Thursday’s 5-2 victory against the visiting Calgary Flames helped the Winnipeg Jets secure a postseason berth thanks to Gabriel Vilardi’s first NHL hat trick. With six games remaining, the Jets are four points behind the Colorado Avalanche for second place in the Central Division. Nikolaj Ehlers scored and assisted on two goals, Tyler Toffoli also scored, Josh Morrissey had two assists, and Connor Hellebuyck had 31 saves. The Flames, who have lost seven of eight and six in a row away from home, were led by MacKenzie Weegar with a goal and an assist, Daniil Miromanov with another goal, and Dustin Wolf with 40 saves.
With 44 seconds remaining in the second quarter, Martin Pospisil of Calgary was called for an elbow on Josh Morrissey, resulting in a game misconduct and a five-minute major penalty. Sharks 1, Kings 2. Los Angeles defeated San Jose with a goal from visiting player Akil Thomas, his first in the NHL. The Kings, who are now just one point behind the Nashville Predators for the top wild-card place in the Western Conference, also have Adrian Kempe scoring and David Rittich making 15 saves. The Sharks, who have dropped 11 of 12, had Klim Kostin score for the second straight game and Mackenzie Blackwood make 25 saves. Assailants 6, Blues 3.
In a three-point shootout, Filip Forsberg scored twice to lead host Nashville to victory against St. Louis, ending a three-game losing streak and bolstering the Predators’ postseason prospects. Mark Jankowski, Michael McCarron, Roman Josi, and Anthony Beauvillier all added goals for the Predators, who currently own the first wild-card slot in the Western Conference. With 44 stops, goalie Juuse Saros shone, and Gustav Nyquist picked up three assists, including his 300th of the game. Two more assists came from Ryan O’Reilly. With just six games left, the Blues, who are holding onto faint hopes of making the playoffs, are led by three goals each from Brandon Saad, Jake Neighbours, and Jordan Kyrou. Justin Faulk contributed two assists, while Jordan Binnington made 25 saves. Senators 0; Panthers 6.
Visiting Florida blanked Ottawa, Sergei Bobrovsky made 30 saves, and Matthew Tkachuk scored a goal and provided two assists. Bobrovsky, who also shut out the Senators 5-0 on November 27, recorded his fifth shutout of the season. The Panthers, who won for just the third time in 11 games, were led by goals and assists from Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart, and Nick Cousins (3-7-1). Florida also received goals from Anton Lundell and Dmitry Kulikov, and each of Aleksander Barkov and Eetu Luostarinen had two assists. This season, Florida has defeated Ottawa in all three of their matchups, outscoring the Senators 14-2.
Joonas Korpisalo, the starting goalie for the Senators, stopped 13 of the 17 shots he faced before Anton Forsberg took over in the second period. Ottawa suffered its second straight loss despite Forsberg giving up two goals on 14 shots. Hurricanes 1, Bruins 4.
Boston went on an offensive rampage in the first period, leading to Brad Marchand’s 400th NHL goal and a decisive victory over Carolina in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The lone goal came from Jake Guentzel, and Frederik Andersen stopped 24 shots for Carolina, who have won 11-3-1 in their last 15 games. Penguins 4, Capitals 1. Going to Pittsburgh defeated Washington by scoring twice in the opening frame and holding on.
With a goal and an assist, Lars Eller helped the Penguins increase their winning streak to seven games (5-0-2). In addition to Michael Bunting, Ryan Shea, and Pierre-Olivier Joseph scoring, Reilly Smith and Kris Letang each contributed two assists. Alex Nedeljkovic, the goalie for Pittsburgh, turned away 30 shots. The Capitals have lost four consecutive (0-3-1). Charlie Lindgren made 20 saves and Alex Ovechkin scored. Blue Jackets 2, Islanders 4 Following their victory over Columbus, visiting New York secured an Eastern Conference wild-card position when Noah Dobson scored the game-winning goal early in the third period.
Kyle Palmieri added an empty-net goal with 38 seconds remaining for the Islanders, who have won three straight games to put themselves in a postseason position. Pierre Engvall and Bo Horvat scored goals in the first period. The Blue Jackets’ two-game winning streak was ended by Dmitri Voronkov and Kirill Marchenko, who each got a goal and an assist. Danil Tarasov, who stopped 13 of 15 shots before leaving the game with an upper-body injury late in the first period, was replaced by Greaves, who made 24 saves. Lightning 6, Montreal 4, Tampa Bay defeated Montreal with two goals and two assists from Steven Stamkos and two goals and two assists from Nikita Kucherov.
With two more goals from Nicholas Paul, a goal and an assist from Michael Eyssimont, and another goal from Brandon Hagel, the Lightning pulled within two points of third-place Toronto in the Atlantic Division. With two assists apiece from Anthony Cirelli and Brayden Point, Tampa Bay moved to 10-1-1 over the previous 12 games. For the Canadiens, Joel Armia notched two goals, Juraj Slafkovsky scored one goal and assisted on another, and Cole Caufield also scored. Cayden Primeau finished with 28 saves, while Brendan Gallagher and Alex Newhook both contributed two assists. Wild 2, Avalanche 5, In St. Paul, Minn., Colorado overcame Minnesota thanks to two goals and one assist from Jonathan Drouin.
For the Avalanche, Nathan MacKinnon also recorded a three-point performance with one goal and two assists. Mikko Rantanen and Artturi Lehkonen each added a goal. For the Wild, Vinni Lettieri and Declan Chisholm both netted one goal. –Media at the Field Level
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