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It was a busy night in the NHL on Sunday as there were nine games on the slate.
Let’s get right to the action.
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FLORIDA 5 BUFFALO 3
The Florida Panthers became the first NHL team to clinch a playoff spot as they beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-3 Sunday afternoon.
Anthony Duclair led the way for the Panthers with a pair of goals, including the game-winner as he now has 28 goals and 52 points in 61 games, both career highs.
It was another big game for Jonathan Huberdeau who scored his 24th of the season, and 97th point of the season. It is a career-high and a Florida Panther record for the 28-year-old who is currently on an eight-game points streak, with five goals and 13 points.
MacKenzie Weegar scored once and added an assist as the Florida defenseman has 38 points including seven goals.
Anton Lundell returned to action on Sunday as he has been out of action since Mar. 7 with an illness and lower-body injury. He scored his 15th of the season,
Spencer Knight made 26 saves in picking up the win, his third in the last four days. Knight is 15-8-3 with a 2.90 GAA and a .904 save percentage.
The Sabres opened the scoring with a goal from Kyle Okposo and Jeff Skinner and Tage Thompson each scored on the power play in the third to make it close before Weeger’s goal with 1:35 left, finished things off.
Dustin Tokarski made 35 saves but allowed all five goals. He is 7-10-5 with a 3.24 GAA and a .901 save percentage.
Claude Giroux, Aleksander Barkov and Casey Mittelstadt all had two assists.
OTTAWA 5 DETROIT 2
Josh Norris picked up his first career hat trick, leading the Ottawa Senators to a 5-2 win over Detroit.
Norris has 30 goals this season as the deal for Erik Karlsson is looking ever so good for Ottawa. The Senators dealt Karlsson and Francis Perron to San Jose for Norris, Dylan DeMelo, Chris Tierney, Rudolfs Balcers, a second-round pick in 2019 (Jamieson Rees), a conditional first-rounder in 2020 (which ended up being the third-overall pick which was Tim Stutzle) and a conditional second-rounder in 2021 (Zack Ostapchuk). That is quite a haul.
Defensemen Artem Zub and Nikita Zaitsev also scored for the Senators.
Anton Forsberg made 30 saves in picking up the win. He is 16-14-3 with a 2.71 GAA and a .919 save percentage.
Michael Rasmussen and Dylan Larkin scored for Detroit who have gone 2-6-2 in their last 10.
Thomas Greiss got the start for the Red Wings and gave up three goals on 34 shots as the last two Ottawa goals went into the empty net. Greiss is 8-12-1 with a 3.76 GAA and a .886 save percentage.
Mathieu Joseph had three assists and has seven points in his last two games as he had the hat trick and an assist versus Detroit on Friday. He didn’t have a point in two games against the Red Wings as a Tampa Bay Lightning this season but has exploded as a Senator.
Nick Holden and Brady Tkachuk each had two assists for Ottawa while Filip Hronek assisted on both Detroit goals.
Tkachuk had seven hits.
Jake Walman had five blocked shots.
NEW YORK ISLANDERS 4 NEW JERSEY 3
Jean-Gabriel Pageau picked up the natural hat trick and added an assist to lead the Islanders to a 4-3 win over the New Jersey Devils.
Pageau has 13 goals and 33 points this season after Sunday’s big effort in 66 games, his third-best season in the NHL.
It was also a huge game for goaltender Cory Schneider who last played in the NHL on Mar. 6, 2020 when he actually played for the Devils. The Islanders netminder made 27 saves for the win.
Kyle Palmieri had a goal and two assists for New York.
Jesper Bratt, Tomas Tatar and Nico Hischier scored for the Devils.
Nico Daws stopped 25 shots in taking the loss as he is 8-10-0 with a 3.33 GAA and a .892 save percentage for the Devils this season.
Adam Pelech had three assists while Dawson Mercer had a pair.
Jack Hughes was injured in the second period after taking a hit from Oliver Wahlstrom. Hughes seemed to have trouble putting any weight on his leg and did not return.
P.K. Subban did not take kindly to the hit on his talented teammate and went after Wahlstrom and picked up 27 penalty minutes. He and Wahlstrom each got five for fighting while Subban picked up the extra two for instigating and a pair of misconducts.
Grant Hutton had six shots on net.
VEGAS 3 VANCOUVER 2 (Overtime)
Shea Theodore’s 11th goal of the season was the overtime winner as Vegas picked up a much needed win, defeating Vancouver 3-2.
The Golden Knights got off to a quick 2-0 lead on goals by Alex Pietrangelo and Jonathan Marchessault scored in the first period.
There was no scoring in the second but J.T. Miller with his 29th, and Bo Horvat with his 27th, on the power play evened the score in the third and sent it into overtime.
Robin Lehner returned to action Sunday for the first time in almost four weeks as he was out with a lower-body injury and stopped 26 shots for the win. He is 22-15-1 with a 2.75 GAA and a .909 save percentage.
Thatcher Demko was in the Vancouver cage and gave up three goals on 30 shots. He is 28-20-6 with a 2.69 GAA and a .916 save percentage.
Horvat had six shots on goal.
Brayden McNabb blocked seven shots.
ARIZONA 3 CHICAGO 2 (Overtime)
Shayne Gostisbehere scored the overtime winner with just 15 seconds remaining to give the Coyotes a 3-2 win over the slumping Chicago.
Dylan Strome opened the scoring with his 20th goal of the season at the 1:15 mark of the first. Strome has points in 14 of his last 16 games as he has 11 goals and 22 points during the 16 contests.
The Coyotes scored twice in the second to take the lead as Michael Carcone with his second and Travis Boyd with his 13th found the back of the net for the Coyotes.
Patrick Kane with his 22nd, scored the only goal of the third. It was on the power play with Seth Jones picking up his 42nd assist of the season.
Karel Vejmelka made 29 saves for the win as he made amends for his poor performance on Friday when he was pulled after playing only 9:42 of the first as he gave up three goals on nine shots. He is 12-27-2 with a 3.40 GAA and a .905 save percentage.
Kevin Lankinen was the hard-luck loser as he stopped 32 shots. Lankinen is 4-10-6 with a 3.62 GAA and a .888 save percentage.
Kane had seven shots on goal.
Sam Lafferty had seven hits.
Seth Jones blocked five shots.
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PHILADELPHIA 4 NEW YORK RANGERS 3 (Shootout)
Kevin Hayes potted the lone goal in the shootout to give the Flyers a 4-3 win over the New York Rangers.
The Flyers came out flying and took a 3-0 lead into the third on goals by Cam York and Owen Tippett in the opening stanza while Joel Farabee scored 44 seconds into the third.
The comeback started just 38 seconds late when Artemi Panarin scored his 19th of the campaign and the comeback was completed when Mika Zibanejad and Andrew Copp scored just 12 seconds apart with over four minutes left in the third to send the game into overtime and the eventual shootout.
Martin Jones was sensational despite the blip in the third period. Jones stopped 43 shots and is 9-14-3 with a 3.38 GAA and a .902 save percentage.
Igor Shesterkin has continued his inconsistent play of late as he made only 23 saves in the shootout loss. Shesterkin is 32-10-4 with a 2.44 GAA and a .933 save percentage.
Artemi Panarin had seven shots on goal.
MINNESOTA 5 WASHINGTON 1
Joel Eriksson Ek scored twice and added an assist to lead the Wild to a 5-1 win over the Washington Capitals.
The three-point effort gives Eriksson Ek 21 goals and 40 points this season in 63 games.
Marcus Foligno had a goal and an assist while newcomers via trade, Tyson Jost and Nicolas Deslauriers also scored.
Garnet Hathaway with his 11th, scored the only Washington goal as he tipped in an Alex Ovechkin shot to break up the shutout bid of Cam Talbot.
Talbot has been great of late as he is 9-0-1 in his last ten games. He turned aside 25 shots and is 28-12-2 with a 2.78 GAA and a .912 save percentage.
It was not a great outing for Vitek Vanecek as he gave up four goals on 18 shots to lower his record to 17-11-5 with a 2.60 GAA and a .911 save percentage.
Jordan Greenway picked up three assists.
Johan Larsson made his Washington debut and was one of only two Capitals on the plus-side as he was plus-one in 10:48 of action.
EDMONTON 6 ANAHEIM 1
Connor McDavid and defensemen Tyson Barrie and Brett Kulak all had a goal and two assists as the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Anaheim Ducks 6-1.
McDavid scored his 40th of the season and has 65 assists to lead the NHL in scoring. He is on a 13-game points streak and has 11 goals and 26 points in the 13 games.
Teammate Leon Draisaitl potted his 50th of the season and added an assist to give him 101 points. Draisaitl is on a 12-game points streak with 12 goals and 22 points.
Jesse Puljujarvi and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins also scored for the Oilers who won their fourth straight and moved to within one point of the Kings with a game in hand. Edmonton is four points in arrears of first place Calgary but the Flames have a pair of games in hand.
Zach Aston-Reese with his third, scored the lone goal for the Anaheim Ducks,
Mike Smith made 31 saves for the win as he picked up his third win in his last four games. Smith is 9-9-2 with a 3.36 GAA and a .897 save percentage.
John Gibson stopped 40 shots but still gave up all six Edmonton goals. He is 17-24-10 with a 3.21 GAA and a .903 save percentage.
Evander Kane had two assists for the Oilers while Evan Bouchard had seven shots on goal.
SEATTLE 4 DALLAS 1
Chris Driedger stopped 29 shots as the Seattle Kraken upended the Dallas Stars by a 4-1 score.
Driedger picked up his seventh win of the season and is 7-10-1 with a 3.05 GAA and a .898 save percentage. After a tough start to the season, Driedger has played better of late.
Jared McCann, Ryan Donato, Yanni Gourde and Karson Kuhlman scored for Seattle while Carson Soucy and Alexander Wennberg each had two assists.
John Klingberg managed the only goal for Dallas with his fifth of the season.
Jake Oettinger stopped 25 shots in taking the loss. He is 24-12-1 with a 2.49 GAA and a .916 save percentage.
Will Borgen had six hits.
NIGHTLY LEADERS
Goals
Josh Norris – 3
Anthony Duclair – 2
Joel Eriksson Ek - 2
Assists
Mathieu Joseph – 3
Adam Pelech – 3
Jordan Greenway - 3
Kyle Palmieri - 2
Nick Holden -2
Claude Giroux - 2
Brady Tkachuk – 2
Filip Hronek – 2
Dawson Mercer – 2
Alex DeBrincat – 2
Evander Kane – 2
Connor McDavid – 2
Tyson Barrie – 2
Brett Kulak – 2
Carson Soucy – 2
Shots on Goal
Patrick Kane – 7
Artemi Panarin – 7
Evan Bouchard – 7
Leon Draisaitl - 6
Grant Hutton – 6
Bo Horvat - 6
Hits
Radko Gudas – 8
Sam Lafferty - 7
Brady Tkachuk - 7
Penalty Minutes
P.K. Subban – 27
Oliver Wahlstrom – 5
