Washington — Hampus Lindholm scores on one end, stops on the other, and the Boston Bruins beat the Washington Capitals 3-2 in a penalty shootout Saturday night to advance to the first round of the playoffs. It was possible.
Kevin Shattenkirk scored the game-winning goal in the shootout, rookie John Beecher scored and Jeremy Swayman made 18 saves in regulation and overtime for the Bruins, who clinched their eighth consecutive postseason appearance. It was my first time playing since.
The victory, which came through a four-minute penalty kill in overtime, vaulted them past the Florida Panthers and back into first place in the Atlantic Division, keeping them tied for the Presidents Trophy and home ice advantage with the New York Rangers through the playoffs. . .
The Capitals hope to join Boston there, but that will depend on how they play their remaining eight games, as well as the games between Detroit and Philadelphia for the final two spots in the Eastern Conference. The one point move moves them ahead of the Flyers for third place in the Metropolitan Division, as they have played fewer games and moved up two spots to the Red Wings, who lost in a shootout in Florida on Saturday.
Washington defenseman John Carlson scores in his 1,000th NHL regular season game, Michael Sugarbossa also scores, and coach Spencer Carberry plans to keep him in the lineup when Sonny Milano returns from injury. Justified the decision. Charlie Lindgren stopped 26 of 28 shots in the loss, in which defenseman Rasmus Sandin sat out late with a lower-body injury.
However, the Caps' second straight loss wasn't Lindgren's fault, as the opportunistic Bruins took advantage of turnovers and other mistakes to score goals. He bounced back from a disappointing 3-1 loss to Tampa Bay and blocked 29 shots against the Capitals to reach 101 points on the season.
That's a far cry from last year, when they broke league records for points and points and lost in the first round to eventual Stanley Cup finalist Florida. Boston is not an all-time favorite, but the team's best game on Saturday was enough to compete with any of the top contenders.
Other matches on Saturday
Vegas 2, (at) Minnesota 1 (OT): 3 minutes and 30 seconds into overtime, Jonathan Marchessault scored into an empty net, giving Las Vegas a victory over Minnesota.
Minnesota, hoping to close the gap in the race for the last playoff spot in the Western Conference, pulled goaltender Filip Gustafsson about three minutes into overtime. However, Las Vegas regained control of the puck and Marchessault took a shot from near his own blue line that found the back of the net for his 40th point of the season.
As a result, due to a rule that penalizes the losing team by pulling the goaltender in overtime, Vegas ended up with two points and Minnesota got none.
Michael Amadio also scored for the Golden Knights, and Logan Thompson stopped 32 shots. The Golden Knights are in third place in the Pacific Division with a record of 5 wins, 0 losses, and 1 loss in the final six games.
(at) Edmonton 6, Anaheim 1: Edmonton defeated Anaheim this season, with Connor McDavid leading the way in points with two goals and an assist.
Matthias Ekholm had one goal and two assists for the Oilers, who won their third straight game. Adam Henrique, Warren Vogel and Zach Hyman also scored for Edmonton. Calvin Pickard narrowly missed his second shutout of the season, but made 22 saves.
Alex Killorn had a late goal for the Ducks, who have lost their fourth straight game and are 1-9-1 in their past 11 games, and goaltender John Gibson made 31 saves.
Edmonton got off to a strong start, taking the lead in just 3 minutes, 47 seconds.
New York Rangers 8, Arizona 5: Alexis Lafreniere had three goals and two assists, Jonathan Quick broke the winning record for American-born goaltenders, and the NHL-leading New York Rangers reached 50 wins with a win over Arizona.
Jonathan Quick stopped 27 shots and passed Ryan Miller for his 392nd victory.
Arteri Panarin scored his 44th goal of the season, an empty-net goal, with 2:25 remaining and had three assists for 63 points. Lafreniere completed his hat trick with an empty-netter with 14 seconds left. He has 25 goals, a career-high for a 2020 No. 1 overall pick.
The game was tied at three in the third period, but the Rangers scored three points in the first 10 minutes and appeared to be able to break the ice. Chris Kreider, Zach Jones and Barclay Goodrow all scored in the third, with Goodrow's short shot ultimately scoring the winning goal.
(at) Colorado 7, Nashville 4: Nathan MacKinnon had two goals and two assists, Yakov Trenin scored the go-ahead goal against his former team, and the Colorado Avalanche clinched a playoff berth by defeating Nashville on the brink of a penalty.
Cale Makar had a goal and two assists, Jonathan Drouin added a goal and an assist, and Casey Mittelstadt and Artturi Lehkonen also scored to help Colorado win after two straight losses.
Alexander Georgiev allowed four goals on 13 shots but was sent off less than a minute into the second period. Justus Anunen came on as a substitute and stopped all 17 remaining shots to seal the victory.
Cole Smith, Mark Jankowski, Dante Fabbro and Gustav Nyquist scored for Nashville, which has won just two games since Thursday's 8-4 loss at Arizona, which ended a franchise-record 18-game winning streak. He suffered his second defeat. Kevin Lankinen finished with 35 saves.
Toronto 3, (at) Buffalo 0: Toronto center Auston Matthews became the first NHL player in 30 years to score 60 points with his goal with 5:37 left in the Maple Leafs' win over Buffalo.
Matthews tied the franchise record he set two seasons ago when he led the NHL in goals. The 26-year-old joins a group of eight NHL players to reach 60 goals in multiple seasons, a feat that Pavel Bure achieved with the Vancouver Canucks in 1992-93 and 1993-94. This is his first time scoring 60 goals in a row.
Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy lead the list with 60 goals in five seasons.
Matthews, a native of Scottsdale, Arizona, became the first American-born player to accomplish this feat.
(at) Columbus 4, Pittsburgh 3 (SO): Alexandre Texier and Damon Severson scored in the shootout, and Columbus defeated Pittsburgh to end its losing streak at six.
Kirill Marchenko and Zach Werensky scored in the third period to help Columbus recover from a two-goal deficit. Mathieu Olivier also scored and Elvis Merzlikins made 30 saves.
Drew O'Connor, Brian Rust and Rickard Ruckel scored for the Penguins, and Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 35 shots, but the Penguins split back-to-back games with Columbus and lost to the Blue Jackets for the first time this season.
Olivier put Columbus ahead 59 seconds on the Blue Jackets' first-period penalty kill, burying a rebound of Cole Schillinger's shot at 7:46 and withstanding a coach's challenge for goaltender interference.
Carolina 3, (at) Montreal 0: Pyotr Kochetkov made 26 saves and helped Carolina defeat Montreal with his fourth shutout of the season.
Jordan Staal took the lead with a short-handed goal midway through the second period, and early in the third, Sebastian Aho connected on a power play and Seth Jarvis scored on an empty net.
Carolina improved to 47 wins, 21 losses, and 7 draws. Montreal fell to 28 wins, 33 losses, and 12 losses. The Canadiens have won three in a row.
Chicago 5, Philadelphia 1: Connor Bedard tied the rookie for most points with an assist, Filip Kurashev, Joey Anderson and Lucas Reichel each added a goal and an assist as the Chicago Blackhawks defeated Philadelphia.
Nick Foligno and Mackenzie Entwistle also scored, helping rebuild Chicago, which entered the game with the second-fewest points in the NHL. The Blackhawks improved their record to 22-47-5 overall and 7-29-1 on the road. Arvid Söderblom made 29 saves.
Tyson Forster scored for the Flyers and Samuel Arson made 19 saves.
This season, the second year under coach John Tortorella, was expected to be another rebuild, but the Flyers have become a surprise playoff contender. The last time they made it to the postseason was in 2020. The Flyers entered Saturday holding the last playoff spot in the Metropolitan Division, just one point behind fourth-place Washington. Philadelphia has seven games left.
(Location) Tampa Bay, New York 4 Islanders 1: Steven Stamkos reached 30 goals for the ninth time in his career, and Tampa Bay extended its winning streak to nine games with a win over the New York Islanders.
Anthony Cirelli had two goals and an assist, Darren Radish also scored, and the Lightning improved to 8-0-1 since March 7, defeating the Islanders for the fifth straight time at Amalie Arena. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves, making his seventh straight start against the Islanders and improving his career record to 13-4-0.
Kyle Palmieri scored and Semyon Varlamov made 38 saves for the Islanders, who are 2-7-1 in their last 10 games. They are in third place in the Metropolitan Division, five points behind Washington, and five points behind Philadelphia, the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Stamkos deflected Emil Lilberg's shot past Varlamov 21 seconds into the third period, giving Tampa Bay a 3-1 lead. The goal, which survived a possible high stick on video review, was his 545th career goal, moving him past Hall of Famer Maurice Richard for 32nd place on the NHL all-time list. Tampa Bay's captain has scored at least 30 goals in each of the past three seasons.
Ottawa 3, (at) Winnipeg 2: Brady Tkachuk scored the winning goal on a power play with 1:45 left in the game, giving Ottawa the victory over Winnipeg.
Ridley Greig and Boris Katyuk also scored for the Senators. Joonas Korpisalo made 28 saves for Ottawa, which extended its winning streak to five games.
Mark Scheifele and Nikolaj Ehlers responded from Winnipeg. Winnipeg's Connor Hellebuyck stopped 24 shots in front of a sellout crowd of 15,225 for the fourth straight game. It was Winnipeg's sixth straight loss.
This was Winnipeg's third game of a five-game homestand.
playoff tracker
atlantic ocean
▶ Bruins (99)
▶ Panthers (97)
▶ Maple leaves (91)
metropolitan
▶ Rangers (102)
▶ Hurricane (99)
▶ Flyers (82)
Wildcard
▶ Lightning (87)
▶ Capital (81)
(Top 2 wild card teams advance to playoffs)
(Excluding Friday games)
▶ Red Wings (79)
▶ Islanders (77)
▶ Devils (76)
▶ Sabers (75)
▶ Penguin (74)
If the playoffs start on Saturday
Eastern Conference Playoffs bracket
▶ (1M) Rangers vs. Capitals (WC2)
▶ (A2) Panthers vs. Maple Leafs (A3)
▶ (1A) Bruins vs. Lightning (WC1)
▶ (2M) Hurricanes vs. (3M) Flyers
Remaining games of wild card race
Capital (81 points)
▶ Home (5): Bruins, Penguins, Senators, Lightning, Bruins
▶ Away (5): Saber, Hurricane, Wing, Saber, Flyers
red wing (79)
▶ Home (4): Rangers, Sabres, Capitals, Canadiens
▶ Away (5): panther, lightning, penguin, leaves, canadian
Islanders (77)
▶ Home (5): Blackhawk, Predator, Ranger, Canadian, Penguin
▶ away (5): Lightning, Flyers, Blue Jackets, Rangers, Devils
Michigan area hockey this week
Friday
▶ Chicago 4, Grand Rapids 2
▶ Michigan State 5, Western Michigan 4 (OT)
▶ Michigan State 4, North Dakota State 3
▶ Boston College 6, Michigan Technological University 1
▶ NTDP U18s 5, Dubuque 4 (SO)
Saturday
▶ Red Wings at Florida, 12:30 p.m. (NHL/BSD Extra/97.1)
▶ Grand Rapids at Milwaukee, 7 p.m. (AHL/106.9/1300)
▶ NTDP U18 at Dubuque, 8 p.m.
Sunday
▶ Michigan vs. Michigan State, 6:30 p.m. (ESPNU)
Thursday
▶ Hurricanes 4, Red Wings 0
▶ Madison 4, NTDP U17 0
Wednesday
▶ Grand Rapids 5, Cleveland 2
Tuesday
▶ Capitals 4, Red Wings 3 (OT)
