BOSTON (AP) — David Pastrnak scored his 49th goal, Tyler Bertuzzi had a goal and an assist and the Boston Bruins overcame a sluggish performance to beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-2 on Thursday night for their fifth straight victory.
Jake DeBrusk scored on a breakaway, David Krejci put home on a rebound midway through the third period and Jeremy Swayman stopped 29 shots for the Bruins, who managed 21 shots and went 0 for 5 on the power play.
While they were denied a chance to clinch the Atlantic Division when Toronto beat Florida, the Bruins improved to 55-11-5 and remained on pace to break the league record of 62 wins in a season.
Nick Suzuki and Kirby Dach each scored power-play goals against Boston’s No. 1 penalty kill, Suzuki added an assist and Jake Allen made 17 saves in Montreal’s 10th loss in 12 games.
The 932nd meeting between the Original Six rivals and their only matchup in Boston this season was chippy. There were 31 penalty minutes in the first period, including a game misconduct against the Bruins’ A.J. Greer after his crosscheck to the face of Mike Hoffman as they awaited a face-off.
MAPLE LEAFS 6, PANTHERS 2
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Brothers Eric and Marc Staal of the Florida Panthers declined to wear special Pride-themed warmup jerseys ahead of the team’s loss to Toronto.
The jerseys were part of Florida’s Pride night game in support of the area’s LGBTQ community, and the brothers cited their religion as the reason for their decision. While the Staal brothers declined to participate, Russian goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky was one of the Panthers who went ahead with the Pride-themed jerseys.
Auston Matthews had two goals for Toronto, and Matt Murray made 33 saves. Mitchell Marner and William Nylander each had a goal and an assist, and John Tavares finished with three assists. The Maple Leafs won for the third time in four games, bouncing back nicely after a 7-2 loss to the New York Islanders on Tuesday night.
Matthew Tkachuk and Nick Cousins scored for the Panthers. Bobrovsky made 21 saves in the team’s second straight loss.
FLYERS 5, WILD 4, SO
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — James van Riemsdyk scored the only goal in a shootout and Philadelphia Flyers beat Minnesota for coach John Tortorella’s 700th career victory.
Tortorella is 700-573-181 in 1,454 games as an NHL head coach. His 700 wins rank 12th in NHL history and his career games rank ninth in NHL history. He led Tampa Bay to the Stanley Cup in 2004 and is in his first season coaching the Flyers. Tortorella joined Peter Laviolette as the second American-born coach to win 700 games.
Scott Laughton, Joel Farabee, Rasmus Ristolainen and Tyson Foerster scored for the Flyers.
Matt Boldy had two goals for the Wild, and Oskar Sundqvist and Marcus Foligno also scored.
CAPITALS 6, BLACKHAWKS 1
WASHINGTON (AP) — John Carlson had a goal and an assist in his return from a fractured skull and Washington beat Chicago.
Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom also had a goal and an assist, helping Washington (34-31-8) move within four points of Pittsburgh for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. The Penguins were at Dallas on Thursday night.
Nikita Zaitsev scored for Chicago in the third period, and Anton Khudobin made 22 saves in his first NHL game since Jan. 15, 2022, with Dallas. It was Zaitsev’s first goal since April 3 for Ottawa.
The Blackhawks went 0 for 5 on the power play in their third straight loss. They were coming off a 5-0 loss at Colorado on Monday night.
RANGERS 2, HURRICANES 1
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Adam Fox ended a 24-game stretch without a goal and New York edged Carolina.
Fox scored at 4:01 of the third period and the Rangers forged a split of a two-game set this week among Metropolitan Division contenders. Artemi Panarin also scored and assisted on the goal-ahead goal. Mika Zibanejad had two assists for the Rangers. Igor Shesterkin made 29 saves for New York, which has points in eight of its last nine games (7-1-1).
Sebastian Aho had Carolina’s goal and Frederik Anderson stopped 14 shots. The Hurricanes could have clinched an Eastern Conference playoff spot with a victory.
SENATORS 7, LIGHTNING 2
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Alex DeBrincat and Brady Tkachuk each scored two goals and Ottawa cruised past Tampa Bay.
DeBrincat added an assist, and Derick Brassard, Erik Brannstrom and Austin Watson also scored for Ottawa, which earned its first 35-win season since 2015-16. Mads Sogaard made 27 saves.
Brayden Point and Mikhail Sergachev scored and Brian Elliott stopped 28 shots for the Lightning, who are on a three-game losing streak and have been outscored 15-6 during that stretch.
BLUES 4, RED WINGS 3
DETROIT (AP) — Sammy Blais scored the go-ahead goal, Joel Hofer made 27 saves and St. Louis held off Detroit.
Alexey Toropchenko, Brayden Schenn and Jake Neighbours also scored for St. Louis, which avenged a loss to Detroit on Tuesday night.
Simon Edvinsson, the sixth pick of the 2021 draft, scored his first career goal in his third NHL game as Detroit took a 2-0 lead just 1:28 into the game. Jake Walman and Alex Chiasson also scored for Detroit. Magnus Hellberg and Alex Nedeljkovic combined for 18 saves.
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