TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Anthony Cirelli registered his second career hat trick, Nikita Kucherov had a goal and three points, and the Tampa Bay Lightning moved into first place in the Atlantic Division after a 6-3 victory against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night.
Zemgus Girgensons scored his 100th career goal and Brayden Point scored his second in 14 games for Tampa Bay, which improved to 7-1-2 in the past 10 games. Jake Guentzel and Gage Goncalves both had two assists while Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 21 saves.
Egor Chinakov scored twice and Rickard Rackell also scored for Pittsburgh. Sam Girard and Kris Letang both had two assists and Stuart Skinner finished with 27 saves.
The Penguins remain in second place in the Metropolitan Division, three points ahead of the New York Islanders.
Cirelli scored Tampa Bay’s first two goals and he added an empty-netter for his first hat trick since Jan. 17, 2020.
CANANDIENS 3, RANGERS 2
NEW YORK (AP) — Cole Caufield scored his 48th and 49th goals of the season, and Montreal won its seventh game in a row to move closer to making the playoffs by defeating New York.
Caufield’s second was his NHL-best 12th winning goal, putting the Canadiens ahead 47 seconds after Will Cuylle tied it. He moved one back of Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon for the league lead in goals and in the process extended his career high with 83 points.
This winning streak is the storied organization’s longest in nearly a decade, dating to an eight-game unbeaten run from Oct. 18-Nov. 2, 2016. Montreal has separated itself from the pack in the Eastern Conference and kept pace with Buffalo and Tampa Bay in a hot Atlantic Division race.
Alex Newhook scored the Canadiens’ first goal 4 1/2 minutes into the second period on their 12th shot against Igor Shesterkin, who was the only reason they hadn’t taken a lead earlier.
Jakub Fowler made 21 saves, the biggest on a penalty kill late in the second when he turned aside Alexis Lafrenière at the side of the net.
SENATORS 4, SABRES 1
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Lars Eller broke a third-period tie and Ottawa beat Buffalo, preventing it from wrapping up a drought-breaking playoff spot.
Buffalo will have to wait to end its NHL-record 14-season postseason skid, the second-longest active futility run in North America’s four major sports behind the New York Jets and their 15-season slide.
Eller deflected defenseman Artem Zub’s shot from the point past goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen at 5:55 of the third.
Buffalo defenseman Mattias Samuelsson opened the scoring at 8:49 of the second with a long wrist shot. Dylan Cozens tied it with 4:42 left in the second on a tip-in. He has 26 goals this season.
Ridly Greig and Shane Pinto added empty-net goals.
Linus Ullmark made 21 saves for Ottawa. The Senators — in the second wild-card spot in the East — opened a five-game homestand.
Luukkonen stopped 20 shots for Buffalo.
HURRICANES 5, BLUE JACKETS 1
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Logan Stankoven scored two goals in the first nine minutes, and Carolina clinched a playoff berth for the eighth season in a row by beating Columbus.
Alexander Nikishin added a first-period short-handed goal and Jordan Martinook and Andrei Svechnikov also scored as the Metropolitan Division-leading Hurricanes were on the way to winning for the third time in their last four games. Taylor Hall and Sebastian Aho each had two assists and Frederik Andersen made nine saves.
For Carolina, the 10 shots allowed matched the fewest shots against in franchise history.
The Hurricanes have qualified for the playoffs in each season under coach Rod Brind’Amour, a former team captain.
Denton Mateychuk scored for the Blue Jackets, who are winless in their last five games (0-4-1). Elvis Merzlikins stopped 16 shots.
RED WINGS 4, FLYERS 2
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Patrick Kane scored a pivotal goal in the same building where he scored a Stanley Cup Final winner, Alex DeBrincat scored two goals and Lucas Raymond had one to lead Detroit past Philadelphia.
The Red Wings snapped a points tie in the chase for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Detroit has 88 points to 86 for the Flyers through 75 games. The Red Wings are now tied in points with Ottawa, but the Senators have more regulation wins if it comes to a tiebreaker.
Kane’s Game 6 overtime goal helped Chicago beat the Flyers in 2010 for the Stanley Cup. The Flyers never recovered, winning only three playoff series since and lost a swing matchup in a game that could decide if they return to the postseason.
Travis Konecny scored his 25th goal in the third to make it 3-2 and give the Flyers some needed hope at a comeback.
It just wasn’t enough.
The Flyers beat Detroit 5-3 last weekend in a game where Red Wings goalie John Gibson was pulled. Gibson was back in net for this one — his 13th straight start - and rebounded with 32 saves.
PANTHERS 2, BRUINS 1
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Florida goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky made 15 saves in the third period and 28 overall as the Panthers defeated Boston.
The two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers avoided elimination from the playoffs with the win.
Florida got first-period goals from Mackie Samoskevich and Sam Bennett in their second straight win.
Boston, which had won four straight, got a goal from Fraser Minten. Jeremy Swayman made 22 saves in the loss.
DEVILS 7, CAPITALS 3
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Jack Hughes had two goals and three assists and Dawson Mercer scored twice as New Jersey beat Washington.
Hughes scored his first goal for the Devils 9:10 into the second period on a wrist shot, assisted by Jesper Bratt and Johnathan Kovacevic. He tacked on a wrist shot 8:10 into the third, assisted by Bratt and Connor Brown. Hughes has 24 goals and 44 assists this season.
Bratt, Dougie Hamilton and Cody Glass also scored for the Devils.
Tom Wilson, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Cole Hutson scored for the Capitals.
Jake Allen made 29 saves in the win for the Devils. Logan Thompson had 23 saves for the Capitals.
WILD 5, CANUCKS 2
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Matt Boldy scored his 39th and 40th goals, Kirill Kaprizov added his 40th and Minnesota wrapped up a playoff spot with a victory over Vancouver.
Third in the Western Conference and the NHL’s stacked Central Division, Minnesota secured the postseason spot in 75 games after getting in last season in the 82nd and final game before falling to Vegas in the first round.
Ryan Hartmman scored twice in the third to reach 20 goals, and Filip Gustavsson made 29 saves to help the Wild rebound from a 6-3 loss at Boston on Saturday.
Former Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes had his 67th assist. He joined the Wild in a blockbuster trade in December that sent Marco Rossi, Zeev Buium, Liam Ohgren and a first-round pick in 2026 to Vancouver.
Tom Willander and Jake DeBrusk scored for NHL-worst Vancouver, and Nikita Tolopilo stopped 32 shots. The Canucks were coming off an 8-6 victory at NHL-leading Colorado on Wednesday night.
STARS 3, JETS 0
DALLAS (AP) — Jake Oettinger made 22 saves for his third shutout of the season in a matchup of Team USA Olympic goaltenders and rookie Arttu Hyry had a goal in his first multipoint NHL game as Dallas beat Winnipeg.
Adam Erne also had a goal and an assist and Matt Duchene also scored for the Stars, who opened a five-game homestand that will close their home season. They are second in both the Central Division and the overall league standings, coming off a 1-2-1 road trip with only one regulation win in their previous 10 games.
Oettinger was an Olympic backup while Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck backstopped Team USA to the gold medal.
Oettinger has 31 wins, third in the NHL, with his first shutout since Dec. 3. In his previous five starts, he was 1-2-1 plus a no-decision when he was pulled after allowing four first-period goals.
Hellebuyck, who stopped 18 shots, is 20-21-11 after posting a career-high 47 wins last season while winning his third Vezina Trophy.
