The Florida Panthers ran into a very hungry Montreal Canadiens squad on Sunday afternoon in Sunrise.

Desperate to maintain their spot as the final Wild Card team in the Eastern Conference, Montreal played a tough, desperate game and took down the Panthers 4-2 at Amerant Bank Arena.

The win put an end to Florida’s home winning streak at seven games.

Patrik Laine put the Habs on the scoreboard first, cashing in on a power play goal with Tobias Bjornfot in the penalty box for high-sticking.

Laine was down near the goal line and one-timed a pass from rookie Lane Hutson past Sergei Bobrovsky at the 12:03 mark of the opening period.

Just 73 seconds later, Sasha Barkov picked up a loose puck behind Montreal net and quickly fed Sam Reinhart in front.

Reino’s backhand shot eluded the glove of Sam Montembeault and quickly tied the game at one.

Another Montreal power play goal, this one by Juraj Slafkovsky, put the Habs back in front just past the game’s midway point.

Seth Jones tied the game with 3:35 left in the second period when he one-timed a quick feed from Barkov through Montembeault’s pads.

A goal just 2:02 into the third period by Nick Suzuki would prove to be the game-winner as Montreal did a great job limiting Florida’s opportunities the rest of the day.

Brandon Gallagher added an empty-net goal for good measure, his 18th tally the season.

These same two teams will face off again on Tuesday from Montreal.

QUICK THOUGHTS

Jones now has two goals and an assist over his past give games.

Barkov is now riding a modest three-game point streak, with four assists during the run.

He’s also got two goals and seven points over his past six games.

Carter Verhaeghe picked up an assist on Reinhart’s goal, his first point in six games and only his third during 13 games in March.

Reinhart has now scored four goals over his past six games.

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The Buffalo Sabres have announced that star defenseman Rasmus Dahlin will return to the lineup for their March 30 contest against the Washington Capitals. This will also be the 500th game of Dahlin's NHL career.

Dahlin, 24, was forced to miss the Sabres' March 29 contest against the Philadelphia Flyers due to an illness. However, the star defenseman is now feeling good enough to return, which is excellent news for the Sabres. 

Dahlin has had a strong season with the Sabres, posting 13 goals, 44 assists, 57 points, 86 hits, and a plus-3 rating. He has also stayed hot down the stretch, recording five points in his last four appearances.

It will now be interesting to see how the Sabres respond to getting their top defenseman back against the Eastern Conference-leading Capitals from here. 

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The Ottawa Senators begin the final 10 games of the regular season on Sunday afternoon, taking on the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena (5 pm TSN5, RDS). Now eight points above the playoff cut line, the Senators are now in outstanding shape to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in eight years. 

The last time they played a postseason game was in that very arena on May 25, 2017 – a double-overtime loss in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final. 

A lot has changed and neither team has had much success since that season. While Ottawa's playoff drought is well-documented, the Penguins have only won one playoff series since (2018 vs PHI), and are tracking to miss the playoffs for a third straight year.

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The Senators currently hold the Conference’s top wild card spot. They’re now eight points above the playoff cut line after a 3-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night. This cushion gives the Sens some breathing room and the option of resting certain players who are dealing with nagging injuries. 

To that end, the Senators called up winger Angus Crookshank from Belleville on Sunday morning. This move suggests that team captain Brady Tkachuk or another banged-up forward will sit out rather than try to play two games in less than 24 hours.

As you'd expect, the club didn't skate on Sunday morning, so Travis Green's lineup changes, if any, will be announced closer to game time.

Ottawa’s final 10 games will be all about maintenance. The Sens aren’t likely to catch anyone in the top three of the Atlantic Division, nor are they likely to be reeled in by anyone in their rearview mirror. Their goal now is to maintain that wild card and, ideally, give certain players the maintenance days they need to be as healthy as possible for the playoffs.

Meanwhile, with just one point separating the top three teams in the Atlantic, the eventual winner of the divisional race – probably Ottawa’s first-round opponent – will likely be the team that floors it right to the end.

Anton Forsberg will likely start after Ullmark had a busy night on Saturday in a 3-2 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The Opponent:

The Penguins are eight points behind the Rangers for the final wild card spot in the East, but with six teams to climb over, the task is nearly impossible. Pittsburgh's season is all but officially over, and their best players aren’t getting any younger.

So the Pens will begin to take a look at some of the kids in the AHL. They’ve called up two forwards from the AHL who will go right on to the club’s top two lines against Ottawa on Sunday.

Former Winnipeg Jets’ first-rounder Rutger McGroarty has played just three NHL games so far, and for his 21st birthday on Sunday, he’ll play on Sidney Crosby’s left side. McGroarty has 39 points in 60 games for the Baby Pens after being traded by the Jets in a contract dispute last summer. The dispute wasn’t complicated. The former University of Michigan star didn’t want to sign with Winnipeg.

Pittsburgh has also called up Ville Koivunen who’s sixth in AHL scoring with 55 points in 62 games. He’ll play alongside Rickard Rakell.

As for their superstar vets, Crosby, now 37, is still rolling with 80 points and counting. Incredibly, this is now his 20th point-per-game season, surpassing Wayne Gretzky for the most in NHL history. That said, it’s weird to see him among the worst 20 players in the league in plus/minus (-22), even if you don’t put much stock in the stat. 

38-year-old Evgeni Malkin has just 15 goals and 46 points in 62 games, well off his career pace of 1.1 points per game. Malkin has missed the past week with an upper body injury and is listed as day to day. 

Tristan Jarry gets the start for Pittsburgh (fixes earlier version that indicated Nedeljkovic would start).

Senators projected lines

Claude Giroux -- Tim Stutzle -- Fabian Zetterlund
David Perron -- Dylan Cozens -- Drake Batherson
Brady Tkachuk -- Shane Pinto -- Ridly Greig
Matthew Highmore -- Adam Gaudette -- Michael Amadio

Jake Sanderson -- Artem Zub
Thomas Chabot -- Nick Jensen
Tyler Kleven -- Nikolas Matinpalo

Anton Forsberg
Linus Ullmark

Scratched: Dennis Gilbert, Travis Hamonic
Injured: Nick Cousins (knee)

Penguins projected lineup

Rutger McGroarty -- Sidney Crosby -- Bryan Rust
Ville Koivunen -- Rickard Rakell -- Connor Dewar
Philip Tomasino -- Kevin Hayes -- Noel Acciari
Danton Heinen -- Blake Lizotte -- Emil Bemstrom

Matt Grzelcyk -- Kris Letang
Conor Timmins -- Erik Karlsson
Ryan Graves -- Vladislav Kolyachonok

Alex Nedeljkovic
Tristan Jarry

After Sunday’s game, the Senators will play eight of their final nine games at home.

The Buffalo Sabres have announced that defenseman Jack Rathbone has been recalled from their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Rochester Americans. 

Rathbone joined the Sabres this past off-season on a one-year, two-way contract. Since then, the 25-year-old left-shot defenseman has appeared in 56 games with the Amerks, where he has five goals, 20 points, and a plus-6 rating. He has yet to make his Sabres regular-season debut, but that has the potential to change following this call-up.

Rathbone last played at the NHL level with the Vancouver Canucks during the 2022-23 season, where he had one goal and one assist in 11 games. In 28 career NHL games over three seasons, the Massachusetts native has posted two goals, three assists, five points, 21 hits, and a minus-5 rating. 

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The Chicago Blackhawks just signed defenseman Sam Rinzel and forward Oliver Moore to entry-level contracts and they will see playing time until the end of the season in the NHL. While this burns a year off their entry-level deals, they both appear to be ready to show the Blackhawks what they have.

Both Rinzel and Moore are former first-round picks. Rinzel was drafted 25th overall in 2022 behind Kevin Korchinski and Frank Nazar while Moore was drafted one year later in 2023 at 19th overall behind Connor Bedard.

Both Rinzel and Moore just finished up their time at the University of Minnesota where they played great hockey. The 20-year-olds look to make an immediate impact and not only earn their place in the NHL every game until the end of the season, but showcase themselves for next season.

I believe the process of forming the roster in training camp isn't going to be the exact same as it was this season. While every young player isn't going to have to outperform veterans to make the team, Kyle Davidson is also unlikely to bring in as many veterans this time around and block the prospects right off the bat. Frank Nazar and Landon Slaggert, who had both joined the Blackhawks late last season after moving on from the NCAA, each had to fight to get to the NHL and didn't make the opening roster.

Rinzel is seen as a premier prospect that is a big part of the future in Chicago. Moore is no slouch either and is able to score and produce offensively.

It appears as though Rinzel is going to start out on the second pairing alongside Wyatt Kaiser while Moore is going to get third line minutes with Joe Veleno and Nick Foligno. These are good spots for both players. Anywhere lower and they risk playing very limited minutes and with some players who won't necessarily help either of them succeed right off the bat.

Blackhawks' Ryan Donato Has A Chance At 30 GoalsThe Chicago Blackhawks lost to the Vegas Golden Knights 5-3 on Friday night. It was a night that had some pros and cons but they ultimately fell short. There is a lot of work to be done but there are glimpses of what’s to come. 

The lineup for the Blackhawks with these two young players making their debuts is very exciting for Chicago fans Here's a look:

Ryan Donato - Connor Bedard - Ilya Mikheyev

Teuvo Teravainen - Frank Nazar - Tyler Bertuzzi

Oliver Moore - Joe Veleno - Nick Foligno

Landon Slaggert - Lukas Reichel - Pat Maroon

Alec Vlasic - Artyom Levshunov

Wyatt Kaiser - Sam Rinzel

Kevin Korchinski - Ethan Del Mastro

Visit The Hockey News Chicago Blackhawks team site to stay updated on the latest news, game day coverage, player features, and more.

The Montreal Canadiens are now outside looking in to the playoffs race, thanks to a five-game losing streak. For Martin St-Louis’ men to even have a chance to make the Spring dance, they must return to their winning ways now, but it could be challenging. The Habs have only 10 games left on their schedule, and their next two games will be against the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Florida Panthers.

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Despite being without Matthew Tkachuk because of an injury and Aaron Ekblad because of a suspension, the Canadiens are marching on. They have a 6-4-0 record in their last 10 games and have won their previous two. However, the Canadiens have won the first two matchups with Florida this season.

The 4-0 win at the end of December was a turning point in the Canadiens’ season. It marked Jakub Dobes’ fulgurant start in the league, but he has lost some of his shine since then. He’s dropped his last three starts and expects to see Samuel Montembeault for most games, if not all, as long as the Habs are in the mix. As for the 3-1 victory in mid-March, it put an end to a losing streak and was a springboard for a dominant win over the Ottawa Senators.

The stakes are even higher now, and even if the Habs had a day off on Saturday, it’s easy to know Montembeault will be in goal on Sunday. He has a 2-4-1 record in eight games against Florida, with a 4.21 goals-against average and a .886 save percentage. Dobes played them once and was flawless, but the coach’s confidence in his young netminder has been shaken.

There’s no confirmation as to who will be on duty for the Panthers, but Sergei Bobrovsky has a 16-8-1 record with a 2.45 GAA and a .919 SP against the Canadiens, while Vitek Vanecek is 3-1-0 with a 2.76 GAA and a .894 SP.

Up front, after a tough outing against the Carolina Hurricanes, captain Nick Suzuki should welcome a matchup with the Cats. He has 15 points in 17 games against Florida, six points behind alternate captain Brendan Gallagher, who has 23 points in 38 games, and four points behind Patrik Laine, who has 22 in 21 duels.

The Habs will need to keep an eye on an old foe in new colours, as Brad Marchand has 48 points in 57 games against the Canadiens. Captain Aleksander Barkov comes in second place with 47 points in 37 games, and veteran Sam Reinhart comes third with 22 points in 32 games.

Not to sound like a broken record, but this is an absolute must-win game for the Canadiens who will hope to keep their dominance on the Cats this season going. Montreal has only won three of the last 10 games against their host, so this remains a tall order for the young Habs. It will be interesting to see if St-Louis keeps an 11-7 formation of if he scratches a defenseman. 

On Saturday, the Senators did the Canadiens a favor by beating the Columbus Blue Jackets in regulation, meaning they dropped behind the Canadiens who momentarily got the second wild card back, only to lose it again when to the New York Rangers when they beat the San Jose Sharks in regulation. The silver lining for the Habs is that they still have two games in hand on the Blueshirts, just like Columbus and the New York Islanders mind you. 

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Boone Jenner(5) and Kirill Marchenko(28) provided the only offense for Columbus, and Daniil Tarasov suffered a 3-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.

The Jackets fell short against Ottawa on Saturday night, and their playoff hopes suffered for it. 

With the loss to the Senators, the CBJ fell out of the wild card two spot, getting supplanted by the Montréal Canadiens the second the clock hit zeros. But then, later in the night, the New York Rangers beat the San Jose Sharks and would jump both Columbus and Montréal, knocking the Blue Jackets down another spot in the standings. All in all, it was a tough night for Columbus. 

Dean Evason said after the game, "That was a great game. Both teams played hard, played fast. Certainly the start was fantastic, the pace of the game. Everybody was playing their butts off. We had lots of chances, certainly in the third period and at the end to tie it. It was just a great hockey game that we fell a little bit short."

Zach Werenski added, "I thought we played hard. I thought it was a pretty even game for the most part. We'd probably like to have back some minutes in the second there where I thought we didn't get to our game, but it's a good team. I liked our effort."

The Jackets are now 33-30-9 with 75 points. 

Final Stats

Player Stats

• Boone Jenner scored his 5th goal of the season.
• Kirill Marchenko scored his 28th goal of the season.
• Zach Werenski had a pair of assists, his 51st and 52nd of the year. He also led the team with 5 shots.
• Denton Mateychuk recorded his 6th assist of the season.
• Daniil Tarasov stopped 24 of 27 Ottawa shots.

Team Stats

• The Jackets power play went 0/1 on the night.
• The Columbus PK stopped both of Ottawa's power plays.
• Columbus won 38.5% of the faceoffs.

Up Next: The Jackets welcome the Nashville Predators into Nationwide Arena on Tuesday. 

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SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Artemi Panarin and Adam Fox each scored two goals, Jonathan Quick had 21 saves, and the New York Rangers beat the San Jose Sharks 6-1 on Saturday.

Jonny Brodzinski and Vincent Trocheck also scored for New York.

Cam Lund scored a power play goal for San Jose for his first career point, and Sharks goalie Alexandar Georgiev had 27 saves.

Panarin, who scored his team-leading 32nd and 33rd goals, got New York started scoring twice in less than two minutes in a first period in which the Rangers out-shot San Jose 14-5. His first goal broke a scoreless tie at 12:04 of the first and then next at 13:58 made it 2-0.

Takeaways

Rangers: New York solidified its position in the wild card playoff race. The Rangers had lost eight of their previous 11 games (3-6-2) going into Saturday.

Sharks: Were seeking what would have been their first three-game winning streak since early December.

Key moment

Fox’s goal at 4:48 of the second period made it a 3-0 game and gave New York some breathing room a day after the Rangers blew a two-goal lead in the third period of Friday’s 5-4 overtime loss to Anaheim.

Key stat

The Rangers won 67.9 percent of the faceoffs in Saturday’s game. New York ranked third in the NHL in faceoff win percentage (53 percent) going into Saturday, and San Jose ranked No. 25 (48.2 percent)

Up next

The Rangers play host to Minnesota on Wednesday, and the Sharks play the Kings in Los Angeles on Sunday.

It’s been a fun week at home for the Florida Panthers.

After picking up a pair of wins over Pittsburgh and Utah while enjoying some down time in-between, the Panthers will look to complete their second straight perfect homestand when they host the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday afternoon in Sunrise.

It’s the start of a home-and-home between the two Atlantic Division rivals, one that concludes on Tuesday at Bell Centre in Montreal.

One thing that is quite certain is that the Panthers should get a hell of a fight from the playoff hopeful Habs.

Entering play Sunday, Montreal holds the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference despite being in a three-way tie with the Columbus Blue Jackets and the New York Rangers points-wise.

The Canadiens have lost five straight though (0-3-2) and, at least until now, have squandered a chance solidify their standing in the playoff race.

Instead, the Canadiens will have to fight for points against the defending Stanley Cup champs over the next few days.

Florida arrives on Sunday one point behind the Toronto Maple Leafs for the top spot in the Atlantic Division and with a game in hand.

Much of the attention in Pantherland this week was on Brad Marchand.

Acquired at the NHL Trade Deadline while recovering from an upper-body injury, Marchand made his Panthers debut on Friday against Utah.

Marchand played well and picked up the primary assist on Sam Bennett’s overtime winner.

Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Sunday’s showdown with the Pens:

Carter Verhaeghe – Sasha Barkov – Sam Reinhart

Mackie Samoskevich – Sam Bennett – Brad Marchand

Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Jesper Boqvist

A.J. Greer – Nico Sturm – Evan Rodrigues

Gus Forsling – Seth Jones

Niko Mikkola – Tobias Bjornfot

Nate Schmidt – Uvis Balinskis

Scratches: Tomas Nosek, Jonah Gadjovich, Dmitry Kulikov

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NASHVILLE -- The Golden Knights extended their win streak to six games by closing out their three-game road trip with a 3-1 win over the Nashville Predators.

Reilly Smith scored his 11th goal of the season, and first since returning to the Golden Knights just before the trade deadline, to break a 1-1 tie 6:25 into the third period.

"It's definitely nice to be able to help the team win, and a little bit of relief just to see it go in," Smith said. "I feel like I've gotten a lot of opportunities over the last few games and just hitting something and not going in. Sometimes your worst opportunities are the ones that go in and just find it fortunate it bounces in the crease. At the end of the day that it's a big win for us and a really good road trip."

Smith's goal was the team's 52nd power-play goal of the season, tying a franchise record.

🗣️ REILLY
SMITH 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/uFf4Ole5m8

— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) March 30, 2025

Jack Eichel scored his 27th goal while Brett Howden celebrated his 27th birthday with his 22nd goal of the campaign.

Adin Hill made a spot start and made 23 saves for the Knights, one night after making 18 saves in a 5-3 win at Chicago.

Vegas now has 98 points with nine games left on the schedule, nine points ahead of the second-place Los Angeles Kings in the Pacific Division.

Ryan O'Reilly scored Nashville's lone goal while Justus Annunen made 27 stops for the Predators, who were eliminated from the playoffs last week.

Here are three takeaways from the game:

ON THE SPOT: Hill wasn't scheduled to start in Nashville, after playing the night before, but after taking warm-ups, coach Bruce Cassidy said Ilya Samsonov wasn't able to go.

"Sammy just wasn't able to go," he said. "Something tightened up. So that was that. It was not going to be Hilly. We tend not to play a guy back to back, especially this time of year. But that was the choice we were left with, and good on him.

Cassidy added he had "no idea ... because it's something we expected to play right up until 5:10, or something. So hopefully not. Once we get back, it'll be re-evaluated."

COMING TOGETHER: Vegas' third line of Smith, William Karlsson and Victor Olofsson continues to build chemistry. Smith's goal came on the heels of Olofsson's two he scored in Chicago on Friday. With Smith and Karlsson's built-in chemistry after playing together in Vegas from 2017-2023, and now Olofsson a part of the line, the trio becomes an integral combination in the bottom six.

"I think the last two games is a testament of us trying to work with each other more and trying to create more on the rush and in zone," Smith said. "I think our reads have been better over the last two games. We're playing a little bit quicker, a little bit more in sync, and we're getting more opportunities because of it."

PLAYOFF READY: With just nine games remaining and the Golden Knights playing well, Cassidy wasn't ready to concede that his team is in playoff form... yet.

"You never want to get ahead of yourself, but I said last week, I thought we're trending really well, so we're certainly closer to the top of the scale than the bottom, especially our overall game," Cassidy said. "We're not only winning because we're scoring. It's not one thing, it's not one line, it's not one special team. It's, I think, a little bit of everything."

For the second straight game, the Ottawa Senators picked up a huge victory at the expense of an Eastern Conference wild-card hopeful.

Ridly Greig had a goal and an assist as the Senators defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2 at Canadian Tire Centre in front of 17,758 fans. Shane Pinto added two assists, while Linus Ullmark made 29 saves.

---

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The victory leaves the Senators eight points above the Eastern Conference playoff cut line, ahead of Columbus, the idle Montreal Canadiens, and the New York Rangers. The Rangers will play later on Saturday night in San Jose.

Greig opened the scoring just over seven minutes into the first period, tipping in a low wrist shot from Thomas Chabot. However, the lead lasted only 31 seconds. Ullmark kicked out a big rebound into the slot, allowing Boone Jenner to fire a wrist shot past him to tie the game at 1.

With under six minutes left in the first, Drake Batherson corralled a loose puck in the slot and beat Daniil Tarasov between the legs, restoring Ottawa’s lead.

The Senators were even more dominant in the second period, but Tarasov stymied several great scoring chances. Jake Sanderson did manage to find the net on a two-on-one opportunity. Pinto directed the puck toward the net, and the rebound deflected off Sanderson’s body and in, making it 3-1. The whole play was set up by Greig's slick neutral zone chip pass off the boards that set Pinto free behind the defence.

Entering the third period down by two, Columbus was likely feeling the effects of an emotional game the night before against the Vancouver Canucks. But the Senators failed to finish their chances, letting the Blue Jackets hang around, and with under nine minutes to play, Kirill Marchenko cut the Ottawa lead to 3-2.

That gave the Blue Jackets some life, but despite a hard push, they couldn't find the equalizer. As it was in Thursday's win in Detroit, the third period for the Senators was a 'bend don't break' scenario. But the Sens were the better team and had enough chances to put the game out of reach a lot earlier.

"Yeah, top to bottom everybody was good, so it's good to see," Greig told the media. "I thought we were on top of them throughout the whole game. We were able to turn pucks over and kind of play fast."

Head coach Travis Green says he's pleased that his depth is coming through – all four lines are rolling and contributing at both ends of the rink.

"Yeah, and it's good when you have options as a coach," Green told the media. "You can make subtle changes to your lineup. You know, we've got Gauds and Highzy with Ammo on the fourth line right now (Adam Gaudette, Matthew Highmore, and Michael Amadio). And Ammo has played some really good hockey. The good teams have some depth they can play with and we're getting there for sure."

They'll need that depth on Sunday in a quick turnaround for a 5 pm game in Pittsburgh, where they'll face a Penguins team that's tracking to miss the playoffs for a third straight season.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Nico Hischier scored three goals for his second hat trick of the season and the New Jersey Devils beat the Minnesota Wild 5-2 on Saturday.

Paul Cotter and Tomas Tatar also scored, Jesper Bratt had two assists, and Jacob Markstrom stopped 22 shots for the Devils. New Jersey won for the second time in six games (2-3-1).

Marcus Foligno and Ryan Hartman scored and Filip Gustavsson made 28 saves for the Wild, who have lost three of four.

Minnesota is tied with St. Louis for the top wild card in the Western Conference, with the teams six points ahead of Vancouver. The Blues beat Colorado 2-1 Saturday for their ninth straight win.

After New Jersey was blanked 4-0 Friday in Winnipeg, Hischier scored 29 seconds into the game and Cotter scored before six minutes elapsed for a 2-0 lead.

Hischier made it 3-1 early in the third, but Hartman answered two minutes later for the Wild. Hischier completed his first three-goal game since Nov. 25 with a power-play goal with 5:10 remaining. Hischier has a career-high 33 goals this season.

Foligno also had an assist on Hartman’s goal in the third period, and a major for fighting the Devils’ Jonathan Kovacevic for a Gordie Howe hat trick.

Takeaways

Devils: Hischier, whose first goal was the fastest to start the game for New Jersey this season, has points in 10 of his last 11 games with seven goals and six assists.

Wild: Minnesota finished 5-5-1 in a stretch it played 10 of 11 games at home. Five of the last eight games are on the road, where the Wild are second in the NHL with 47 points (22-11-3).

Key moment

New Jersey just missed making it 3-1 with 15 seconds left in the second period. On a 3-on-1 Bratt’s shot looked to be going in, but it went off the skate of teammate Timo Meier who was crossing at the edge of the crease and the puck deflected wide.

Key stat

Per NHL Stats, Bratt’s two assists give him 15 this month, the most in a month by a Devils player since Scott Gomez had 16 in March 2004. Bratt has a career-high 66 assists this season.

Up next

Wild visit New Jersey on Monday to complete the home-and-home set.

Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby is a first-ballot Hockey Hall of Famer whose career is worthy of skipping the mandatory three-year waiting period to enter the hall immediately upon retirement.

Recently, Crosby broke Wayne Gretzky's record for averaging a point per game for 20 seasons, a mark the Great One held for over 27 years. Considering these hockey legends are two of the greatest to play professional hockey, their longevity has allowed them to break or hold some important NHL records.

BREAKING: Sidney Crosby Breaks Wayne Gretzky's Point-Per-Game Seasons RecordAfter 20 years in the making, Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby has made NHL history.

However, both missed some milestones despite playing 20 or more seasons in the league. Today, we want to look at three NHL records that Crosby, who still has two seasons left on his contract, won't be able to tie or break despite over two decades in the NHL.

Most Seasons by a First Overall Pick

Crosby was the top pick in the 2005 Draft, which took place seven seasons into Joe Thornton's career. Thornton was the first overall selection in the 1997 Draft and would play 24 seasons in the NHL, including 17 after Crosby entered the league in 2005-06.

Interestingly, these two top picks met in the 2016 Stanley Cup Final. The Penguins won the series in six games, and Crosby took home the Conn Smythe Trophy, Thornton's only appearance in the Final.

Pittsburgh Penguins Schedule: Remaining Games & Statistical NotesThe Pittsburgh Penguins are winding down their 2024-25 season and on pace to miss the Stanley Cup playoffs for the third consecutive season, a first in Sidney Crosby's 20-year career. However, there is plenty to play for in the final weeks of the regular season. 

Although Crosby has outscored Thornton in goals (618-430) and points (1,676-1539), Sid the Kid is still chasing Jumbo Joe in assists (1,109-1,058). He needs 51 over the two seasons to move up to seventh all-time, which is Thornton's place.

Since Crosby is wrapping up his 20th season, when his contract expires in 2027, he'll be two seasons short of Thornton's record of 24 seasons. However, if he remains healthy, Crosby will surpass Mike Modano (21 seasons) for second-most seasons by a first-overall pick. 

Most Seasons With 80 Points

On March 27, 2025, Crosby scored a first-period goal to net his 80th point, which gave him the NHL record for most seasons averaging a point per game.

That historical night also marked the 14th time in his career that Crosby scored at least 80 points, breaking a four-way tie for most 80-point seasons, a mark he shared with Dale Hawerchuk, Mark Messier, and Marcel Dionne at 13.

'When He Speaks, Everyone Listens': How Sidney Crosby's Mentorship Has Passed On To Multiple Generations Of TeammatesFollowing the team's regular practice on Dec. 16, Pittsburgh Penguins' captain Sidney Crosby took some extra time out of his day to do something pretty much everyone around him is accustomed to witnessing on a day-to-day basis.

As mentioned before, Crosby has two seasons left on his deal. The Penguins captain hasn't scored less than 80 points since the shortened 2019-20 and 2020-21 campaigns, the only two years he failed to reach 80 in over a decade dating back to the shortened 2012-13 season.

However, even if he continues collecting 80 points over the next two seasons, Crosby will end up one year short of Gretzky's record of 17 seasons of 80 points or more. 

Most Points by a Player in Their 30s

Crosby will turn 38 in August, and at the end of his contract in July 2027, he'll be 39, approaching 40. Since turning 30 ahead of the 2017-18 season, the captain has played 563 games, scored 236 goals with 413 assists, and has 649 points.

Ahead of his next game, Crosby ranks 18th all-time for points scored by an NHL player in his 30s. He's four points shy of catching Joe Pavelski (653) for 17th all-time. Pavelski is the only name ahead of Crosby on this list who is not in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

As expected, Gretzky owns this record thanks to 217 goals and 601 assists for 878 points, breaking the mark formerly held by Jean Ratelle, who had 861 points in his 30s.

 

Penguins Crosby Joins Exclusive Club With Another 80-Point Season Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby scored a first-period goal against the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday, March 27, securing his 14th 80-point season.

Thus far, only four players have scored over 800 points in their 30s, including Adam Oates (842) and Martin St. Louis (822). After these names, there are six names in the 700-point club, including Alex Ovechkin, who sits at 715. 

Once Crosby catches and surpasses Pavelski, next up is Joe Sakic (662), Norm Ullman (668), Daniel Alfredsson (672), Ray Bourque (680), and Brett Hull (690).

Considering the Penguins' captain has a career 1.24 points per game average, if he remains healthy over the next two seasons, he could potentially finish with an additional 204 points, which would give him an estimated 853 points in his 30s, which could be 25 points shy of Gretzky's all-time mark.