BOSTON (AP) Tuukka Rask made 27 saves for his seventh shutout of the season and the Boston Bruins beat the Dallas Stars 2-0 on Thursday night.
Boston won its third straight and stayed three points ahead of Tampa Bay for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference with one game in hand.
Rask has won two straight since struggling for a stretch. He had allowed 18 goals during a four-game losing streak.
Brad Marchand gave Boston a 1-0 lead when he jammed a shot past goalie Antti Niemi at 15:14 of the first period. Niemi had 22 saves and is winless in his last five appearances.
Torey Krug added an insurance goal early in the second when he converted a perfect feed from David Pastrnak.
LIGHTNING 5, RED WINGS 3
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Alex Killorn and Jonathan Drouin scored power-play goals 1:51 apart late in the second period of Tampa Bay’s victory over Detroit.
J.T. Brown, Andrej Sustr and Yanni Gourde also scored for the Lightning. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 31 saves.
Tampa Bay, which played without 38-goal scorer Nikita Kucherov due to illness, swept the five-game season series with the Red Wings.
Detroit got goals from Frans Nielsen, Danny DeKeyser and Mike Green. Petr Mrazek stopped 26 shots.
MAPLE LEAFS 3, PREDATORS 1
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – James van Riemsdyk and Auston Matthews each scored a power-play goal, and Frederik Andersen made 29 saves to help Toronto defeat Nashville.
Connor Brown added an empty-net goal as the Maple Leafs started a three-game road trip by sweeping the season series with Nashville. They also won their second straight and fifth in six games to remain in third place in the Atlantic Division, one point ahead of Boston.
Filip Forsberg scored his 30th of the season for Nashville. The Predators have lost two straight after a four-game winning streak.
Nashville came in three points shy of clinching its third straight playoff berth under Peter Laviolette, who coached his 1,000th NHL game.
FLYERS 6, ISLANDERS 3
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Wayne Simmonds got his 30th goal of the season as Philadelphia scored five times in a fight-filled first period on the way to a win over fading New York.
Dale Weise, Radko Gudas, Jordan Weal, Sean Couturier and Valtteri Filppula also scored for the Flyers, who won their third straight. Philadelphia is six points out of a playoff spot with five games remaining and needs to jump four teams.
Cal Clutterbuck, Jason Chimera and Andrew Ladd had the goals for the Islanders, who lost their third in a row and seventh in the last 10 games. They fell into a tie with the Flyers at 82 points. New York has six games remaining.
OILERS 3, SHARKS 2
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) – Patrick Maroon scored twice and Edmonton took over sole possession of second place in the Pacific Division by beating San Jose.
Connor McDavid had a goal and Cam Talbot made 38 saves for the streaking Oilers, who have won four in a row and eight of nine to move within one point of first-place Anaheim.
Jannik Hansen and Joe Pavelski scored for the struggling Sharks, who lost for the seventh time in eight games and dropped to third place in the Pacific.
HURRICANES 2, BLUE JACKETS 1, OT
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – Noah Hanifin scored 2:16 into overtime and Carolina rallied to beat Columbus.
Jeff Skinner scored the tying goal with 4:20 left in regulation before setting up the winner for the surging Hurricanes. They have established a club record by earning at least one point in 13 straight games while climbing from last place in the Eastern Conference to the fringe of the playoff race.
Cam Ward made 23 saves for the Hurricanes, four points behind Boston with six games remaining in the chase for the final postseason spot in the East. Tampa Bay is a point in front of Carolina.
Jack Johnson scored and backup goalie Joonas Korpisalo made 29 saves for the Blue Jackets.
CANADIENS 6, PANTHERS 2
MONTREAL (AP) – Paul Byron scored twice, Brendan Gallagher had a goal and three assists, and Montreal topped Florida to clinch a playoff spot.
Tomas Plekanec, Max Pacioretty and Phillip Danault also scored for the Canadiens. Carey Price made 29 saves for his 36th win.
The Canadiens will play in the postseason for the fourth time in the past five years, and eighth time in the last decade.
Reilly Smith and Michael Matheson scored for the Panthers. Reto Berra, replacing injured goalies James Reimer (upper body) and Roberto Luongo (lower body), stopped 27 shots.
WILD 5, SENATORS 1
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Alex Stalock won his first NHL start in more than a year, Nino Niederreiter had two goals and Minnesota beat Ottawa to end a four-game skid.
Stalock stopped 18 shots in his first start for the Wild, who remained second in the Western Conference. Joel Eriksson Ek, Matt Dumba and Jason Pominville also scored for Minnesota, which lost nine of its previous 10 games.
Searching for a spark with Devan Dubnyk and backup Darcy Kuemper struggling, Minnesota recalled Stalock on Wednesday for his first start since last February with San Jose. The St. Paul native had spent six months in the minors.
Stalock allowed Mike Hoffman’s goal on Ottawa’s seventh shot, but Neiderreiter tied it less than a minute later. Stalock stopped everything after that, and Niederreiter added another goal in the second to put the Wild ahead for good.
Ottawa played without captain and leading scorer Erik Karlsson, ending his streak of 324 consecutive games played. He was injured blocking a shot against Philadelphia on Tuesday. The Senators were also without Alexandre Burrows, who missed the game with an upper-body injury.
The Senators, still trying to lock up a playoff spot, have lost three straight.
JETS 4, DUCKS 3, OT
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) – Dustin Byfuglien tied the score with 12 seconds left in regulation and assisted on Mark Scheifele’s 30th goal at 3:34 of overtime, rallying Winnipeg past playoff-bound Anaheim.
Winnipeg scored twice in the final 8:25 of the third period to pull even. Following a coach’s challenge by Randy Carlyle of the Ducks, it was determined that Byfuglien’s jam job in the crease was indeed a good goal.
Joel Armia and captain Blake Wheeler also scored in regulation for the Jets.
Corey Perry scored twice but the Ducks had their five-game winning streak snapped. Jakob Silfverberg also scored for the Pacific Division leaders.
Michael Hutchinson made 25 saves for Winnipeg. Anaheim goalie Jonathan Bernier turned away 37 shots.
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