PITTSBURGH (AP) The Pittsburgh Penguins‘ quest for a three-peat is officially on.Patric Hornqvist picked up his 200th career goal and
the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions clinched their 12th straight
playoff berth with a 5-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday
night.Phil Kessel
Vancouver Canucks T-Shirts Authentic , Riley Sheahan, Conor Sheary and Carl Hagelin also scored for Pittsburgh, which dominated the largely listless
Canadiens to improve to 17-1-1 in their last 19 games at PPG Paints Arena. Matt
Murray finished with 24 saves for the Penguins, who swept their season series
with Montreal for only the second time in franchise history.Jeff Petry and
Jonathan Drouin scored for the Canadiens, who lost for the fifth time in seven
games. Antti Niemi made 28 stops but Montreal couldn’t handle the league’s
top-ranked power play.GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3, SHARKS 2LAS VEGAS (AP) – William
Karlsson scored a short-handed goal in the third period, and the expansion
Golden Knights clinched the Pacific Division title.Vegas (50-22-7) reached 50
wins in its inaugural season with its third victory in four games. San Jose
(44-25-10) is second in the Pacific, four points ahead of Los Angeles.Shea
Theodore and Oscar Lindberg also scored for the Golden Knights, and Marc-Andre
Fleury stopped 29 shots.San Jose goaltender Martin Jones made 35 saves. Joe
Pavelski and Marc-Edouard Vlasic scored for the Sharks.STARS 4, WILD 1DALLAS
(AP) – John Klingberg scored and added to his NHL-leading assist total for
defensemen, helping Dallas to the victory.Jason Spezza scored for the first time
since Jan. 16 as the Stars, playing their home finale, won for just the second
time in 11 games – a slide that wiped out any realistic hopes of making the
playoffs.The Wild, still holding the third playoff spot in the Central Division
with four games remaining, lost the second of a home-and-home set two nights
after beating the Stars 5-2 in Minnesota.Wild defenseman Ryan Suter departed
with a lower-body injury late in the second period. He wasn’t using his right
leg as he was helped through the tunnel to the locker room.Klingberg got his
career-best 56th assist on the first-period goal by Spezza.BRUINS 5
Vancouver Canucks Hoodies Authentic , PANTHERS 1BOSTON (AP) – Jake DeBrusk scored twice in his first game in more than two weeks, and Tuukka Rask stopped 30 shots
to help Boston move back into first place in the Eastern Conference playoff
race.David Krejci had three assists and rookie Ryan Donato had a goal and an
assist for Boston, which has won four of its last five games. The Bruins have
earned a point in eight straight games and 15 of their last 17.Jamie McGinn
scored for Florida, which remains three points behind New Jersey in the race for
the eighth and final playoff spot in the East. James Reimer stopped 17 of the 22
shots he faced before he was replaced by Roberto Luongo with 3:28 left in the
second period, trailing 5-1.Luongo, the losing goalie for Vancouver in the
Bruins’ 2011 Stanley Cup run, stopped all 11 shots the rest of the way.Two days
after a physical battle for first place with the Tampa Bay Lighting, which the
Bruins won 4-2 to take temporary possession of the top spot, Boston sent the
struggling Panthers to their third straight loss and moved back into first. The
Lightning had jumped ahead of the Bruins with a win at the New York Rangers on
Friday night.CANUCKS 5, BLUE JACKETS 4, OTVANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) –
Alex Edler scored 1:21 into overtime to lift Vancouver to its season high-tying
fourth straight win.Jussi Jokinen had a goal and two assists against his former
team, and Darren Archibald, Bo Horvat and Nikolay Goldobin also scored for the
Canucks, who have won five of six after a seven-game skid. Thatcher Demko
stopped 26 shots in his first NHL start.Seth Jones had a goal and three
assists
Vancouver Canucks Hats Authentic , and Pierre-Luc Dubois, Zach Werenski and Cam Atkinson also scored for Columbus. Artemi Panarin had four assists and Joonas
Korpisalo finished with 24 saves for the Blue Jackets, who are 12-1-1 in their
last 14 games as they try to pass Pittsburgh for second place in the
Metropolitan Division.The Blue Jackets erased a 4-1 deficit by scoring three
goals in 2:37 to tie the game.JETS 3, MAPLE LEAFS 1TORONTO (AP) – Josh Morrissey
and Dustin Byfuglien scored 1:10 apart in the second period as Winnipeg beat
Toronto in a matchup of the only two Canadian teams headed to the
playoffs.Andrew Copp had the other goal for Winnipeg, while Connor Hellebuyck
stopped 28 shots.Patrick Marleau scored for Toronto, and Curtis McElhinney had
26 saves.The Maple Leafs, who won 7-2 in Winnipeg to open the season on Oct. 4,
are all but assured of finishing third in the Atlantic Division. The Jets,
meanwhile, look just as certain to wind up second in the Central.Toronto’s only
blemish at home in more than two months coming into this game was Monday’s 3-2
loss to last-place Buffalo that snapped a 13-game winning streak at Air Canada
Centre.SABRES 7, PREDATORS 4NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Sam Reinhart had a hat trick
with Jack Eichel adding a career-high five assists as NHL-worst Buffalo stunned
league-leading Nashville.The Sabres outshot Nashville from the start and chased
goalie Pekka Rinne after he gave up six goals on 29 shots through two
periods.Kyle Okposo had two goals, and Jason Pominville and Ryan O’Reilly also
scored for Buffalo, and Eichel tied a franchise single-game record with his
assists.P.K. Subban, Austin Watson
Custom Vancouver Canucks Jerseys , Kyle Turris and Nick Bonino scored for Nashville.The Sabres took control by scoring three power-play goals – two by
Reinhart – on a 5-minute major after defenseman Victor Antipin was boarded by
Nashville forward Scott Hartnell behind the Buffalo net at 14:09 of the second.
Antipin was strapped to a backboard and taken off the ice on a stretcher.RANGERS
2, HURRICANES 1RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – Ryan Sproul scored and Kevin Hayes added a
short-handed goal to help New York eliminate Carolina from the playoff
race.Henrik Lundqvist made 40 saves for the Rangers, who entered having lost
three straight and six of seven – going 1-4-2 in that stretch – and were
formally knocked out of the postseason chase earlier in the week.Jeff Skinner
scored and Cam Ward made 18 saves for the Hurricanes, whose longshot playoff
hopes were snuffed out and will miss out for the ninth straight year – the
longest active postseason drought in the NHL. For the third consecutive season,
their official elimination came in their 79th game.Lundqvist’s third victory
against Carolina this season helped the Rangers finish off a sweep in the
series. New York won the first three games by a combined 17-5 margin.DEVILS 4,
ISLANDERS 3NEWARK, N.J. (AP) – Taylor Hall scored twice and New Jersey took a
major step toward its first playoff berth since 2012.Coupled with Florida’s 5-1
loss to Boston earlier in the day, the Devils opened a five-point lead over the
Panthers for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference and moved within a
point of idle Philadelphia for the top wild card. Both teams have four games
left in the regular season, one fewer than Florida.Stefan Noesen and Blake
Coleman each had a goal and assist as the Devils won for the seventh time in 10
games (7-2-1). Keith Kinkaid, who has started nine of 10 games and been the
mainstay in net since late January, had 27 saves, including a stop on a
one-timer by Ryan Pulock with 14 seconds to play.Tanner Fritz, Anthony
Beauvillier and Chris Wagner scored for the Islanders, who have lost 16 of their
last 19 (3-12-4). Thomas Greiss made 31 saves in his first game since Feb.
16
www.officialcapitals.com , when he sustained an ankle injury and went on injured reserve.COYOTES 6, BLUES
0GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) – Antti Raanta stopped 34 shots for his third shutout of
the season and Arizona scored three goals in the second period to beat
playoff-chasing St. Louis.Four of the Coyotes‘ goals came from defensemen,
including Luke Schenn, who scored his first goal in his 61st game of the season.
Schenn also energized a large crowd and his teammates with a powerful check of
Blues forward Scottie Upshall early in the second period.Richard Panik added a
goal just before the hit, and 28-win Arizona won its 10th this month.Oliver
Ekman-Larsson scored a power-play goal and assisted on another second-period
goal, Jakob Chychrun, Alex Goligoski and Zac Rinaldo scored, and Max Domi and
Dylan Strome had three assists each for the Coyotes. Panik had an assist and
Derek Stepan had two.The Blues entered 8-1-1 in their last 10 games, but ended
the night tied with Colorado for the second wild-card spot in the West at 92
points through 78 games.RED WINGS 2, SENATORS 0DETROIT (AP) – Jimmy Howard
stopped 31 shots for his first shutout of the season, leading Detroit to its
third straight win.Dylan Larkin and Andreas Athanasiou scored to help the Red
Wings get their longest winning streak since a season-high four-game stretch
Dec. 29 to Jan. 5.It was Howard’s 24th career shutout and marked the ninth time
Ottawa was blanked this season.Mike Condon finished with 25 saves for the
Senators.FLAMES 3, OILERS 2CALGARY, Alberta (AP) – Mikael Backlund had a goal
and an assist, helping Calgary snap a seven-game skid.Dougie Hamilton and Garnet
Hathaway also scored during the Flames‘ three-goal first period. Michael Frolik
added two assists
Washington Capitals T-Shirts Authentic , and Mike Smith stopped 34 shots.Hamilton’s goal was his 17th of the season, the most by a defenseman in
the NHL.Anton Slepyshev and Mike Cammalleri scored for Edmonton. Cam Talbot gave
up three goals on seven shots before he was pulled 15 1/2 minutes in. NEW YORK
(AP) The Rangers face an unfamiliar challenge after stockpiling picks for the
June draft: Maximizing a franchise-record 10 selections, including three in the
first round.Rebuilding means keeping options open for trades while also
targeting players who best fit the team’s goals.Assistant general manager Chris
Drury says the team’s priorities are adding young, competitive players with
speed and skill and ”a premium on high character.””It’s one thing to have all
these great picks … you have to be ready and be prepared to make the right
picks,” Drury said.
