BOSTON - Craig Anderson stopped 28 shots in regulation and overtime and three more in the shootout Thursday night to help the Ottawa Senators clinch a playoff spot by beating Boston 2-1, snapping the Bruins' six-game winning streak and pulling ahead of them in the Atlantic Division standings.
Kyle Turris scored the only goal in the shootout. Anderson stopped Drew Stafford, who scored Boston's only regulation goal, and Ryan Spooner before straddling the goalpost to turn away David Pastrnak's attempt at the end.
Tuukka Rask stopped 25 shots for Boston, which went 0-4 against Ottawa this season. The Senators had never swept the Bruins in a season series.
Ottawa, which got a goal in the second from Alexandre Burrows, now has 96 points to 95 for Boston after entering the night tied. The Senators still have two games remaining - one more than the Bruins - and also have the head-to-head tiebreaker.
JETS 5, BLUE JACKETS 4
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Jacob Trouba scored twice and Eric Comrie had 35 saves in his NHL debut as the Winnipeg Jets beat the slumping Columbus Blue Jackets.
Mark Scheifele, Mathieu Perreault and Bryan Little also scored for the Jets, who held off a late Columbus rally to win their sixth straight.
The Blue Jackets, who play Pittsburgh in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs next week, were again up and down in dropping their fifth straight, the longest losing streak of the season. Columbus is 3-5-2 in its last 10 games.
Brandon Saad had two goals, Nick Foligno and Boone Jenner scored, and Joonas Korpisalo had 27 saves for the Blue Jackets.
LIGHTNING 4, MAPLE LEAFS 1
TORONTO - Brayden Point scored two goals and the Tampa Bay Lightning kept their slim playoff hopes alive by beating the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Nikita Kucherov and Michael Bournival also scored for the Lightning, who prevented the Maple Leafs from clinching their first post-season berth in four years. There is only one spot remaining in the Eastern Conference after Ottawa clinched a berth with a 2-1 shootout win at Boston.
Toronto, which would have clinched with a win, needs two points over its final two games - against Pittsburgh and Columbus - to beat out the Lightning and New York Islanders for the last spot. Nazem Kadri scored the only goal for Toronto.
PENGUINS 7, BLUE JACKETS 4
NEWARK, N.J. - The Pittsburgh Penguins clinched home-ice advantage for their first-round playoff series against the Columbus Blue Jackets with a victory over the New Jersey Devils.
The Penguins got goals from seven players, two assists from Sidney Crosby - including a spectacular no-look, backhand pass to give Conor Sheary a shot into an open net - and 34 saves from Matt Murray in picking up their 50th win of the season.
The win gave Pittsburgh 111 points - the second-highest total in franchise history. Coupled with Columbus' 5-4 loss to Winnipeg, the Penguins will finish second ahead of the Blue Jackets in the Metropolitan Division, gaining home-ice for the best-of-7 first-round series.
Bryan Rust, Jake Guentzel, Josh Archibald, Patric Hornqvist, Matt Cullen and Nick Bonino also scored for the Penguins. Stefan Noesen, John Moore, Taylor Hall and Kyle Palmieri scored for the Devils.
ISLANDERS 3, HURRICANES 0
RALEIGH, N.C. - Jaroslav Halak stopped 29 shots in his second shutout of the season, and the fast-starting New York Islanders beat the Carolina Hurricanes.
Brock Nelson and Scott Mayfield scored early goals 3:12 apart, and Andrew Ladd added a power-play goal to help the Islanders win their fourth straight and preserve their long-shot playoff hopes for a little while longer.
Eddie Lack stopped 20 shots for the Hurricanes, who lost their fourth straight overall, a slide that coincides with their mathematical elimination from the playoff race for the eighth straight year - the longest active post-season drought in the NHL. They've also been shut out in their last two home games.
BLUES 6, PANTHERS 3
SUNRISE, Fla. - Jaden Schwartz had a goal and two assists to lead the surging St. Louis Blues over the Florida Panthers.
David Perron, Vladimir Tarasenko and Alex Pietrangelo each had a goal and an assist, and Patrick Berglund and Ryan Reaves also scored as the Blues improved to 13-2-2 in their last 17 games. Jake Allen had 29 saves.
Vincent Trochek, Michael Matheson and Denis Malgin scored for the Panthers, who lost their sixth straight. James Reimer stopped 32 shots.
The teams combined for six goals in a wild third period.
WILD 4, AVALANCHE 3
DENVER - Nino Niederreiter tapped in the go-ahead goal early in the third period, Minnesota caught a break when a late goaltender interference call disallowed a goal and the Wild held off the Colorado Avalanche to tie franchise records for points and wins in a season.
Nate Prosser, Mikael Granlund and Jason Zucker also added goals for the Wild, who have amassed 104 points and 48 wins in clinching the second spot in the Central Division. Devan Dubnyk stopped 30 shots as No. 40 picked up win No. 40.
Tyson Jost scored his first NHL goal, and Matt Nieto, Francois Beauchemin also contributed goals during the home finale for the Avalanche.
The Avalanche had a 6-on-4 with 1:39 remaining after Christian Folin was called for cross-checking and Colorado pulled goaltender Calvin Pickard. About 25 seconds later, Sven Andrighetto pushed the puck past a sprawled-out Dubnyk. But Minnesota challenged the play claiming goaltender interference and the tying goal was negated.
PREDATORS 7, STARS 3
DALLAS - Viktor Arvidsson had two goals and two assists, and the Nashville Predators beat the Dallas Stars to remain one point out of third place in the Central Division.
Craig Smith had two goals and an assist, and Kevin Fiala, Harry Zolnierczyk and Roman Josi also scored for the Predators, who kept pace with St. Louis in the division. Juuse Saros stopped 30 shots for his 10th win.
Jason Spezza, Radek Faksa and Jason Dickinson scored for the Stars. Antti Niemi started and gave up two goals on eight shots over the first 13:02 before being replaced by Kari Lehtonen, who finished with 21 saves.
