NHL roundup: Golden Knights edge Canucks, Draisaitl hits 50 goals, Panthers clinch, and more
Anthony Scultore
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NHL Roundup for Sunday, April 3, 2022 recaps all nine games on the schedule.
The Florida Panthers became the first team in the League to secure a playoff berth with a 5-3 win over the host Buffalo Sabres. Meanwhile, Leon Draisaitl became the second player in the NHL to hit the 50 goal mark joining Auston Matthews.
We start the recaps in Vancouver, where the Vegas Golden Knights picked up a huge victory over the Canucks. It came with the Dallas Stars taking a loss to the Seattle Kraken allowing Vegas to leapfrog into the second wild card spot in the West.
Golden Knights 3, Canucks 2 (OT)
Shea Theodore scored 2:05 into overtime to give visiting Vegas the victory over Vancouver.
Theodore took a pass from Jonathan Marchessault near the right side of the crease at the end of an odd-man break and slid a shot past goalie Thatcher Demko for his sixth career overtime goal and 11th goal of the season.
“We need two points every night,” said Vegas forward Chandler Stephenson. “Just got to stay calm and collected and have the confidence you’re going to win a game. … It’s a playoff mindset for the rest of the year and from here on out.”
NHL.com
Vegas moved into a tie with idle Nashville for the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference. J.T. Miller and Bo Horvat scored goals, and Thatcher Demko finished with 27 saves for Vancouver, which scored twice in the third period to force overtime.
Islanders 4, Devils 3
Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored a natural hat trick for New York, which maintained its late-season surge by hanging on to edge host New Jersey in Newark, N.J.
Kyle Palmieri scored in the third for the Islanders, who have won four straight and are 12-4-1 since March 5. Cory Schneider earned the win by making 27 saves in his first NHL appearance since March 6, 2020, when he was a member of the Devils.
Jesper Boqvist, Tomas Tatar and Nico Hischier scored for the Devils, who have dropped three in a row.
Coyotes 3, Blackhawks 2 (OT)
Shayne Gostisbehere shook off a second-period injury and scored the game-winning goal with 14.7 seconds left in overtime as Arizona beat host Chicago.
After Patrick Kane went off for high-sticking Gostisbehere with under a minute left in overtime, the defenseman slid a shot that clipped Chicago captain Jonathan Toews’ left skate and went in for a power-play winner.
Michael Carcone and Travis Boyd scored goals for the Coyotes. Karel Vejmelka stopped 29 shots in his eighth straight start (2-5-1) as the Coyotes beat Chicago for the second time in three meetings thus far.
Senators 5, Red Wings 2
Josh Norris scored a hat trick to lift Ottawa to the home win over Detroit. The win gave the Senators the sweep of a home-and-home series with the Red Wings after winning Friday in Detroit by an identical score.
Artem Zub and Nikita Zaitsev scored the other goals for Ottawa.
Michael Rasmussen and Dylan Larkin each scored for Detroit, which has lost six straight and has won just three times in its past 18 games.
Panthers 5, Sabres 3
Anthony Duclair scored twice, and Jonathan Huberdeau set the franchise record for single-season points as the Florida Panthers clinched a playoff berth with a 5-3 win over the host Buffalo Sabres on Sunday afternoon.
Goalie Spencer Knight made 26 saves for the Panthers. Florida’s 48th win broke the previous franchise record of 47 set in the 2015-2016 season. The Panthers also moved one point away from the franchise’s single-season record.
Duclair increased his career-best goal total to 28. Huberdeau, who also had a goal against the Sabres, has 97 points while also leading the NHL with 73 assists.
The Panthers also received goals from rookie Anton Lundell, his first since March 5, and a late tally from MacKenzie Weegar. Buffalo received goals from Kyle Okposo, Jeff Skinner and Tage Thompson.
“They should be proud of themselves,” Florida coach Andrew Brunette said. “I think that’s the No. 1 goal heading into the season, and we have one of them. Lots of hockey left, but let’s enjoy the moment. It’s been an interesting 70 games, and they deserve every ounce of credit they are getting.”
NHL.com
Wild 5, Capitals 1
Joel Eriksson Ek scored two goals and set up another, and Jordan Greenway notched a career-high three assists to lift visiting Minnesota over Washington.
Marcus Foligno collected a goal and an assist, and Tyson Jost and Nicolas Deslauriers also tallied as the Wild extended their point streak to 10 games (9-0-1).
Garnet Hathaway scored in the third period and Vitek Vanecek yielded four goals on 18 shots for the Capitals, who have lost 10 of their last 14 home games.
“We like playing them against top lines clearly, and we get out here and we’re just going to roll lines and get what we get, and it probably frees them up a little bit,” Wild coach Dean Evason said. “It’s nice for guys that do the dirty work, do the grinding, do the checking to get rewarded sometimes too.”
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Flyers 4, Rangers 3 (SO)
Kevin Hayes scored the only goal of the shootout as visiting Philadelphia recovered after blowing a three-goal lead and recorded a victory over New York.
Hayes scored the game-winner against his former team when he lifted a soft shot over Igor Shesterkin’s blocker and stick in the third round of the shootout.
Backup goalie Martin Jones made 43 saves and then stopped Mika Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin and Filip Chytil in the shootout. Jones ended Philadelphia’s four-game losing streak when sprawled out in the crease and made a right pad save on Chytil.
Kraken 4, Stars 1
Chris Driedger made 29 saves as host Seattle knocked Dallas out of playoff positioning in the Western Conference race with the victory.
Jared McCann, Ryan Donato, Yanni Gourde and Karson Kuhlman scored for the Kraken, who snapped a two-game losing streak. Alex Wennberg and Carson Soucy each had two assists.
John Klingberg scored and Jake Oettinger stopped 25 of the 28 shots he faced for the Stars, who slipped a point behind Vegas for the conference’s second and final wild-card berth. The Golden Knights won 3-2 in overtime at Vancouver.
Oilers 6, Ducks 1
Tyson Barrie, Connor McDavid and Brett Kulak each collected one goal and two assists as visiting Edmonton rode a three-goal opening period to a victory over struggling Anaheim.
Leon Draisaitl collected one goal and one assist to reach both 50 goals and 101 points for the season. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins also scored in a two-point game, and Jesse Puljujarvi added a goal for the Oilers, who have won four straight. Goaltender Mike Smith made 31 saves.
“Tonight was a great test for us, and I thought we handled it really well,” Draisaitl said via NHL.com. “Obviously, on top of that, hitting a milestone, I’m happy about it.”
Zach Aston-Reese replied with a goal for the Ducks, who have just one victory in their past 13 games. Goalie John Gibson stopped 40 shots.
–Field Level Media contributed to this report