NHL roundup: Bruins clinch league's best record

 

[March 31, 2023]  David Pastrnak scored 41 seconds into overtime to lift the Boston Bruins to a 2-1 win over the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night, clinching the Presidents' Trophy and the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.

Pastrnak took Hampus Lindholm's feed into the offensive zone and finished with the backhand for his 53rd goal of the season. The Bruins (58-12-5, 121 points) also set a franchise record for victories. The Presidents' Trophy for most points in the NHL regular season is the fourth for Boston since it was first awarded in 1985-86.

Tyler Bertuzzi scored the lone Bruins goal of regulation, tying the game in the second period. Linus Ullmark made 25 saves, including 10 in both the second and third periods.

The Blue Jackets played with a lead after Jack Roslovic scored in the first period. Michael Hutchinson stopped 29 shots.

Sharks 4, Knights 3 (OT)

Logan Couture scored on a breakaway 50 seconds into overtime as San Jose ended a seven-game road winning streak by Vegas.

Mario Ferraro had a goal and an assist and Oskar Lindblom and Tomas Hertl also scored for San Jose. Defenseman Henry Thrun, making his NHL debut after starring at Harvard, added two assists, and James Reimer finished with 23 saves.

Nicolas Hague, Ivan Barbashev and Michael Amadio scored goals and Ben Hutton notched two assists for Vegas, which became the first Western Conference team to clinch a playoff berth before the game when Nashville was blanked 2-0 at Pittsburgh. Brossoit made 21 saves for Vegas.

Kraken 4, Ducks 1

Matty Beniers and Jaden Schwartz each had a goal and an assist and Martin Jones turned aside 18 shots as host Seattle continued its push toward the playoffs by sending Anaheim to its sixth straight loss.

Daniel Sprong and Alex Wennberg also scored for the Kraken, who won at home for the first time in five games and hold the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference with eight games remaining.

Brock McGinn scored for the Ducks, and backup goaltender Lukas Dostal stopped 35 shots.

Oilers 2, Kings 0

Stuart Skinner made 43 saves to lead Edmonton over visiting Los Angeles.

Connor McDavid scored his 61st goal of the season and the 300th of his career, and Evander Kane also scored for Edmonton, which has won three in a row and eight of nine (8-0-1) to overtake the Kings for second place in the Pacific Division.

Joonas Korpisalo made 35 saves for Los Angeles, which has lost two in a row following a franchise-best 12-game point streak (10-0-2).

Lightning 5, Capitals 1

Pat Maroon scored twice, Steven Stamkos and Alex Killorn each had a goal and an assist and Tampa Bay beat visiting Washington.

Maroon netted two in the third period on rebounds while Stamkos recorded his second consecutive multi-point game and third in the past four outings. Erik Cernak scored and Anthony Cirelli posted two assists. Andrei Vasilevskiy (33-20-4) stopped 30 shots.

Craig Smith tallied and goalie Darcy Kuemper (21-24-6) stopped 29 shots as the Capitals slipped to 1-4-2 in their past seven.

Devils 2, Rangers 1

Vitek Vanecek made 24 saves and Erik Haula and Timo Meier scored first-period goals as host New Jersey remained in second place in the Metropolitan Division with a victory over New York in Newark, N.J.

Vanecek joined Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur as the second goalie to win 30 games in a season for the Devils. Brodeur won at least 30 games 14 times during his storied career. The Devils won three of four meetings (3-0-1) with the Rangers to move four points ahead of their likely first-round playoff opponent.

Chris Kreider scored a power-play goal for the Rangers, who fell to 9-2-1 in their past 12 contests. Igor Shesterkin made 29 saves.

Mar 30, 2023; San Jose, California, USA; Vegas Golden Knights center Paul Cotter (43) and San Jose Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson (65) battle for the puck against the boards during the third period at SAP Center at San Jose. Mandatory Credit: Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports

Penguins 2, Predators 0

Tristan Jarry, playing in his 200th career game, stopped all 28 shots he faced to lead Pittsburgh past visiting Nashville.

It was the 13th career shutout for Jarry, his first against Nashville and his second of the season. Jason Zucker and Jake Guentzel scored for the Penguins, who maintained their hold on the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference -- one point ahead of Florida, which beat Montreal.

The loss kept the Predators from leapfrogging Calgary in the Western Conference wild-card chase. They remain three points out of a playoff spot. The Predators have lost three of their past four games. Juuse Saros also was stellar, making 43 saves.

Panthers 5, Canadiens 2

Matthew Tkachuk collected a hat trick and an assist to lead Florida to a road victory over Montreal.

The four-point performance gives Tkachuk 101 points (38 goals, 63 assists) for the season. Anton Lundell had two goals and an assist for the Panthers, while Sam Reinhart had two assists.

Sean Farrell and Rafael Harvey-Pinard scored for the Canadiens. Farrell scored at 1:23 of the first period before the Panthers netted the next four goals. Harvey-Pinard struck on a power play 18:35 into the third period.

Red Wings 3, Hurricanes 2

Jake Walman scored with 3.2 seconds remaining to give host Detroit a victory over Carolina.

Dominik Kubalik and Dylan Larkin had the other goals for Detroit, which exceeded last season's win total with its 33rd victory. Alex Nedeljkovic made 31 saves as the Red Wings recorded their second win in three nights.

Brent Burns and Jaccob Slavin scored for the Hurricanes, who lost for the third straight time. It was a damaging defeat for Carolina, which is trying to hold onto the Metropolitan Division lead. Frederik Andersen made 19 saves for the Hurricanes, who came up empty on three power-play opportunities.

Senators 5, Flyers 4 (OT)

Alex DeBrincat scored 1:36 into overtime to lift host Ottawa past Philadelphia in a game in which the Flyers managed just 11 shots on goal.

Tim Stutzle collected a goal and an assist and Austin Watson, Shane Pinto and former Flyers captain Claude Giroux also tallied for Ottawa. Cam Talbot turned aside seven shots in his first game since March 4.

Philadelphia defensemen Cam York and Tony DeAngelo each recorded a goal and an assist and Noah Cates and Owen Tippett also scored. Felix Sandstrom made 41 saves as the Flyers extended their point streak to seven games (5-0-2).

Blues 5, Blackhawks 3

Brandon Saad scored one goal and set up another as St. Louis handed host Chicago its seventh straight loss.

Jakub Vrana, Logan Brown, Alexey Toropchenko and Jordan Kyrou also scored for the Blues, who are 6-1-1 in their last eight games. Justin Faulk earned two assists and Jordan Binnington made 30 saves.

Tyler Johnson had a goal and an assist and Andreas Athanasiou and Boris Katchouk also scored for Chicago. Taylor Raddysh had two assists and Petr Mrazek made 24 saves.

--Field Level Media

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