NHL roundup: Blues, Wild clinch playoff berths

Pavel Buchnevich celebrated his 30th birthday two days early as his three-point performance helped the St. Louis Blues secure a playoff spot on Tuesday with a 6-1 win over the visiting Utah Hockey Club.

Buchnevich made sure the Blues (44-30-8, 96 points) would not miss out on the playoffs for a third straight season as he had a hand in the team’s first three goals — all in a four-goal first period. He finished with a goal and two assists for his fourth three-point game of the season and second in three games. Jordan Kyrou added a pair of third-period goals. Jimmy Snuggerud got his first career goal to go with an assist, and Zack Bolduc and Brayden Schenn each recorded a goal and an assist as well.

Robert Thomas and Cam Fowler both notched a pair of assists. Jordan Binnington stretched his home winning streak to 11 by stopping 22 Utah shots.

Utah (38-31-13, 89 points) mustered only one goal — a power-play tally from Clayton Keller — in its season finale. Mikhail Sergachev and Nick Schmaltz set up Keller’s 30th goal. Karel Vejmelka made 23 saves.

Wild 3, Ducks 2 (OT)

Minnesota clinched a playoff berth when Joel Eriksson Ek forged a tie with 22 seconds left in regulation, then the Wild wrapped up a win over Anaheim when Matt Boldy scored with 18 seconds remaining in overtime in Saint Paul, Minn.

Filip Gustavsson made 22 saves in regulation and Marc-Andre Fleury stopped five shots in overtime and helped Minnesota kill a power play. Marcus Johansson also scored for the Wild, who earned the Western Conference’s first wild-card spot in their regular-season finale.

Alex Killorn and Sam Colangelo scored while Lukas Dostal made 37 saves for the Ducks, who have lost three in a row (0-2-1) with one game remaining.

Blue Jackets 3, Flyers 0

Jet Greaves made 29 saves as Columbus kept its playoff hopes alive by winning at Philadelphia.

Greaves denied Tyson Foerster on a point-blank chance early in the third period to highlight his second shutout of the season. He has turned aside 120 of 123 shots over his last four games. Defenseman Dante Fabbro and Kent Johnson each scored in the second period and Adam Fantilli tallied in the third for his 30th goal of the season and fifth in his last three games.

Samuel Ersson turned aside 31 shots for the Flyers, who have lost two in a row on the heels of winning five of their previous six.

Maple Leafs 4, Sabres 0

Toronto clinched the Atlantic Division as Auston Matthews scored his 400th NHL goal, Mitch Marner reached the 100-point plateau with a goal and Anthony Stolarz saved all 35 of host Buffalo’s shots for his second consecutive shutout.

The Maple Leafs, who extended their winning streak to four games, will face the Ottawa Senators in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Steven Lorentz and Nicholas Robertson also scored for Toronto.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 28 of 31 shots for the Sabres as their seven-game winning streak on home ice came to an end.

Flames 5, Golden Knights 4 (SO)

Morgan Frost scored the shootout winning goal and tallied once in regulation as Calgary recorded a victory over visiting Vegas, but it was not enough to keep the Flames’ Stanley Cup playoff hopes alive.

Nazem Kadri collected one goal and one assist while Mikael Backlund and Adam Klapka also scored for Calgary, which was officially eliminated from playoff contention. Matt Coronato notched two assists. Flames goaltender Dustin Wolf made 38 saves through regulation and overtime.

Brandon Saad scored one goal in a three-point game for Vegas, which had already clinched the Pacific Division crown and rested a few key players. The Golden Knights’ Tomas Hertl had one goal and one assist and Pavel Dorofeyev and Nicolas Roy added singles. Goaltender Ilya Samsonov made 24 saves for Vegas, which will face the Minnesota Wild in the opening round of the playoffs.

Capitals 3, Islanders 1

Dylan Strome recorded his third career hat trick to lead visiting Washington past New York in the penultimate regular-season game for both teams.

Strome scored once in each period for the Capitals, who have clinched the Eastern Conference’s top seed in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Strome’s big night pushed his goal total to 29, two more than his previous career high. Charlie Lindgren made 32 saves as Washington won for just the fourth time in 11 games.

Hudson Fasching scored unassisted in the third for the Islanders, who will miss the playoffs for the second time in the last seven seasons. Ilya Sorokin made 33 saves as the Islanders lost for the 10th time in 13 games.

Lightning 5, Panthers 1

Brayden Point notched his team-leading 42nd goal and had two assists, and Tampa Bay topped Florida.

Tampa Bay got goals from Conor Geekie, Jake Guentzel, Nikita Kucherov (assist) and Darren Raddysh as it earned points for the sixth straight game (3-0-3). Victor Hedman and Yanni Gourde had two helpers each, and Andrei Vasilevskiy had 23 saves as the club finished 29-8-4 at home.

Florida (47-31-4, 98 points) ended its season on a two-game losing streak and was 3-6-1 in its past 10 matches. Brad Marchand scored in his 1,100th NHL game, and backup goalie Vitek Vanecek stopped 26 shots.

Blackhawks 4, Senators 3 (OT)

Rookie forward Frank Nazar’s goal 48 seconds into overtime gave Chicago the win over Ottawa as the Blackhawks finished their season with 61 points, nine more than the year before.

Connor Bedard set up Nazar’s game-winner and scored his 22nd and 23rd goals. Joe Veleno scored the Blackhawks’ other goal and Spencer Knight made 34 saves.

Nick Cousins, defenseman Thomas Chabot and Drake Batherson got the goals for the Senators, who have one regular-season game left before facing the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Dylan Cozens had two assists and Anton Forsberg stopped 12 shots.

Devils 5, Bruins 4 (OT)

Brian Dumoulin scored 1:30 into overtime as playoff-bound New Jersey won at Boston to break a three-game skid.

Timo Meier had a goal and two assists, Dawson Mercer had a goal and an assist and Luke Hughes and Nico Hischier each dished out two assists for the Devils. Stefan Noesen and Simon Nemec also scored and Jake Allen made 20 saves for New Jersey.

David Pastrnak had a goal and an assist for his sixth consecutive multi-point game and Morgan Geekie extended his goal streak to six games for Boston. NHL debutant John Farinacci and Marat Khusnutdinov scored, Nikita Zadorov had two assists and Jeremy Swayman made 21 stops.

–Field Level Media