BOSTON — David Pastrnak scored twice, Tuukka Rask stopped 28 shots and the Boston Bruins clinched their first playoff berth since 2014 with a 4-0 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night.
Drew Stafford and Zdeno Chara also scored for the Bruins, who extended their season-high winning streak to six games. More importantly, by winning in regulation, Boston guaranteed a return to the postseason after missing out the last two years.
It was Rask’s career-best eighth shutout of the season. Andrei Vasilevskiy kept Tampa Bay close with 34 saves.
The loss didn’t knock the Lightning out of playoff contention, but Tampa Bay fell dangerously close with just three games remaining.
The Bruins played the last two periods without leading scorer Brad Marchand after he speared Tampa Bay’s Jake Dotchin in front of the Lightning net. Marchand received a five-minute major and game misconduct (on his bobblehead night).
PITTSBURGH — Patric Hornqvist scored his 20th goal of the season, Matt Murray finished with 38 saves and Pittsburgh sped past slumping Columbus.
Jake Guentzel and Carter Rowney also scored for Pittsburgh. Brian Dumolin added his first regular-season goal in more than two years as the Penguins moved three points ahead of Columbus in the race to have home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
Pittsburgh won its third straight to inch closer to opening its Stanley Cup defense at home thanks in large part to Murray and offensive contributions from unexpected places.
Brandon Dubinsky scored short-handed for Columbus. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 23 shots but the Blue Jackets dropped a season-high fourth straight and have ceded control of the second seed in the Metropolitan Division to Pittsburgh with three games to go.
The teams are almost assured of facing each other when the playoffs begin next week.
TORONTO — Lars Eller and Kevin Shattenkirk gave Washington a two-goal lead halfway through the game, and the Capitals ended Toronto’s four-game winning streak.
Nate Schmidt and Tom Wilson also scored for Washington, and Philipp Grubauer stopped 27 shots. The Capitals, who have won eight of nine, moved closer to clinching the top spot in the Eastern Conference and the Presidents’ Trophy awarded to the team with the NHL’s best record.
Mitch Marner scored his 19th of the season, spoiling Grubauer’s shutout bid on a power-play goal with 1:08 to go. Curtis McElhinney finished with 34 saves for the Maple Leafs, who lost for just the second time in nine games.
Toronto lost center Brian Boyle to an upper-body injury, possibly from a hard collision with Wilson in the first period.
OTTAWA, Ontario — Erik Karlsson and Tom Pyatt scored, and Craig Anderson made 24 saves for his fifth shutout of the season as Ottawa defeated Detroit to stop a five-game losing streak.
The Senators need one point in their final three games to clinch a playoff spot. They won for only the third time in 12 games.
Jimmy Howard made 22 saves for the Red Wings, who are playing out the string as they will miss the playoffs for the first time in 25 seasons.
Clarke MacArthur made his season debut for the Senators and played his first game since Oct. 14, 2015, because of concussion issues.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Thomas Hickey scored 1:25 into overtime and New York beat Nashville to preserve its thin playoff hopes for at least another game.
Brock Nelson also scored for the Islanders, and Jaroslav Halak made 22 saves as they won their third straight in chasing the Eastern Conference’s second wild card. New York moved within five points of Toronto for the final postseason spot in the East.
Islanders captain John Tavares missed his second straight game with a lower-body injury, but New York outshot Nashville 32-23 to ruin the Predators’ regular-season home finale.
Mike Fisher scored for Nashville, which has lost four of five.
NEWARK, N.J. — John Moore scored 59 seconds into overtime and New Jersey snapped a six-game skid by beating Philadelphia.
Keith Kinkaid made 35 saves in his first shutout of the season to help the Devils win for only the third time in 21 games (3-14-4).
Taylor Hall set up Moore’s fourth overtime winner with a cross-ice pass on a 2-on-1 break. The defenseman beat Steve Mason with a shot from low in the right circle to end a game between two teams already eliminated from playoff contention.
Mason finished with 26 saves for the Flyers, who lost their second straight.
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Nino Niederreiter had two goals and an assist to lead Minnesota to a victory over Carolina that clinched second place in the Central Division and home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs for the Wild.
Zach Parise scored and had two assists, and Eric Staal also added two assists to give the Wild’s first line eight points. Charlie Coyle scored the go-ahead goal midway through the second period, and Devan Dubnyk shook off a shaky first period to stop 27 shots for his 39th win.
Jeff Skinner scored twice to set a career high with 35 goals and Lee Stempniak had a goal and an assist, but the Hurricanes were eliminated from postseason contention on a night when they took their third straight loss.
Cam Ward made 31 saves for the Hurricanes, whose 9-0-4 stretch preceding the losing streak raised hope for a late run at the second wild card in the top-heavy Eastern Conference.
ST. LOUIS — Patrik Laine scored twice and Mark Scheifele had a goal and an assist as Winnipeg beat St. Louis for its season-high fifth straight victory.
Mark Stuart and Nikolaj Ehlers also had a goal and an assist apiece for the Jets, who swept the five-game season series against the Blues for the first time in franchise history. Blake Wheeler, Bryan Little and Mathieu Perreault each had two assists, and Michael Hutchinson made 24 saves for Winnipeg.
Alex Pietrangelo and Jori Lehtera scored for the Blues, who had their season-best point streak snapped at nine games. Jake Allen made 20 saves before being pulled for Carter Hutton in the third period.
The Jets scored three times in 62-second span early in the second.
DALLAS — Julius Honka scored his first NHL goal 3:45 into overtime to lift Dallas over Arizona.
Skating with rookies Honka and Gemel Smith, Jason Spezza sent a cross-ice pass to Honka in the right faceoff circle, and his shot went high into the net past Coyotes goalie Mike Smith.
Brett Ritchie and Jason Dickinson scored for Dallas after Arizona giveaways in the first period, and Antti Niemi stopped 24 shots to improve to 17-6-4 against the Coyotes.
Christian Dvorak pulled Arizona within one just 12 seconds after Dickinson gave the Stars a 2-0 lead, and Anthony Duclair tied it with 4:27 remaining in regulation. Smith finished with 28 saves.
