T.J. Oshie scored the winning goal into an empty net with three minutes remaining as the visiting Washington Capitals clinched a playoff spot with a 2-1 win against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday.
Trailing the Capitals by two points, the Flyers needed to win in regulation to keep their playoff chances alive, so Philadelphia coach John Tortorella pulled goalie Samuel Ersson with 3:10 remaining in a 1-1 game. Seconds later, Oshie skated in along the right boards and shot into the empty net.
The Capitals completed the season with a third consecutive win to grab the No. 2 wild card in the Eastern Conference. They missed the postseason in 2022-23 after a streak of eight straight playoff campaigns.
The Detroit Red Wings beat the Montreal Canadiens 5-4 in a shootout on Tuesday to finish tied with the Capitals with 91 points, but Washington won the regulation-wins tiebreaker 32-27 to take the spot.
Panthers 5, Maple Leafs 2
Florida rallied to defeat Toronto in Sunrise, Fla., jumping the Boston Bruins in the standings to win the Atlantic Division title.
The Panthers got goals from Carter Verhaeghe, Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart and Brandon Montour in the second period. Reinhart added an empty-net goal, giving him 57 tallies for the season — second in the league.
Mitch Marner and Noah Gregor scored for Toronto. Florida’s Anthony Stolarz (24 saves) beat Joseph Woll (37 saves) in a battle between backup goalies.
Canucks 4, Flames 1
Thatcher Demko was superb in his return from a 14-game absence caused by a knee injury, making 39 saves as Vancouver clinched the Pacific Division title with a convincing win over visiting Calgary.
Tyler Myers had a goal and an assist while Dakota Joshua, J.T. Miller and Nils Hoglander also scored for the playoff-bound Canucks, who are division champs for the first time in 11 years.
Brayden Pachal had the only marker for the Flames, while goaltender Jacob Markstrom made 27 saves.
Golden Knights 3, Blackhawks 1
Logan Thompson made 22 saves as Vegas moved into third place in the Pacific Division with a victory over visiting Chicago.
Brayden McNabb, Michael Amadio and Nicolas Roy scored for Vegas, which moved one point ahead of the idle Los Angeles Kings into third with one game remaining for both teams.
Vegas finishes the regular season on Thursday against the visiting Anaheim Ducks, while Los Angeles hosts Chicago. The Kings, who were idle on Tuesday while dropping into the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference, hold the regulation-wins tiebreaker.
Red Wings 5, Canadiens 4 (SO)
Patrick Kane scored the only goal of the shootout as visiting Detroit beat Montreal but still failed to reach the postseason for the eighth consecutive season.
The Red Wings were officially eliminated from playoff contention moments earlier by virtue of Washington’s victory over Philadelphia. Detroit’s David Perron scored with under five seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime. Moritz Seider, Joe Veleno and Daniel Sprong scored the other goals for the Red Wings, while James Reimer made 29 saves.
Juraj Slafkovsky had a goal and an assist for the Canadiens. Alex Newhook, Brendan Gallagher and Cole Caufield also scored, while Cayden Primeau stopped 36 shots.
Jets 4, Kraken 3
Kyle Connor scored twice as Winnipeg won its seventh game in a row, defeating visiting Seattle and ensuring home ice in the first round of the playoffs.
The victory gave the Jets 108 points, three more than the Colorado Avalanche with each team down to one game remaining. That gives Winnipeg second place in the Central Division and Colorado third. The Dallas Stars already have clinched the division.
Jets forwards Tyler Toffoli and Nikolaj Ehlers each had a goal and an assist, while Mark Scheifele, Josh Morrissey and Neal Pionk each had two assists. Connor Hellebuyck made 20 saves.
Blue Jackets 6, Hurricanes 3
Zach Werenski scored twice and added two assists as Columbus doubled up visiting Carolina.
Luca Del Bel Belluz, James Malatesta, Johnny Gaudreau and Alex Nylander also scored for the Blue Jackets, who wrapped up their season by snapping a four-game losing streak. Mathieu Olivier and Erik Gudbranson each added two assists and Jet Greaves made 38 saves.
Teuvo Teravainen scored twice and Jesperi Kotkaniemi added the other goal for Carolina, who were resting many regulars with their playoff fate already determined. Brent Burns and Stefan Nosen had two assists apiece in the loss. Spencer Martin stopped 19 shots for the Hurricanes, who saw their five-game winning streak end.
Senators 3, Bruins 1
Jiri Smejkal and Jakob Chychrun scored second-period goals to propel Ottawa to a win over host Boston, knocking the Bruins out of first place in the Atlantic Division as the regular season ended.
Pavel Zacha scored and Linus Ullmark made 17 saves for the Bruins, who lost for the third time in four games and wound up in second place behind Florida.
Smejkal collected his first NHL goal while Artem Zub also scored for the Senators. Ottawa goaltender Anton Forsberg was a rock, making a whopping 22 of his 34 saves in the third period.
–Field Level Media