Penguins’ 6-5 Overtime Victory Over Detroit Boosts Their Playoff Prospects

In a 6-5 victory over Detroit on Thursday night, the Pittsburgh Penguins increased their chances of making the playoffs with a goal from Erik Karlsson 1:40 into overtime.

In order to help Karlsson win and become the 14th player in NHL history to surpass 1,000 career assists, Sidney Crosby provided the assist. With a goal and two assists in the end, Crosby moved into 10th place on the NHL’s all-time scoring list, surpassing Hall of Famer Phil Esposito.

In order to earn 999 career assists, the veteran Penguins captain helped on Drew O’Connor’s goal in the first period. In the second period, Crosby then deflected a gorgeous feed from Bryan Rust to equal the score at 1,590 points with Esposito. By feeding Karlsson throughout the extra session, Crosby overtook Esposito.

Pittsburgh added a goal through Rust. With three games left, the Penguins have leapfrogged Washington to take the second wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference. Kris Letang and Jeff Carter each scored their tenth goals, while Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 25 shots.

FLYERS 4, RANGERS 1

NEW YORK (AP) — In the second half, Bobby Brink netted the game-winning goal, Samuel Ersson stopped twenty-four shots, and Philadelphia defeated New York to end an eight-game losing run.

The Flyers (0-6-2) have not won at home since defeating Boston on March 23. Other scorers for the team were Cam York, Travis Konecny, and Noah Cates. Philadelphia managed to stay alive in the close Eastern Conference playoff battle thanks to two more assists from Ryan Poehling.

The Rangers had defeated the Flyers seven times in a row and were 10-0-1 in their previous 11 encounters with Philadelphia.

Ersson increased his record to 22-18-7 while giving up just one goal to Artemi Panarin.

The Rangers were still one victory away from setting a franchise record at 53.

At 4:21 in the opening frame, York scored his 10th goal of the game by putting the puck past Jonathan Quick.

CAPITALS 2, SABRES 4,

NEW YORK, BUFFALO (AP) — The Buffalo Sabres defeated Washington 4-2 to play the part of playoff spoilers, with to 22 saves from Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.

In their final home game of the season, the Sabres defeated Dallas 3-2, extending their NHL-record postseason absence to 13 seasons. Alex Tuch, Zach Benson, Jack Quinn, and Dylan Cozens each scored an empty-net goal.

This was Washington’s second defeat at Buffalo in nine days, having lost 6-2 on April 2.

The Capitals lost their last seven games, going 1-5-2, and wasted a chance to be in the thick of things in the Eastern Conference’s battle for the eighth and final playoff place. After winning 2-1 against Detroit on Tuesday, Washington started the day in ninth place, with three clubs separating them by only two points.

Aside from a 4-3 overtime victory against Detroit on March 26, the Capitals have not scored three goals or more in any of their previous eight games. Connor McMichael and Tom Wilson scored goals for the squad.

PANTHERS 4, BLUE JACKETS 0

Sunshine, Florida (AP) – With six shutouts and 25 saves, Sergei Bobrovsky tied for the NHL lead. Meanwhile, Florida trounced Columbus and Sam Reinhart scored his 54th goal.

With 44 career shutouts, Bobrovsky is tied for the most this season with Connor Ingram of Arizona and Tristan Jarry of Pittsburgh.

With goals from Vladimir Tarasenko, Evan Rodrigues, and Matthew Tkachuk, the Panthers pulled within one point of the Boston Bruins, who are now idle, for first place in the Atlantic Division. Oliver Ekman-Larsson, a defenseman, contributed two assists after sitting out Tuesday’s game against the Ottawa Senators.

Florida leads Boston 40–35 in regulation wins—the best tiebreaker—despite having one fewer game on their schedule.

For the Blue Jackets, who are theoretically guaranteed to have the fourth-best odds in the next NHL draft lottery, Jet Greaves stopped 42 shots.

MAPLE LEAFS 6, DEVILS 5

TORONTO (AP) — With 1:14 remaining, Jesper Bratt’s second goal of the game broke a tie, and New Jersey defeated Toronto, holding off NHL-leading Auston Matthews’ 67th and 68th goals of the year.

Since Mario Lemieux had 69 goals in 1995–96, Matthews has the most goals in the NHL.

For New Jersey, Bratt added an assist as well, Timo Meier scored twice and added an assist, while Erik Haula and Nolan Foote also scored. 27 shots were stopped by Jake Allen. Luke Hughes contributed two helpers.

For Toronto, John Tavares also scored twice. Ilya Samsonov made 14 saves, and David Kampf added a goal.

When Bratt beat Samsonov with his 26th goal with 8:57 remaining in the third period, the Devils took advantage of Matthews’ tripping penalty, which had levelled the score at four.

OTTAWA 3, TAMPA BAY 2, SO

Tampa, Florida (AP) – Ottawa defeated Tampa Bay thanks to a goal and an assist from Brady Tkachuk, who also scored the game’s lone shootout goal.

Leading scorer in the NHL, Nikita Kucherov, had two assists for the Lightning to bring his total to 98 for the season. Kucherov is attempting to become one of only three players with 100 or more assists in a season, joining Wayne Gretzky (11 times), Mario Lemieux (once), and Bobby Orr (once). With 141 points this season, the right wing is riding an eight-game point run.

The Senators, who have missed the postseason seven times in a row, also received a goal from Drake Batherson. Sergeant Anton Forsberg made 24 saves.

The Lightning sit five points behind Toronto for third place in the Atlantic Division and have already secured the first wild card in the Eastern Conference. On Thursday night, Toronto was defeated by New Jersey 6–5.

ISLANDERS 3, CANADIENS 2, OT

NEW YORK (AP) — With a goal at 1:17 of the extra period by Kyle Palmieri, New York defeated Montreal and increased their winning streak to six games.

Semyon Varlamov made 13 saves, Pierre Engvall and Casey Cizikas added goals, as the Islanders edged closer to clinching a postseason berth. With three games left, New York sits three games clear of Pittsburgh in third place in the Metropolitan Division with 89 points, thanks to two more assists from Adam Pelech.

With his winning goal, Palmieri extended his season goal streak to four games and scored his 28th goal overall.

The Canadiens suffered their fourth loss in five games despite 30 saves from Sam Montembault and a goal and assist from Cole Caufield.

At 5:33 in the first period, Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson left the game and never came back. Dobson leads the Islanders in ice time average, coming in second on the team with 70 points (10 goals, 60 assists).