The Carolina Hurricanes won the Metropolitan Division after their thrilling 6-4 victory against the Florida Panthers. Brent Burns scored two goals, with Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Jesper Fast, Shayne Gostisbehere and Sebastian Aho also adding to the Hurricanes’ total. Frederick Anderson made 31 saves during the whole game as the Hurricanes started a point ahead of New Jersey in the division standings.
The Carolina Panthers will start the Stanley Cup Playoffs by facing the New York Islanders. Four players- Aleksander Barkov, Ryan Lomberg, Anthony Duclair and Carter Verhaege – scored for Carolina and Alex Lyon made 30 saves. In the first round of playoffs, Carolina has to face Boston which is the best team in the league. Meanwhile, the Golden Knights beat the Kraken 3-1 in another hockey match.
Alec Martinez scored a goal which allowed the Vegas Golden Knights to win their third Pacific Division title. They won with a record of 51-22-9 and 111 points. This was enough to stay ahead of Edmonton and earn a home court advantage in the Western Conference playoffs. Vegas will now be playing Winnipeg in the first round of Stanley Cup playoffs.
Reilly Smith scored for Vegas in a unique way. Vince Dunn sent the puck from behind Seattle’s goal, and it accidentally bounced off Smith’s skate and into the goal almost 10 minutes after the game started. Later on, Chandler Stephenson got an easy goal with 38 seconds left when he knocked the puck into the empty net with his stick. Laurent Brossoit was also involved, making 31 saves during the game.
Jaden Schwartz got his 21st goal of the season for Seattle’s only score, despite having plenty of opportunities to score. Matty Beniers and Adam Larsson both kicked a soccer post and Daniel Sprong was stopped by Brossoit when he tried making a breakaway move. Grubauer had 16 saves in total.
In the end, Boston won their final game of the season after David Pastrnak kicked a goal midway through the third period.
Dmitry Orlov scored and provided an assist. Trent Frederic, Jake DeBrusk and Charlie Coyle also had goals for the Boston Bruins. Jeremy Swayman saved thirty shots.
The Bruins finished their special season by breaking the records for the most wins (65) and points (135).
Lucas Condotta marked his debut in the NHL with a goal and Michael Pezzetta got one goal plus an assist. Nick Suzuki and Justin Barron earned their own scores as well. Sam Montembeault managed 16 saves.
DEVILS won 5-4 over CAPITALS after overtime play.
Dougie Hamilton scored an equalizing goal in the third period and Luke Hughes got his first NHL goal in overtime, leading New Jersey to a great victory against Washington.
The Devils managed to come back from three-goal down through two goals from Erik Haula and one on the power play by Miles Wood. But their win secured them with second position in the Metropolitan Division which set up a rivalry game with the New York Rangers during the first round of playoffs.
Mackenzie Blackwood was replaced in the game after conceding four goals with just 11 shots fired at him. Joe Snively, Rasmus Sandin and Craig Smith all scored when they took their first shots against Mackenzie, and then Tom Wilson also got a goal one minute into the second period, which led to Mackenzie having to leave.
Akira Schmid was called up from the minors to take his place and he blocked every single shot (20 of them) that came his way.
At the other end, Darcy Kuemper stopped 29 shots from Jets players.
In the end it proved to be a successful night for Avalanche who won 4-2!
Evan Rodrigues scored an important goal to help Colorado stay in the running for the Central Division title. The Avalanche have 107 points, so if they win their game against Nashville on Friday, they’ll beat out Dallas and become the division’s top spot. Dallas has 108 points after a win over St. Louis.
Denis Malgin and Mikko Rantanen scored for the current Stanley Cup champs. Artturi Lehkonen put in one goal at the very end when it was empty-net. This is Mikko’s 55th score of this season, which is the highest amount since the team came here before 1995-96.
Alexandar Georgiev had 18 saves while Axel Jonsson-Fjallby and Kevin Stenlund had 2 goals for Winnipeg. David Rittich saved 21 shots in total.
MAPLE LEAFS 3, RANGERS 2
Noel Acciari scored a goal late in the third period for Toronto, and Joseph Woll blocked 22 shots. Timothy Liljegren and William Nylander of Toronto also scored goals, while Artemi Panarin and Kaapo Kakko scored for New York. With 7:39 left in the game, Acciari made a score with a nudge past New York’s goalie Jaroslav Halak that helped the Maple Leafs win with 5-0-1 record over their last six games!
At a Ranger game, Filip Chytil was ready to score the winning point, but the referee decided that he had kicked it into the net, so it didn’t count. Artemi Panarin and Kaapo Kakko also scored for the Rangers. Meanwhile, at a Sabre game Timothy Liljegren and William Nylander scored. Then during overtime Casey Mittelstadt scored the winning goal and Craig Anderson stopped 30 shots. After this game, Craig announced he was retiring after the season was over.
Tage Thompson scored his team’s highest goal of 47, while Henri Jokiharju and Victor Olofsson also got a goal each in the game between two teams that couldn’t make it to the playoffs.
Claude Giroux did a great job by scoring his 35th goal while playing in his 1,100th game. Three days before that he hit the 1000-point mark! Tim Stutzle and Dylan Gamrell also scored some goals for the Senators who finished this season with a 39-35-8 record. Mads Sogaard helped out too by making 32 saves.
The Predators ended up winning 4-3 against the Wild which was due to Juuso Parssinen’s overtime goal!
Mark Jankowski, Kiefer Sherwood, and Yakov Trenin each scored a goal for the Predators. Juuse Saros, their goalie, helped his team win by stopping 21 shots from the opposing team. Frederick Gaudreau helped the Wild win by scoring two goals and Nic Petan also added another one. Gustav Nyquist earned two assists and Filip Gustavsson made 27 saves. During overtime, Parssinen drove through the middle of the playing area with a between-the-legs shot that then sailed over Gustavsson’s shoulder to give the Predators victory in this game!
Blue Jackets 3 Penguins 2 (game ended in Overtime).
Johnny Gaudreau scored a goal in just one minute of overtime play and the Columbus Blue Jackets won, ending their four game losing streak. With this win they now have a worse record than both the Chicago Blackhawks and the Anaheim Ducks. Andrew Peeke and Emil Bemstrom also added goals for Columbus while Michael Hutchinson stopped 34 shots.
Kris Letang scored one goal and passed another, while Jake Guentzel successfully shot a goal. Sidney Crosby helped out with two assists. Tristan Jarry blocked 31 shots in total. Unfortunately, this game was the Penguins second loss in a row and they got kicked out of the playoffs which hadn’t happened since 2006.
In a different game, Rookie center Wyatt Johnston scored his 24th goal allowing Dallas to beat St. Louis 1-0.
The Stars won their sixth game in a row to get 108 points, making them one point better than the Colorado team. Colorado will be playing against Nashville on Friday night.
Jake Oettinger, goalie for the Stars, had 25 saves and blocked four shots during the last two minutes of the game when St. Louis took out their goal keeper for an extra player. This was his fifth shutout this season.
The St. Louis team just lost in its last game of the season, resulting in them not making it to playoffs. This also ended their streak of 14 winning seasons in a row – a new record for the franchise. Meanwhile, elsewhere Edmonton had a superb victory with Mattias Janmark getting two goals and Leon Draisaitl onegoal plus two assists! They won their ninth straight game which was also a record for that team.
Evan Bouchard and Evander Kane both scored goals for the Oilers and Stuart Skinner made lots of saves (27 to be exact). The Oilers won 14 out of their last 15 games and were two points behind Vegas in the Pacific Division.
Noah Gregor and Steven Lorentz scored for San Jose, but they lost all six of their last games. James Reimer also made 31 saves for them.
Conor Garland was really awesome; he was able to achieve a hat trick (meaning he scored 3 goals!) in overtime, leading Vancouver to win against Arizona’s Coyotes 5-4!
Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller both scored a goal for the Canucks, with Elias getting his 39th and J.T. getting his 32nd of the season. Rick Tocchet took over as their coach from Bruce Boudreau and ended the season with a record of 20 wins, 12 losses, and 4 draws. Quinn Hughes was extremely helpful too by assisting in three goals on the night, bringing his total assists to 69 this season! Andrei Kuzmenko got two assists while Collin Delia saved 24 shots throughout the game.
Liam O’Brien scored twice, Nick Schmaltz and Travis Boyd each netted one, and the Coyotes won their final home game of the season at Mullett Arena with a 21-16-4 record. Clayton Keller helped out on Boyd’s goal right before the end of the first period, which tied Keith Tkachuk for most points (86) in a season since the Coyotes moved to Arizona in 1996. Karel Vejmelka made 19 saves for the team from Arizona.
Adrian Kempe from Los Angeles had a great game with three goals and one assist, which helped them secure third place in the Pacific Division. Their team captain Anze Kopitar also scored a goal, making him their top scorer for fifteen out of the last sixteen years. Both Adrian Kempe and Trevor Moore scored two goals within forty-nine seconds from each other during the second period too!
Kempe scored his fourth goal in the game during the last 1:39 and made it a hat-trick. Kings fans were so excited that they threw stuff onto the ice as a way of celebration. The team ended up with 104 points which is their second-best record ever, only behind their 1974-75 season which was 105 points.
Troy Terry, Max Jones and Trevor Zegras all scored for the Ducks which resulted in one of the worst NHL seasons this century because they ended with a 13-game losing streak. Coach Dallas Eakins’ contract is now done since his team lost four seasons in a row, but there has been no news about what will happen to him.
Brayden Point scored two goals and Brian Elliott stopped 32 shots in Tampa Bay’s 5-0 victory over Detroit. The Lightning also managed to put an end to their 4-game losing streak.
Point became the third Lightning player to hit 50 goals, joining Steven Stamkos (2009-10 and 2011-12) and Vincent Lecavalier (2006-07). Next week, the Lightning will enjoy their playoffs by competing against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Alex Killorn, Brandon Hagel and Michael Eyssimont also scored for the Lightning and Ville Husso blocked 27 shots for Detroit.
Meanwhile in Chicago, Ivan Provorov scored 3:09 into overtime to give Philadelphia a 5-4 win over the Blackhawks.
Travis Konecny scored two goals and one assist, Owen Tippett had one goal and one assist, and Noah Cates also got one goal. Felix Sandstrom saved 34 shots. Jonathan Toews scored in his last game with Chicago, Andreas Athanasiou got a goal plus two assists, Anders Bjork and Jujhar Khaira each scored a goal as well. Alex Stalock stopped 31 shots.
Jonathan Toews, captain of the Chicago Blackhawks for 15 years, won three Stanley Cup titles during his time with the team. However, the team said they will not re-sign him and he is turning 35 in April. The Blackhawks are focusing on rebuilding now.
