Penguins beat Sabres 1-0, win East title hours later
PITTSBURGH » Jeff Carter scored, Maxime Lagace stopped 29 shots for his first career shutout and Pittsburgh beat the Buffalo Sabres 1-0 on Saturday, then won the East Division title hours later when Washington fell.
Lagace made his first start in more than two years with Tristan Jarry and Casey DeSmith sidelined for the for the regular-season finale.
Carter scored his 17th goal as the Penguins finished the regular season with 13 wins and points in 14 of their last 16 games. Pittsburgh also finished 224-2 at home, one of the best marks in the league.
Michael Houser, who grew up in northern Pittsburgh suburbs, made 22 saves for Buffalo.
MAPLE LEAFS 3, CANADIENS 2» Mitch Marner scored his 20th goal of the season and Toronto beat Montreal to wrap up the North Division title.
William Nylander and Pierre Engvall also scored, and Jack Campbell made 21 saves. Toronto was 7-2-1 against the Canadiens in the season series as the Original Six rivals look poised to meet in the playoffs for the first time since 1979.
Toronto won its first division crown since 2000.
Nick Suzuki and Brett Kulak scored for Montreal, and Jake Allen stopped 23 shots.
Toronto beat Montreal 5-2 on Thursday night to open the two-game set. RANGERS 5, BRUINS 4 » Mika Zibanejad scored two of New York’s four third-period goals and the Rangers ended their season with a victory over Boston to halt a five-game losing streak.
Alexis Lafrenière and Vitali Kravtsov also scored in a wild third when the Rangers turned a 2-1 deficit to a 4-2 edge. K’Andre Miller added a goal for the Rangers, and Keith Kinkaid made 28 saves before leaving with an injury midway into the third. Igor Shesterkin finished up in net with seven saves.
David Pastrnak scored his 200th career goal, Brad Marchand had his teamleading 28th, and Patrice Bergeron and Nick Ritchie also scored for the Bruins. CAPITALS 2, FLYERS 1, OT » Lars Eller tied it with 39.8 seconds left in regulation, Conor Sheary scored in overtime and short-handed Washington beat Philadelphia to guarantee it’ll open the playoffs at home.
Failing to win in regulation gave the East Division title to rival Pittsburgh. The Capitals locked up the No. 2 seed in the East and home-ice advantage in the first round.
Craig Anderson made 26 saves, allowing only Scott Laughton’s goal.
ISLANDERS 5, DEVILS 1 »
Brock Nelson scored twice in the second period and New York beat New Jersey in the final regular-season game at Nassau Coliseum.
Mathew Barzal had a goal and an assist, and Jordan Eberle and Kyle Palmieri also scored for the Islanders. Ilya Sorokin stopped 23 shots to help New York snap a three-game losing streak and get its sixth regulation win in the last 23 games.
SENATORS 4, CANUCKS 2 »
Rookie Tim Stutzle had his first NHL hat trick to help Ottawa beat Winnipeg for its third consecutive victory.
Connor Brown scored and added two assists, Shane Pinto also had two assists, and Filip Gustavsson made 27 saves. The Senators improved to 8-1-1 in their past 10 games.
Mason Appleton and Mark Scheifele scored for Winnipeg, and Connor Hellebuyck stopped 19 shots. The Jets have lost six in a row on home ice.
PANTHERS 5, LIGHTNING 1 » Alex Wennberg scored three goals and Florida beat Tampa Bay, keeping alive its hopes of home-ice advantage in the upcoming first-round playoff series between the intrastate rivals.
PREDATORS 3, HURRICANES 1 » Luke Kunin scored twice, Juuse Saros made 21 saves and Nashville beat the Carolina to secure the Central Division’s fourth and final playoff berth.
WILD 4, DUCKS 3, OT » Victor Rask scored 2:46 into overtime and Minnesota beat Anaheim.
BLUE JACKETS 5, RED WINGS 4,OT» Max Domi scored 4:39 into overtime to lift Columbus past Detroit in the season finale for both teams.
Eric Robinson, Cam Atkinson, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Jack Roslovic also scored and Matiss Kivlenieks made 33 saves for the Blue Jackets. They finished last in the Central Division, missing a chance to pass Detroit when the game went to overtime.