Panthers top Maple Leafs, snap 5-game slide and tighten Atlantic Division race

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — James Reimer made 33 saves and helped lead Buffalo to a win against Carolina.

Reimer’s first shutout of the season was the 31st of his career and first since Feb. 17, 2024, with the Detroit Red Wings when he made 38 saves against Calgary.

Tage Thompson, Alex Tuch and JJ Peterka scored for the Sabres, who have won five straight for the first time since January 2023.

Pyotr Kochetkov made 15 saves for the Hurricanes, who have lost three straight. The loss clinched the Metropolitan Division title for the Washington Capitals.

CANADIENS 4, RED WINGS 1

MONTREAL (AP) — Josh Anderson scored the winner with 9:12 remaining in the third period and Sam Montembeault made 35 saves as Montreal beat Detroit for their sixth straight win.

Cole Caufield – with his team-leading 37th – also scored while Brendan Gallagher and Nick Suzuki added empty-netters for Montreal, which strengthened its position in the playoff picture.

Dylan Larkin scored for Detroit and Cam Talbot stopped 17 shots. The Red Wings failed to earn a point for the first time in five games.

BRUINS 7, DEVILS 1

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — David Pastrnak scored and added two assists to reach the 100-point mark and Jeremy Swayman made 20 saves as Boston routed New Jersey.

Michael Callahan, Jakub Lauko, Casey Mittelstadt, Morgan Geekie, Fraser Minten and Cole Koepke also scored for the Bruins, who won for only the second time in their last 13 games.

Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier scored for New Jersey, which had its three-game winning streak snapped.

BLUE JACKETS 5, SENATORS 2

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Mathieu Olivier and Justin Danforth each had a goal and an assist, and Columbus beat Ottawa.

Dmitri Voronkov, Sean Monahan and Adam Fantilli also scored for Columbus, and Kent Johnson had two assists. Elvis Merzlikins stopped 33 shots to help the Blue Jackets snap a three-game skid and get their second win in six games.

Thomas Chabot had a goal and an assist, and Fabian Zetterlund also scored for Ottawa, which clinched its first playoff berth since 2017 when Montreal beat Detroit. Anton Forsberg had 30 saves for the Senators, who had won three straight.

PENGUINS 5, BLACKHAWKS 0

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Erik Karlsson scored his 200th career goal to help Pittsburgh beat Chicago.

Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang also scored for Pittsburgh, which lost 3-1 at Chicago on Sunday. Kevin Hayes added two goals in the third period.

Tristan Jarry made 26 saves in his second shutout of the season and No. 21 for his career.

Crosby extended his home point streak to 14 games when he scored with 16 seconds left in the first period. It’s the third-longest such streak of his career.

Spencer Knight made 22 stops for the Blackhawks, who dropped to 2-11-2 in their last 15 games.

PREDATORS 7, ISLANDERS 6, OT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Fedor Svechkov scored 1:56 into overtime and Nashville rallied from two goals down late in the third period to beat New York to snap a six-game losing streak.

Steven Stamkos had two goals and two assists, Filip Forsberg added a goal and an assist, and Ryan O’Reilly and Michael McCarron also scored for Nashville. Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei each had three assists. and Justus Annunen finished with 16 saves.

Simon Holmstrom had two goals and two assists, Maxim Tsyplakov added a goal and an assist, and Anders Lee, Kyle Palmieri and Scott Mayfield also scored for New York, which snapped a two-game win streak. Jean-Gabriel Pageau had three assists.

Ilya Sorokin stopped 19 shots through two periods before leaving with an apparent injury. Marcus Hogberg had six saves on nine shots the rest of the way.

CANUCKS 6, STARS 5, OT

DALLAS (AP) — Kiefer Sherwood scored with 1:16 left in overtime after Pius Suter scored two of Vancouver’s three 6-on-5 goals in the final minute of regulation, and the Canucks made NHL history and stunned Dallas.

According to the Canucks, it’s the first time an NHL team has scored three goals in the final minute of regulation.

Suter’s second goal tied the score 5-5 with 5.2 seconds remaining.

Aatu Raty began the late rally scoring with exactly 1 minute left in the third period while Jake DeBrusk and Victor Mancini scored power-play goals early in the third for the Canucks, who preserved their slim playoff hopes. Thatcher Demko made 23 saves.

UTAH 7, KRAKEN 1

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Mikhail Sergachev scored a goal and had two assists to help power Utah to a victory over Seattle.

Dylan Guenther led Utah with three assists and Karel Vejmelka made 18 stops. Clayton Keller and Logan Cooley each had a goal and an assist. Seven different players scored goals for Utah, which generated 42 shots on goal.

Jared McCann tallied Seattle’s lone goal 23 seconds into the third period to cap the scoring. Joey Daccord had 22 saves before being replaced by Victor Ostman after two periods. The Kraken’s three-game winning streak was snapped.

AVALANCHE 3, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 2, SO

DENVER (AP) — Charlie Coyle scored the only goal in the shootout to help Colorado rally for a win over short-handed Vegas.

Coyle beat Akira Schmid with a shot into the top corner. Scott Wedgewood had 19 saves through overtime, and stopped all three Vegas shots in the shootout.

Trailing 2-0 in the second, Colorado tied it up with a power-play goal from Valeri Nichushkin that was ruled no-goal but overturned on review, and a score from Jimmy Vesey.

It was Colorado’s 23rd comeback win of the season. Nathan MacKinnon recorded an assist in extending his home point streak to 26 games.

Schmid made 34 saves on a night Vegas was outshot 36-21. It snapped a streak of seven straight games where the Golden Knights limited opponents to 24 shots or fewer.

The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Panthers top Maple Leafs, snap 5-game slide and tighten Atlantic Division race

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