-2-0 in its past 14 games.

Backstrom now has 18 points in his last 13 games (four goals, 14 assists). Andre Burakovsky, Alex Chiasson and Alex Ovechkin also found the net for the Capitals. Goalie Braden Holtby, who is in a battle with Philipp Grubauer for the starting job, made 34 saves for Washington in the win.

Patrik Berglund and Vladimir Tarasenko scored for the Blues.

Jets 6, Senators 5

Blake Wheeler scored two goals as the visiting Winnipeg edged Ottawa.

The Jets posted their eighth win in nine games and remained in the hunt for first place in the Central Division. They are five points behind the first-place Nashville Predators with three games remaining.

Andrew Copp and Kyle Connor both had a goal and an assist, while Josh Morrissey and Brandon Tanev also scored for Winnipeg. Matt Duchene and Thomas Chabot each had two goals for the Senators. Ottawa's Christian Wolanin collected his first career NHL goal.

--Field Level Media

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