NHL roundup: Stars beat Kraken to win first Central title since 2016
Craig Smith also scored for the Stars, who had a chance to clinch the Western Conference regular-season crown if Vancouver lost in regulation at Edmonton, but the Canucks won 3-1. Jake Oettinger made 26 saves as Dallas remained one point behind the New York Rangers for first place overall in the NHL.
Jake Oettinger made 26 saves as Dallas remained one point behind the New York Rangers for first place overall in the NHL. Kailer Yamamoto scored and Philipp Grubauer stopped 27 of 30 shots for the Kraken, who have already been eliminated from playoff contention.
The Stars scored in the final minute in each of the first two periods. Seattle spoiled Oettinger's shutout bid at 14:11 as Tomas Tatar stole Oettinger's clearance attempt along the left-wing boards and fed Yamamoto for a tip-in at the top of the crease.
Rangers 3, Islanders 2 (SO)
Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck scored in the shootout as the host Rangers rallied late for a victory over the Islanders.
Panarin also netted the tying goal to extend his points streak to 12 games when his shot from the right circle went over Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin and banked off the top of the net with 4:17 remaining in regulation. The goal gave him 118 points - five shy of Jaromir Jagr's 2005-06 single-season team record.
Panarin scored in the first round of the shootout and Trocheck netted the clinching goal in the third round as the Rangers set a team record for regular-season wins (54) and pulled three points ahead of the Carolina Hurricanes in the Metropolitan Division race. Brock Nelson scored twice in the final 8:18 of the second period for the Islanders, who saw a season-high tying six-game winning streak stopped.
Red Wings 5, Maple Leafs 4 (OT)
Captain Dylan Larkin scored a power-play goal 41 seconds into overtime to fuel Detroit's win over hosts Toronto.
The Red Wings are tied with the Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers for the Eastern Conference's second wildcard. Alex DeBrincat scored two goals, David Perron and Larkin each collected a goal and an assist and defenseman Simon Edvinsson also tallied. James Reimer celebrated playing in his 500th career game by making 32 saves against his former team for the Red Wings.
Toronto's Auston Matthews netted his NHL-leading 69th goal to extend his goal-scoring streak to a career-high eight games and his point streak to 14 games. Matthews' goal total is the most in the NHL since Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux had 69 in 1995-96. Mitch Marner collected a goal and two assists and captain John Tavares and Nicholas Robertson also tallied. Ilya Samsonov turned aside 27 shots for the Maple Leafs.
Bruins 6, Penguins 4
Pavel Zacha had a goal and an assist as visiting Boston beat Pittsburgh to move into first place in the Atlantic Division.
Jake DeBrusk, Kevin Shattenkirk, Brad Marchand, Morgan Geekie and Danton Heinen also scored, and Charlie Coyle and David Pastrnak each added two assists for the Bruins, who have won five of six. Boston goaltender Linus Ullmark made 28 saves.
Michael Bunting scored twice, Drew O'Connor had a goal and an assist, and Bryan Rust also scored for the Penguins, who had their 10-game point streak (7-0-3) snapped and are one point behind a trio of teams that are tied for the second wildcard berth in the East.
Flyers 1, Devils 0
Travis Konecny scored his NHL-best sixth short-handed goal midway through the second period and Philadelphia kept their playoff chances alive with a victory over visiting New Jersey.
The Flyers won their second straight after getting outscored 42-18 in an eight-game losing streak. Philadelphia posted consecutive wins for the first time since a four-game winning streak from February 6 to 12. Konecny scored Philadelphia's 16th short-handed goal and first since January 6, reaching 400 career points in the process. Philadelphia goalie Samuel Ersson made 20 saves for his fourth shutout this season and his fifth career shutout.
The Devils dropped to 2-5-1 in their past eight games and mustered little offence after earning a 6-5 win in Toronto Thursday. New Jersey were blanked for the fourth time this season after scoring 12 goals in the first three meetings with the Flyers.