Three goals 75 seconds apart in the first period vaulted the Calgary Flames to a 5-3 victory over the host San Jose Sharks Sunday night, earning them their Pacific Division title since the 2005-06 season and the top spot in the Western Conference for the first time in 29 years.
Mar 31, 2019; San Jose, CA, USA; San Jose Sharks center Micheal Haley (18) and San Jose Sharks right wing Joonas Donskoi (27) and Calgary Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson (4) and teammates fight during the third period at SAP Center at San Jose. Mandatory Credit: Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports
Mike Smith needed to make just 12 saves for the Flames (49-23-7, 105 points), who will face the second wild-card winner — a spot currently occupied by the Colorado Avalanche but well within reach of the Arizona Coyotes — in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
San Jose (44-26-9, 97 points) will finish second in the Pacific and will meet the Vegas Golden Knights in the opening round. The Sharks, who beat Vegas in an emotional game Saturday night, have just one win in nine games (1-7-1).
With the Flames trailing 1-0, Sean Monahan, Mark Jankowski and Dalton Prout completed the 75-second scoring spree. Mikael Backlund and Michael Frolik also scored for Calgary, and Timo Maier, Logan Couture and Kevin Labanc tallied for San Jose.
Red Wings 6, Bruins 3
Anthony Mantha recorded his first career hat trick and five-point game, and host Detroit scored four times in the third period to defeat Boston.
Mantha scored Detroit’s first three goals and assisted on the final two as Red Wings won their fifth straight game. Taro Hirose scored his first NHL goal, Dylan Larkin had a goal and an assist, and Tyler Bertuzzi notched three assists for the Red Wings.
Jimmy Howard made 31 saves to win his fourth straight decision, and Jaroslav Halak stopped 22 shots for Boston, which got goals from Jake DeBrusk, Brad Marchand, and David Backes.
Coyotes 4, Wild 0
Darcy Kuemper made 39 saves to record his second shutout in three starts, and Josh Archibald had two goals and an assist as Arizona downed Minnesota in Glendale, Ariz.
Alex Galchenyuk scored his team-leading 18th goal and Vinnie Hinostroza added a second empty-net tally for the Coyotes (38-33-8, 84 points), who moved within one point of Colorado for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
Devan Dubnyk finished with 19 saves for Minnesota (36-34-9, 81 points), which has dropped eight of its last 11 contests (3-7-1) and sits four points behind the Avalanche with three games remaining.
Blue Jackets 4, Sabres 0
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped all 38 shots for his league-leading ninth shutout of the season as Columbus defeated host Buffalo.
It was the 36th victory of the season for Bobrovsky, putting him one behind league leader Andrei Vasilevskiy of Tampa Bay. The Blue Jackets sit in the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, one point ahead of Carolina and two points up on Montreal.
Pierre Luc-Dubois, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Nick Foligno and Josh Anderson scored for the Blue Jackets, who have won five straight games. Linus Ullmark stopped 32 of 36 shots as the Sabres lost their seventh game in a row.
Penguins 3, Hurricanes 1
Pittsburgh’s fourth line combined for five points as host Pittsburgh topped Metropolitan Division rival Carolina.
Matt Cullen had a goal and an assist, Adam Johnson had two assists for his first two NHL points, and Garrett Wilson and Patric Hornqvist also scored for Pittsburgh, which has won four of its past five games.
Goaltender Matt Murray stopped 37 of 38 Hurricanes shots. The Penguins (43-25-11, 97 points) moved to within two points of the idle second-place New York Islanders in the division. A win would have tied Carolina (43-29-7, 93 points) with the Penguins in points with 95 and leapfrogged it into third place in the division based on tiebreakers.
Rangers 3, Flyers 0
Alexandar Georgiev made 29 saves to record his second career shutout as New York averted a season sweep at the hands of host Philadelphia.
Ryan Strome collected a goal and an assist, Pavel Buchnevich scored to reach the 20-goal plateau and defenseman Brady Skjei also tallied as the Rangers snapped a six-game skid versus Philadelphia.
Georgiev extended his right pad to deny James van Riemsdyk on a breakaway late in the second period to preserve New York’s 2-0 lead. Rookie Carter Hart finished with 22 saves for the Flyers, who have dropped seven of their last 10 games.
—Field Level Media