NHL Roundup: Auston Matthews sets Leafs’ goal record, Hurricanes clinch, Rangers surging, and more
Anthony Scultore
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NHL Roundup for Thursday, April 7, 2022 recaps all 10 games on the docket.
The Carolina Hurricanes became the first team in the Metropolitan Division to clinch a playoff berth with a win over the Buffalo Sabres. Right on their heels remain the New York Rangers, who shutout the Pittsburgh Penguins thanks to a 30 save performance by Igor Shesterkin.
Playing in his 400th career game, Auston Matthews became the Maple Leafs single-season record holder for goals by scoring twice to lift his team to an OT win over the Dallas Stars. Despite the loss, Dallas picked up a valuable point to increase their wild card lead over the Vegas Golden Knights to two points.
NHL Roundup: Maple Leafs 4, Dallas Stars 3 (OT)
Auston Matthews set Toronto’s single-season goal record in regulation, then scored his 56th of the campaign 2:10 into overtime as the visiting Maple Leafs extended their point streak to a season-high seven with a 4-3 win over the Dallas Stars on Thursday.
Matthews, who recorded a career-high 12 shots on goal, got his milestone 55th score on a power play with 1:02 left in the second period. Amid a career season with 97 points, Matthews broke Rick Vaive’s club mark of 54 goals from 1981-82 and extended his point streak to 15 games.
The OT tally also gave Matthews the record for most goals in a season by an American-born player.
“The names that have come before us, just to be in the same breath as some of these guys, it’s extremely humbling,” Matthews said. “It’s a big honor. This feels really nice, but we’re working towards something bigger than this. It’s a nice steppingstone, but there’s work to be done.”
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William Nylander had a goal and an assist and Morgan Rielly also scored for Toronto. Jack Campbell made 15 saves for the win.
Dallas’ Joe Pavelski collected a goal and an assist, and Tyler Seguin and John Klingberg added goals. Stars goalie Scott Wedgewood stopped 37 shots.
Kraken 2, Blackhawks 0
Philipp Grubauer made 29 saves for his second shutout of the season and the 20th of his NHL career as Seattle defeated host Chicago.
Alex Wennberg and Jordan Eberle scored for Seattle, which split its two-game trip after a 4-1 loss the previous day in St. Louis.
Kevin Lankinen stopped 29 of 31 shots for the Blackhawks, who took their sixth consecutive defeat and haven’t won on home ice since March 8 — a span of five home games (0-3-2).
Canadiens 7, Devils 4
Chris Wideman, Kale Clague and Christian Dvorak each collected one goal and two assists as Montreal set a season high for goals in a victory at Newark, N.J.
Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield each scored and set up a goal, Jake Evans and Joel Armia also tallied, and Jake Allen made 33 saves as Montreal posted its first regulation win over New Jersey since a 5-1 victory on Jan. 20, 2017.
Tomas Tatar and Jesper Bratt each recorded a goal and an assist and Ty Smith and A.J. Greer also scored for the Devils, who are winless in their past five games (0-4-1). Andrew Hammond yielded six goals on 19 shots before being relieved by Nico Daws, who stopped six of the seven shots he faced.
Hurricanes 5, Sabres 3
Sebastian Aho broke a third-period tie with his second goal of the game, and Carolina clinched a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs with a comeback win against Buffalo in Raleigh, N.C.
“It’s a huge accomplishment,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We grinded all year. We know there’s bigger and better things we want to accomplish, but you have to get there first. I give these guys a ton of credit. They play their butts off every night. It doesn’t always work out, but they’re a pretty committed group.”
Jordan Staal scored twice, Teuvo Teravainen added a goal and Seth Jarvis and Andrei Svechnikov had two assists apiece for the Hurricanes, who won for the first time in three games. Antti Raanta made 18 saves for the victory.
Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch each had a goal and an assist, Victor Olofsson scored and Jeff Skinner had two assists for the Sabres. Craig Anderson made 27 saves as Buffalo slipped to 8-3-3 in its past 14 games.
Predators 3, Senators 2
Roman Josi became Nashville’s all-time single-season point leader as his three assists led to a win over host Ottawa.
Josi has 68 assists to go along with 19 goals for 87 points. He is just the 13th defenseman in NHL history to record 85 or more points in a season. Matt Duchene had a goal and an assist, Tanner Jeannot and Ryan Johansen also scored, and Juuse Saros made 27 saves to tie for the league lead with 35 wins.
Mathieu Joseph and Josh Norris scored for the Senators, who were looking for their first four-game winning streak of the season. Anton Forsberg stopped 31 of 34 shots for Ottawa.
Flyers 4, Blue Jackets 1
Kevin Connauton, Owen Tippett, Noah Cates and Travis Konecny each scored a goal to lift Philadelphia over host Columbus.
Travis Sanheim contributed two assists for the Flyers, who scored four unanswered goals after falling behind 1-0. Philadelphia’s Martin Jones made 26 saves.
Eric Robinson scored the lone goal for the Blue Jackets, and Elvis Merzlikins stopped 27 shots.
Canucks 5, Coyotes 1
Bo Horvat scored twice in 38 seconds and reached the 30-goal plateau for the first time as part of a three-point night, helping Vancouver earn a win in Glendale, Ariz.
Alex Chiasson scored both of Vancouver’s power-play goals and had an assist. Elias Pettersson added a goal and two helpers, Conor Garland and Vasily Podkolzin each had two assists and Jaroslav Halak made 27 saves.
Arizona got a goal from Nick Schmaltz while falling to 2-8-1 in its past 11 games. In his first NHL appearance since 2018, goalie Harri Sateri made his Coyotes debut and saved 27 of 32 shots.
Rangers 3, Penguins 0
Igor Shesterkin stopped all 30 shots he faced and New York rode a two-goal second period to a victory over visiting Pittsburgh.
“I thought he was excellent,” New York coach Gerard Gallant said. “People were worried about him. I wasn’t. He played really well tonight, made some real key saves at key times.”
It was the sixth career shutout, fourth of the season and first against Pittsburgh for Shesterkin, who had lost two straight starts and avoided his first three-game losing skid of the season. Frank Vatrano, Artemi Panarin and Dryden Hunt scored for the Rangers, who won their second straight.
“It was a very important game,” Shesterkin said afterwards. “I think the boys put out a great game with blocked shots.”
Tristan Jarry made 21 saves for the Penguins, who have lost three in row and six of their past eight (2-5-1).
Penguins captain and leading scorer Sidney Crosby was one of three Pittsburgh players who missed the came due to non-Covid related illness. Defenseman John Marino and forward Radim Zohorna were the other two.
Flames 4, Sharks 2
Matthew Tkachuk collected one goal and two assists and Elias Lindholm scored twice as Pacific Division-leading Calgary completed a sweep through California by beating San Jose.
Trevor Lewis also scored for the Flames, who have won three straight games and have a six-point lead on the Edmonton Oilers in the race for the division crown. Dan Vladar made 31 saves.
Nick Bonino and Logan Couture replied for the Sharks, who are winless in their past five games and have just three victories in their last 12 (3-7-2). James Reimer stopped 32 of 35 shots before being injured midway through the third period. Kappo Kahkonen made five saves in relief.
Oilers 3, Kings 2
Connor McDavid got Edmonton started with a goal just over three minutes into the game in an eventual win over host Los Angeles that solidified the Oilers’ hold on second place in the Pacific Division.
Evan Bouchard collected a goal and two assists, McDavid had a two-point night and Warren Foegele also scored as the Oilers extended their winning streak to six games. Mike Smith made 31 saves.
Trevor Moore had a goal and an assist, Viktor Arvidsson also tallied and Jonathan Quick made 27 saves as Los Angeles missed out on a chance to retake second place from Edmonton. The Kings lost their second consecutive game and are 2-3-1 over their past six.
–Field Level Media contributed to this report