Islanders’ close out season with 5-4 win over Penguins
NEW YORK (AP) — Simon Holmstrom scored the go-ahead goal in the third period, Ilya Sorokin stopped Sidney Crosby on a late penalty shot and the playoff-bound New York Islanders edged the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-4 on Wednesday night.
Samuel Bolduc and Brock Nelson each had a goal and an assist, and Casey Cizikas and Kyle Palmieri also scored for the Islanders, who ended the regular season having won eight of their last nine (8-0-1). Ruslan Iskhakov had his first NHL assist in his debut.
Sorokin finished with 39 saves, including one on Crosby in the final minute when the Penguins were awarded a penalty shot.
The Islanders, who finished third in the Metropolitan Division, open the playoffs Saturday at Carolina.
LIGHTNING 6, MAPLE LEAFS 4
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Auston Matthews came up empty in his bid to become the ninth player in NHL history to score 70 goals in a season, but Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov became the fifth player to have a 100-assist season as Tampa Bay beat Toronto.
Matthews was denied on all seven first-period shots by 29-year-old rookie goalie Matt Tomkins, then rocketed a shot off the post midway through the second period. Tomkins finished with 34saves, including 12 on Matthews, in his sixth NHL start.
Kucherov, the NHL’s scoring leader with 144 points, scored a first-period goal, then set up Brayden Point’s power-play goal with 2:55 left in the second for the history-making assist. He reached the milestone two days after Edmonton’s Connor McDavid did it.
STARS 2, BLUES 1, SO
DALLAS (AP) — Jake Oettinger made 26 saves in regulation and overtime before stopping all three attempts in the shootout as Central Division champion Dallas beat St. Louis in their regular-season finale.
When they earned one point by getting to overtime, the Stars clinched the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference playoffs. They ended up with two points thanks to Oettinger and Jason Robertson, who scored on the first shot of the shootout, which held up for the victory.
The last time Dallas was the top seed in the West was 2016, also the year of its previous Central Division title. The Stars (52-21-9) finished with 113 points, the most since the franchise-record 114 they had in 1998-99 on the way to winning their only Stanley Cup title. They were one win shy of the record 53 set in 2005-06.
Fans cheered in the closing seconds of regulation knowing Dallas had already clinched the No. 1 seed in the West. Pacific Division champion Vancouver has one game left, but can only max out at 111 points with a win Thursday.
COYOTES 5, OILERS 2
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Arizona closed out their 28-year tenure as winners, getting a goal and an assist from Dylan Guenther in a victory over Edmonton.
The Coyotes buzzed early at Mullett Arena and closed strong in their final game before moving to Salt Lake City.
Liam O’Brien got the finale started with a goal less than three minutes in and Sean Durzi capped it with a empty-net goal to send Coyotes fans home happy — at least for one last night. Matias Maccelli and Lawson Crouse also scored, and Connor Ingram had 25 saves for Arizona.
Sam Carrick and Warren Foegele scored for the playoff-bound Oilers. Calvin Pickard had 16 saves.