NHL Roundup: Lightning; Penguins clinch, Golden Knights stay in hunt, and more
Anthony Scultore
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What a night of action across the league. The NHL Roundup for games on April 14, 2022 recaps all 12 contests which included two more teams placing an x to their names in the standings.
The defending Stanley Cup Champions are back in the postseason after an OT win. Nikita Kucherov lifted the Tampa Bay Lightning over the Anaheim Ducks and solidified their grip on third-place in the Atlantic.
Boston’s stunning loss to the Ottawa Senators have them three points back of Tampa but holding on to the first Wild Card in the East. That’s due to a Toronto Maple Leafs trouncing over the Washington Capitals, who hold the second Wild Card.
The Pittsburgh Penguins doubled up the New York Islanders to also clinch a playoff berth. Their victory put them five up on the Caps and places the Isles just two points away from elimination.
Meanwhile in the West, the healthy Golden Knights took down the Flames putting them just one point behind the L.A. Kings for third-place in the Pacific. Both Western Wild Card teams lost, with Nashville falling in regulation and the Stars in OT, to cut that deficit to two points for Vegas.
Lightning 4, Ducks 3 (OT)
Nikita Kucherov scored with 12.3 seconds left in regulation and Anthony Cirelli tallied at 1:58 of overtime to lift Tampa Bay to a win over visiting Anaheim.
Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 10 of 13 shots for the Lightning before he was pulled for the first time in more than five years. Brian Elliott replaced Vasilevskiy and stopped all 13 shots for Tampa Bay, which clinched a playoff spot.
“You take pride in that, there’s no doubt, because this is a tough league to win it,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “A ton of credit goes to the players, because it’s hard.
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Adam Henrique scored two goals, Troy Terry also scored, Ryan Getzlaf had two assists, and Anthony Stolarz made 27 saves in the finale of the four-game road trip for the Ducks, who have lost 16 of their past 18 games.
Avalanche 3, Devils 1
Logan O’Connor, Andre Burakovsky and Artturi Lehkonen all scored in the second period for NHL-leading Colorado, which extended its winning streak to eight games by beating New Jersey in Denver.
The Avalanche extended their lead over the idle Florida Panthers to four points in the race for the best record in the NHL. Colorado is four points shy of tying the team record set by the 2000-01 squad, which won the franchise’s most recent Stanley Cup.
Avalanche goalie Pavel Francouz made 26 saves. Jesper Bratt scored in the third period for the Devils, who fell to 2-1-0 on a five-game Western Conference trip. Andrew Hammond recorded 27 saves.
Canucks 7, Coyotes 1
J.T. Miller had a career-high five assists and Vasily Podkolzin collected two goals and an assist against Arizona as host Vancouver cruised to a fifth straight victory.
Miller became the fifth player in Vancouver history to amass at least five assists in a game. Alex Chiasson also scored two goals and Sheldon Dries, Elias Pettersson and Conor Garland each scored once for Vancouver. Quinn Hughes added three assists, and Thatcher Demko made 21 saves.
Andrew Ladd scored for Arizona, which lost its fifth straight game, having allowed at least five goals in each of those contests. Karel Vejmelka stopped 16 of 22 shots before being replaced at the start of the third period by Harri Sateri, who made four saves.
Blackhawks 5, Sharks 4 (SO)
Alex DeBrincat had three assists in regulation and scored in the third round of the shootout to lift host Chicago over San Jose.
Patrick Kane collected one goal and two assists and Dylan Strome, Taylor Raddysh and defenseman Calvin de Haan also tallied as the Blackhawks snapped an eight-game winless skid (0-6-2).
Timo Meier recorded a goal and an assist and Scott Reedy, Rudolfs Balcers and defenseman Jaycob Megna also scored for the Sharks, who have lost a season-high eight straight games (0-5-3).
Penguins 6, Islanders 3
Jake Guentzel had two goals and two assists Thursday as the Pittsburgh Penguins clinched a playoff spot with a 6-3 win over the visiting New York Islanders.
“I think it’s a remarkable accomplishment,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “It’s hard to make the playoffs. Half of the League doesn’t make it every year. … There’s a lot of good teams every season that don’t make it. The fact that this organization has done it 16 consecutive years in a row, in my mind, is a remarkable achievement.”
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Sidney Crosby added a goal and two assists, Kris Letang, Danton Heinen and Brock McGinn also scored and Teddy Blueger added two assists for the Penguins. Pittsburgh is headed to the playoffs for the 16th consecutive year, the longest active streak in the four major North American pro sports leagues.
Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry, who had lost five straight starts, made 36 saves.
Zach Parise, Anders Lee and Zdeno Chara scored while Brock Nelson recorded two assists for the Islanders, who had won six of eight. New York goaltender Ilya Sorokin made 22 saves.
Red Wings 3, Hurricanes 0
Detroit goalie Alex Nedeljkovic made 46 saves to shut out his former team in Raleigh, N.C.
Moritz Seider, Adam Erne and Filip Zadina scored for the Red Wings.
Antti Raanta stopped 19 shots for the Hurricanes, who were blanked for the second time in their last nine home games. Carolina is 2-2-0 in four games since clinching a playoff berth.
Blues 6, Sabres 2
Vladimir Tarasenko registered a career-high five points as visiting St. Louis defeated Buffalo and extended its point streak to 10 games.
Tarasenko scored a hat trick and added two assists for the Blues, who are 9-0-1 during the streak and have scored four or more goals in each game.
Rasmus Asplund and Alex Tuch scored for the Sabres, who lost for the fourth time in five games. Craig Anderson made 22 saves.
Senators 3, Bruins 2
Tim Stutzle recorded a goal and two assists — all in the second period — to help Ottawa win at Boston.
Brady Tkachuk and Josh Norris also scored for the Senators, who overcame a 2-0 deficit to win their second game in a row. Anton Forsberg made 40 saves for the victory.
Rookies Marc McLaughlin and Jesper Froden scored in the first period for Boston, which has lost three straight in regulation. Froden’s goal was the first of his NHL career. Bruins goalie Linus Ullmark left after the first period, during which he was hit in the mask by a shot.
Maple Leafs 7, Capitals 3
Michael Bunting, William Nylander and Ilya Mikheyev each scored two goals as Toronto defeated visiting Washington.
Ilya Lyubushkin added a goal and an assist for the Maple Leafs, and John Tavares had three assists to give him 501 for his career. Pierre Engvall, Auston Matthews and Morgan Rielly had two assists each. Rielly has 301 career assists.
John Carlson had a goal and an assist for the Capitals, who had a four-game winning streak end. Tom Wilson and Nic Dowd also scored for Washington.
Golden Knights 6, Flames 1
William Karlsson and Jonathan Marchessault both collected one goal and two assists as Vegas pulled itself within one point of a playoff position with a victory at Calgary.
“Unbelievable. Best game of the season. We were good everywhere,” Marchessault said. ” Obviously, they had a good goal there at the beginning, but good teams find a way to win a game. Really proud of our team tonight.”
Evgenii Dadonov, Michael Amadio and Nicolas Roy each netted one goal and one assist while Jack Eichel also scored for the Golden Knights. Vegas goalie Logan Thompson, who hails from Calgary, made 35 saves.
Dillon Dube scored for the Pacific Division-leading Flames, who saw their five-game winning streak end. Starting goalie Jacob Markstrom was pulled for the second consecutive game after surrendering four goals on 17 shots. Dan Vladar made six saves in relief.
Wild 3, Stars 2 (OT)
Frederick Gaudreau scored the overtime winner and matched a career high with three points as Minnesota notched a road victory over Dallas.
The win allowed Minnesota to remain in second place in the Central Division. The Wild have won three in a row and are 12-1-2 over their last 15 games. Dallas earned one point from the overtime loss, pulling into a tie with the Nashville Predators for the two Western Conference wild-card berths.
Jason Robertson scored both of the Stars’ goals, with Roope Hintz earning two assists.
Oilers 4, Predators 0
Leon Draisaitl’s hat trick helped Edmonton snap a two-game losing streak with a road victory over Nashville.
Darnell Nurse also scored a goal while Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Connor McDavid each had two assists for Edmonton. Draisaitl scored at least three goals in a game for the sixth time in his career and the second time this season.
Edmonton goalie Mike Smith made 30 saves for his first shutout of the campaign and the 43rd of his career. Juuse Saros stopped 28 saves for the Predators, who fell to 1-2-1 in their past four games.
–Field Level Media contributed to this article.