SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Connor McDavid became the first player in 27 years to reach 150 points in a season when he had two goals and an assist in the Edmonton Oilers’ 6-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Saturday.
McDavid now has 151 points with two games remaining in the regular season. He became just the sixth player ever to record 150 points in a season, joining Wayne Gretzky (nine times), Lemieux (four times), Phil Esposito, Steve Yzerman and Bernie Nichols.
Zach Hyman, Derek Ryan and Philip Broberg also scored to help the Oilers win their seventh straight game. Edmonton, which began the day three points ahead of third-place Los Angeles in the Pacific Division, closed in on clinching home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Stuart Skinner made 22 saves.
Tomas Hertl scored for the Sharks, who are assured of finishing in the bottom four of the league. James Reimer had 30 saves.
PENGUINS 5, RED WINGS 1
DETROIT (AP) — Sidney Crosby become the 15th player in NHL history to reach 1,500 career points, scoring two goals and adding an assist in Pittsburgh’s crucial victory.
Crosby has 550 goals and 950 assists and is the sixth-fastest player to hit the 1,500-point milestone, accomplishing it in his 1,188th game. Crosby became the 12th player in league history to reach 90 points in his age 35 season or older.
Alex Nylander, Danton Heinen and Evgeni Malkin also scored for the Penguins, who are fighting for one of the last playoff berths in the Eastern Conference with less than a week left in the regular season. Tristan Jarry had 19 saves and improved to 3-0-0 in his career against the Red Wings.
Pius Suter scored for the Red Wings in the second period, his 14th of the season and one shy of his career best set last season. Ville Husso finished with 23 saves.
BRUINS 2, DEVILS 1
BOSTON (AP) — Pavel Zacha scored twice in the first five minutes, and Boston held on to tie an NHL record with its 62nd win of the season.
The Bruins have three games left to try to top the record for regular-season wins set by the 1995-96 Red Wings and matched by the 2018-19 Lightning. Boston faces Philadelphia on Sunday, Washington on Tuesday and Montreal on Thursday.
Linus Ullmark stopped 29 shots for Boston, which won its fifth straight and its 12th in 13 tries.
Jesper Bratt scored and Mackenzie Blackwood made 38 saves for the Devils, who remain one point behind Carolina and two ahead of the Rangers in the race for the Metropolitan Division title. Jack Hughes assisted on the goal, giving him 96 points for the season to tie Patrik Eliáš′ franchise record.
STARS 2, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 1, SO
DALLAS (AP) — Roope Hintz scored the only goal in the shootout to lift Dallas into first place in the Central Division.
Dallas has 102 points with three games left in the regular season. The Stars began the day tied with defending champion Colorado, which played Saturday night and still had three games left after that.
Pacific Division-leading Vegas did clinch home-ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs by getting the point. The Golden Knights have 107 points, two ahead of Edmonton after the Oilers won 6-1 at San Jose.
Brett Howden scored in the first period for Vegas, and Jonathan Quick had 24 saves.
Joel Kiviranta scored in the second period for Dallas, and Jake Oettinger had 19 saves.
SABRES 4, HURRICANES 3
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Tage Thompson scored the go-ahead goal 6:15 into the third period, Rasmus Dahlin had a goal, two assists and a key blocked shot, and Buffalo preserved its slim playoff hopes.
Casey Mittelstadt scored twice and Buffalo improved to 6-1-1 in its past eight, with the win guaranteeing the Sabres remaining in contention through their game at the New York Rangers on Monday. A regulation loss, otherwise, would have put 10th-place Buffalo in position to be eliminated later in the day and extend its NHL-worst playoff drought for a 12th consecutive season.
Sabres rookie Devon Levi stopped 32 shots to improve to 3-1 in making his third start nine days. Buffalo (39-32-7) matched its most victories since finishing 39-32-11 in 2011-12.
Sebastian Aho, with his Hurricanes-leading 35th goal, Seth Jarvis and Jesper Fast scored for Carolina. Antii Raanta stopped 26 shots in losing just his third game in regulation this season, and first since a 4-1 loss to Colorado on Nov. 12.
AVALANCHE 4, KINGS 3
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Denis Malgin scored twice and Colorado got its fourth straight win.
Brad Hunt and Alex Newhook also scored, Alexandar Georgiev made 37 saves and the Avalanche kept pace with Dallas for first place in the Central Division and still have a game in hand. It was their ninth straight road victory, matching the longest streak since the team moved to Colorado.
Adrian Kempe had two goals, Viktor Arvidsson scored on the power play, and the Kings dropped their third straight game since wrapping up a playoff spot. Pheonix Copley made 19 saves.
COYOTES 5, DUCKS 4, OT
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Barrett Hayton scored 4 minutes into overtime and Arizona handed Anaheim its 10th straight loss.
Max Jones gave the Ducks their first lead at 4-3 with 1:52 to go in regulation, but Matias Maccelli tied it with 36 seconds left with goalie Ivan Prosvetov off for an extra attacker.
Clayton Keller scored his 37th goal of the season for Arizona. Christian Fischer and Lawson Crouse also connected, with Crouse’s goal coming on the power play. J.J. Moser had two assists, and Prosvetov stopped 25 shots.
Adam Henrique scored twice for Anaheim, and Ryan Strome had a goal and two assists. Anaheim, which entered Saturday tied for last in the NHL with Chicago and Columbus at 56 points, hasn’t won since beating Columbus at home on March 17.
With Anaheim goalie John Gibson sidelined with an illness, Olle Eriksson Ek was recalled Friday from San Diego of the AHL, where he was 2-13-0 with a 4.81 goals-against average. He made 33 saves.
JETS 2, PREDATORS 0
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Connor Hellebuyck stopped 28 shots for his fourth shutout of the season.
Defenseman Neal Pionk and forward Mark Scheifele scored to help the Jets improve to 44-32-3 in a desperate race for the final wild-card playoff berth in the Western Conference.
Jusse Soros made 36 saves for Nashville. The Predators dropped to 40-31-8 — three points behind the Jets in the standings.
PANTHERS 4, CAPITALS 2
WASHINGTON (AP) — Matthew Tkachuk scored the tiebreaking goal with 1 minute left in regulation and had two assists as Florida won its sixth straight.
Sam Reinhart had a goal and an assist, and Carter Verhaege and Aaron Ekblad also scored for Florida, which reclaimed the top wild card in the Eastern Conference. The Panthers moved past Pittsburgh, which beat Detroit earlier Saturday. Florida is tied with the New York Islanders with 91 points, but holds the tiebreaker.
Aleksander Barkov had two assists and Alex Lyon had 22 saves for the Panthers.
Tom Wilson had a goal and an assist, and Dylan Strome also also scored for Washington, which lost its sixth straight and will miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in nine years. Charlie Lindgren stopped 33 shots.
RANGERS 4, BLUE JACKETS 0
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Igor Shesterkin stopped all 20 shots he faced for his third shutout of the season and 11th of his career to lead New York.
Jimmy Vesey, Chris Kreider, Niko Mikkola and Vincent Trocheck scored, and Mika Zibanejad added two assists for the Rangers, who pulled two points behind New Jersey for second place in the Metropolitan Division and home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. The Devils played at Boston on Saturday night.
Michael Hutchinson stopped 24 shots while appearing in his 150th NHL game for Columbus, which has lost six of its last seven games and remained tied with the Chicago Blackhawks for the fewest points in the NHL with 56.
ISLANDERS 4, FLYERS 0
NEW YORK (AP) — Scott Mayfield, Brock Nelson and rookie defenseman Samuel Bolduc each scored and Ilya Sorokin made 27 saves as New York kept pace in the Eastern Conference wild-card race.
Hudson Fasching also scored for the Islanders who stayed ahead of Pittsburgh by one point and remained tied with Florida in a season-finishing sprint for the two wild cards in the Eastern Conference. Bo Horvat and Simon Holmstrom each had two assists for New York.
Carter Hart had 15 saves through two periods for Philadelphia. Felix Sandstrom stopped two of the three shots he faced in the third.
WILD 5, BLUES 3
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Ryan Hartman and Sam Steel scored short-handed goals 20 seconds apart in the first period and Minnesota earned two key late-season points.
Freddy Gaudreau, Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin also scored to help the Wild end a three-game skid, its longest in two months. Filip Gustavsson made 37 saves. Back after missing 13 games with a lower-body injury, Minnesota All-Star Kirill Kaprizov was kept off the score sheet.
Pavel Buchnevich, Sammy Blais and Jake Neighbours scored for the Blues, and Justin Faulk had two assists. Jordan Binnington finished with 24 saves. St. Louis, out of playoff contention, is 6-3-1 in its past 10 games.
SENATORS 7, LIGHTNING 4
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Egor Sokolov scored his first NHL goal and Ottawa beat Tampa Bay.
Drake Batherson, Julien Gauthier, Patrick Brown, Alex DeBrincat, Mark Kastelic and Claude Giroux also scored for the Senators. Cam Talbot made 19 saves.
Alex Killorn, Brandon Hagel, Victor Hedman and Brayden Point scored for Tampa Bay, and Brian Elliott stopped 33 shots. The Lightning, locked into a first-round playoff series with Toronto, have lost three straight.
KRAKEN 7, BLACKHAWKS 3
SEATTLE (AP) — Jordan Eberle, Jared McCann and Daniel Sprong each had a goal and an assist and Seattle won its fourth straight.
The second-year Kraken, who clinched their first Stanley Cup playoff spot Thursday, also got goals from Eeli Tolvanen, Yanni Gourde, Adam Larsson and Morgan Geekie. Jamie Oleksiak had three assists. Martin Jones made 15 saves two periods, then was replaced by Philipp Grubauer at the start of the third. Grubauer had 11 saves.
Seth Jones scored twice for Chicago, which lost for the 10th time in the 11 games and is tied with Columbus for the fewest points in the NHL with 56. Lukas Reichel also scored and Petr Mrazek made 24 saves.
MAPLE LEAFS 7, CANADIENS 1
TORONTO (AP) — Mitch Marner had two goals and an assist to reach a career-high 98 points for the season, helping Toronto rout Montreal.
John Tavares scored twice, Auston Matthews had a goal and three assists and William Nylander and Michael Bunting also scored. Ilya Samsonov made 20 saves, and Ryan O’Reilly and Erik Gustafsson each had three assists.
With goaltender Matt Murray still out with a head injury, the Maple Leafs signed University of Toronto netminder Jett Alexander to an amateur tryout contract — for salary-cap management purposes — hours before the game to serve as Samsonov’s backup instead of recalling third-string option Joseph Woll from the minors. Alexander played the final 1:10, but didn’t register a save.
Jonathan Kovacevic scored for Montreal. Sam Montembeault stopped 39 shots.
CANUCKS 3, FLAMES 2, SO
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Andrei Kuzmenko scored in the shootout to lift Vancouver.
Elias Pettersson and Cole McWard — with his first NHL point — scored for the Canucks. Thatcher Demko made 41 saves.
Elias Lindholm and Nazem Kadri put away third-period goals for the Flames to force extra time. Jacob Markstrom stopped 31 shots. Calgary pulled one point behind Winnipeg for the second wild card in the Western Conference. The Flames have two games left on their regular-season schedule while the Jets have three.
In the tiebreaker, Kuzmenko skated wide of the Flames’ net, then fired a shot up into the top corner to secure the win.
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