Craig Smith scored twice and Ryan Johansen had the go-ahead goal late in the third period to help the Nashville Predators beat the Washington Capitals 4-3 Thursday night to clinch first place in the Central Division Ty Montgomery Jersey , the top seed in the Western Conference and the best record in the NHL.
Even though it’ll be Pekka Rinne in net for the Predators when they open the playoffs next week, backup Juuse Saros stopped 28 of the 31 shots and captain Roman Josi scored on the power play to give them their first division title in 19 seasons of existence.
Nashville has a franchise-record 52 victories and will open the playoffs against the second wild card in the West as it tries to return to the Stanley Cup Final. The Predators clinched the Presidents’ Trophy for the league’s top record when Boston lost to Florida 3-2 later Thursday. Nashville watched from the arena as the Panthers scored late in the third period to top the Bruins.
Evgeny Kuznetsov scored twice and Alex Ovechkin added his NHL-leading 47th goal of the season for the Metropolitan-champion Capitals, who have nothing left to play for and could still face any of a handful of teams in the first round. Philipp Grubauer made 25 saves and strengthened his case to be Washington’s Game 1 playoff starter over 2016 Vezina Trophy winner Braden Holtby.
CANUCKS 4, COYOTES 3, OT
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) – Daniel Sedin scored on a power play 2:33 into overtime with his brother Henrik Sedin earning an assist in their final home game before retiring after 17 seasons with Vancouver.
The twins were mobbed by teammates after the goal. Fans were on their feet the minute the Sedins went over the boards after Arizona’s Richard Panik was called for hooking. The goal came when Henrik passed back to Daniel, who blasted a shot from the blue line.
After the game, the two brothers slowly skated around the ice at Rogers Arena, waving at the fans.
The brothers had combined for a goal earlier in the game, with Daniel scoring and Henrik assisting again.
Christian Fischer, Derek Stepan and Dylan Strome scored for Arizona.
Jake Virtanen and Brendan Leipsic got the other goals for the Canucks. Both teams will miss the playoffs.
DEVILS 2, MAPLE LEAFS 1
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) – The New Jersey Devils are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2012.
Patrick Maroon set up second-period goals by Pavel Zacha and Miles Wood and the Devils ended a five-year postseason drought with the victory over Toronto.
Keith Kinkaid Jim Kelly Bills Jersey , the mainstay in goal since the end of January, made 31 saves as the Devils won their fourth straight and extended their points streak to eight games (7-0-1). He preserved the lead with a stop in close on Austin Matthews with just over seven minutes to play.
New Jersey is 10-2-1 in its last 13 in going from the worst team in the Eastern Conference a year ago to one that will get a chance to start playing for the Stanley Cup next week. After it was over, the players went to center ice and saluted the fans who were standing for much of the final minute.
William Nylander scored on a power play in the first period for Toronto to ice his second straight 20-goal season. Frederik Anderson was outstanding, making 37 saves, including saves on breakaways by Taylor Hall and Michael Grabner in the big second period.
The loss was only the fourth in 13 games (9-3) for the Maple Leafs.
KINGS 5, WILD 4, OT
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Dustin Brown scored his fourth goal of the game 23 seconds into overtime and Los Angeles moved into third place in the Pacific Division.
Brown scored on a sharp-angle shot from the left circle to put the Kings one point ahead of Anaheim in the division. He set a career high with his 61st point.
Tobias Rieder also scored, and Daniel Brickley had an assist for his first point in his NHL debut. Jonathan Quick made 23 saves for the Kings’ fourth win in five games.
Matt Dumba scored for the second straight game, and Nate Prosser had a short-handed goal for the Wild, who will play Winnipeg in the first round of the playoffs. Ryan Murphy and Eric Staal each had a goal, and Alex Stalock made 23 saves.
FLYERS 4, HURRICANES 3
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Jakub Voracek scored with 5:45 left to lift Philadelphia past Carolina.
Claude Giroux, Ivan Provorov and Michael Raffl also scored for Philadelphia. The Flyers would have clinched a playoff spot if Boston beat Florida Billy Price Youth Jersey , but the Panthers topped the Bruins 3-2.
The Flyers seemed in great shape when Giroux put them up 3-2 with 9:42 remaining behind a wrist shot that beat goalie Scott Darling. It extended the Flyers captain’s career-high totals to 31 goals and 98 points. The Hurricanes erased the lead when Brian Elliott let in his second soft goal of the game, this one Jordan Staal’s backhander from a sharp angle near the side boards with 6:19 left.
Elliott returned after missing 25 games following core muscle surgery Feb. 13.
Klas Dahlbeck and Sebastian Aho also scored for Carolina.
PANTHERS 3, BRUINS 2
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) – Jared McCann scored with 5:37 left and Roberto Luongo got the win in his 1,000th career game, helping Florida beat Boston to stay in playoff contention.
The Panthers trail Philadelphia by four points for the final Eastern Conference wild card and have two games remaining, including a matchup Sunday night with Boston. Florida needs to win both games and have the Flyers lose to the New York Rangers in regulation Saturday.
The 39-year-old Luongo became the third goalie to reach the 1,000-game mark, joining Hall of Famers Martin Brodeur (1,266) and Patrick Roy (1,029). He stopped 26 shots Thursday.
Aleksander Barkov sc
LAS VEGAS — The San Jose Sharks made it to the Stanley Cup Finals just two years ago, losing in six games to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
So you’d think Peter DeBoer’s squad might be a little ticked off to be cast in the role of the underdog against the expansion Vegas Golden Knights when they meet in the second round of the Western Conference playoffs starting Thursday night at T-Mobile Arena.
Instead, the Sharks seem to welcome the fact that the Golden Knights Jessie Bates III Youth Jersey , who cruised to the Pacific Division title with 109 points, are solid betting favorites to move on to the Western Conference finals.
“I know we’re going to be heavy, heavy underdogs,” DeBoer said with a big smile after his team swept the Anaheim Ducks in four games in the first round. “Hopefully you write that, and we go from there.”
Vegas, which swept the Los Angeles Kings in the first round, won the season series with the Sharks (3-0-1), although two of the games were decided in overtime and another by just one goal.
“If you look at years past I think it’s nice for us to be an underdog,” San Jose defenseman Brenden Dillon told nhl.com. “They’ve been one of the best teams from Day 1 of the season, a team we have a lot of respect for and a team with a high-end offense. They’re feeling good about their game, and we’re going have to be at our best.”
Vegas is 31-10-2 at home but will be facing a veteran San Jose squad that is 22-14-7 on the road, outscoring Anaheim 6-2 in two wins at the Honda Center.
Both teams have playoff-proven goaltenders who come in hot. San Jose’s Martin Jones was 4-0 with a 1.00 goals-against average, a shutout and a glossy .970 save percentage in the sweep of the Ducks. Marc-Andre Fleury of the Golden Knights Authentic John Ross Jersey , a key member on three Stanley Cup-winning teams in Pittsburgh, was even more impressive against the Kings, compiling a 0.65 GAA and .977 save percentage to go with two shutouts.
A big key in Thursday night’s opener could be which team can shake off the rust quicker. Vegas will be playing its first game in nine days since polishing off the Kings 1-0 behind 31 saves by Fleury on April 17 at Staples Center in Los Angeles. San Jose will be taking the ice for the first time in eight days after edging visiting Anaheim 2-1 behind a 30-save performance by Jones on April 18 at SAP Center.
“I think the plus (of the long break) would probably be the rest, healing your body from the bumps and bruises a little bit,” Fleury said. “But it’s so long, though. We had great momentum going. Now we have to wait and see.”
“They’re in the same boat so that’s the good thing,” Vegas coach Gerard Gallant said. “I’m glad we’re not playing a team that just finished up a series and had two or three days off. We had an extra day more than them. … It’s going to be tough, but the players are going to be ready, they’re fired up. It’s a playoff game, not a regular-season game.”
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