Roman Josi scored 40 seconds into overtime to cap a stunning comeback and the Nashville Predators extended their point streak to 18 games with a 5-4 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday.

The Predators scored three times in the third period to erase a 4-1 deficit before Josi’s goal gave them their sixth straight win and a 16-0-2 mark since a regulation loss to Dallas on Feb. 15.

Filip Forsberg had a goal and two assists to reach 40 goals for the second time in his career. He has seven goals and seven assists during a seven-game point streak.

Ivan Barbashev, Brett Howden and Shea Theodore scored first-period goals for Vegas and Mark Jankowski’s tally in the second made it 4-1.

The Golden Knights, who had won three straight, pulled within one point of Los Angeles for third place in the Pacific Division and are six points ahead of St. Louis for the final wild card spot in the Western Conference.

Rangers clinch playoff berth

Adam Fox scored 36 seconds into overtime after a wild third period and the New York Rangers became the first team to clinch a playoff spot with a 6-5 win over the Philadelphia Flyers.

Alexis Lafreniere scored twice and Vincent Trocheck had a goal and two assists for the Rangers, who took over the NHL lead with their 100th point and gave coach Peter Laviolette his 800th victory.

The teams combined for seven goals in the third period with Philadelphia’s Tyson Foerster scoring with 3:31 left to forge a 5-5 tie.

Travis Konecny and Scott Laughton each had a goal and an assist for the Flyers, who are winless in four straight road games (0-2-2) and have a one-point lead over Washington in the race for third in the Metropolitan Division.

Bruins beat Panthers to move atop Atlantic

Trent Frederic and Pavel Zacha scored late in the third period to rally the Boston Bruins to a 4-3 win over the Florida Panthers, moving them into sole possession of first place in the Atlantic Division.

Carter Verhaeghe scored midway through the third period to give Florida a 3-2 lead but Frederic scored on a power play with 4:22 remaining and Zacha put Boston ahead just over two minutes later.

Charlie McAvoy and David Pastrnak also had goals for the Bruins, who avoided a third straight loss and lead the Atlantic with 99 points, two ahead of the Panthers.

Evan Rodrigues and Sam Reinhart also tallied for the Panthers, who dropped to 1-4-1 in their last six games since losing star defenseman Aaron Ekblad to a lower-body injury on March 9.

Garnet Hathaway scored with 22 seconds left in regulation and the Philadelphia Flyers got 29 saves from Samuel Ersson in a 2-1 victory, ending the Florida Panthers’ six-game winning streak on Thursday.

Ryan Poehling had the other goal for the Flyers, who have points in three straight (2-0-1) after losing three of four.

Vladimir Tarasenko was pointless in his Panthers debut after he was acquired from Ottawa on Wednesday.

Florida, which had won six in a row at home, dropped to 12-2-0 in its last 14 games overall.

Flyers defenseman Cam York left late in the third after blocking a shot with his knee, while leading scorer Travis Konecny returned after missing six games with an upper-body injury.

 

Carolina’s Andersen sharp in return

Frederik Andersen turned away 24 shots after a four-month absence and Brady Skjei scored twice to lift the Carolina Hurricanes to a 4-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens.

Andersen made his first appearance since Nov. 2 due to a blood clotting issue and improved to 5-1 on the season. He had been doing on-ice work for about a month in preparation for his return.

Stefan Noesen and Andrei Svechnikov also scored for the Hurricanes, who pulled within four points of the Metropolitan Division-leading Rangers.

 

Forsberg has hat trick in Predators’ win

Filip Forsberg recorded his ninth career hat trick to lead the red-hot Nashville Predators to a 4-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres.

Forsberg scored the game’s first goal at 3:53 of the opening period and scored twice in the third period, completing his first hat trick of the season at 6:43.

He extended his point streak to seven games, one short of matching his career high. He has seven goals and five assists during the run.

Luke Evangelista also scored and Juuse Saros stopped 26 shots to help the Predators improve to 9-0-1 in their last 10 games.

Alex Ovechkin ignited a run of five unanswered goals and the Washington Capitals picked up a key 5-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday.

Ovechkin’s 17th goal of the season and 839th of his career at 4:34 of the second period cut Philadelphia’s lead to 2-1 before Sonny Milano and John Carlson scored later in the period to put Washington ahead for good.

Anthony Mantha and Dylan Strome added third-period goals for the Capitals, who have won five of seven to pull within four points of the third-place Flyers in the Metropolitan Division.

Bobby Brink and Owen Tippett scored for Philadelphia, which has dropped five of seven. The Flyers played their fourth straight game without All-Star forward Travis Konecny, who could return next week.

Coyotes snap 14-game losing streak

Dylan Guenther snapped a tie in the third period and the Arizona Coyotes held on for a 5-3 victory over the Ottawa Senators to end a 14-game losing streak.

Michael Carcone, J.J. Moser, Nick Schmaltz and Matias Maccelli had the other goals to help Arizona stop a 0-12-2 slide with its first win since Jan. 22.

Karel Vejmelka made 34 saves to earn his first win since Dec. 27 after going 0-8-0 in 10 appearances since.

Ottawa lost its third straight game and both meetings this season against Arizona.

Dostal stars in Ducks’ win

Lukas Dostal stopped 52 shots and Jack Hughes’ penalty shot with 2.1 seconds remaining to lift the Anaheim Ducks to a 4-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils.

Frank Vatrano scored twice and Adam Henrique and Max Jones had the other goals as the Ducks won back-to-back games after a three-game skid.

Hughes had a goal and two assists but failed to convert a late penalty shot, awarded when Vatrano deliberately knocked the net off its moorings following a scramble around Dostal.

Igor Shesterkin turned aside 39 shots and the New York Rangers held off the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1 to tie a franchise record with their 10th straight victory on Saturday.

Alexis Lafreniere scored in the second period and Matt Rempe tallied the first of his NHL career to snap a third-period tie as the Rangers matched 10-game runs by the 1939-40 and 1972–73 teams. They can set the franchise record Sunday on the road against last-place Columbus.

New York, which hasn’t lost since Jan. 26, moved into a virtual tie with Boston for the Eastern Conference lead.

Tyson Foerster had the lone goal for the Flyers, who have lost three of four (0-2-1) after four consecutive wins.

Philadelphia played without leading scorer Travis Konecny, who sat out with an upper-body injury.

 

Streaking Maple Leafs score late to beat Avalanche

Tyler Bertuzzi scored his third goal of the game on a power play with 2:51 remaining and the Toronto Maple Leafs edged the Colorado Avalanche 4-3 for their seventh straight win.

Bertuzzi, playing on his 29th birthday, scored his first goal of the game with 6:18 left in the first period to pull the Leafs within 2-1 and tallied his second of the contest with 5:15 to play in the second to make it 2-2.

He completed his third career hat trick and first since Oct. 14, 2021, with Mikko Rantanen in the penalty box for sending the puck out of play.

The seven-game streak is Toronto’s longest since an eight-game run from Nov. 22-Dec. 6, 2003.

Rantanen had a goal and an assist and Nathan MacKinnon set up three scores for the Avalanche, who had a six-game home winning streak snapped.

MacKinnon has recorded at least one point in all 28 home games this season.

 

Canucks rally past Bruins for overtime win

Brock Boeser scored his second goal of the game on a power play in overtime to complete the Vancouver Canucks’ 3-2 comeback win over the Boston Bruins in a matchup of division leaders.

Boston took a 2-0 lead into the third period but Boeser scored with 7:11 remaining and Filip Hronek tied it with 71 seconds left.

J.T. Miller assisted on all three goals for the NHL-leading Canucks, who had lost a season-high four straight.

Jesper Boqvist and Danton Heninen had goals for the Bruins, who played past regulation in their fifth consecutive game. They are 2-0-3 during that span.

Igor Shesterkin turned back 30 shots for his first shutout of the season as the New York Rangers recorded a 2-0 victory over the Calgary Flames on Monday in a clash of teams sporting extended winning streaks.

Shesterkin out-dueled counterpart Jacob Markstrom to lead the Rangers to a fifth consecutive victory and halt Calgary's four-game winning streak. 

Markstrom was sharp in defeat, as he stopped 29 of 30 shots to keep the Flames in it until Jimmy Vesey sealed New York's win with an empty-net goal with 19 seconds remaining.

The Calgary goaltender came up with 11 saves during a scoreless first period, but his lone blemish came when Will Cuylle knocked in a rebound with 6:29 left in the second to give the Rangers a 1-0 advantage.

Shesterkin protected the lead with 13 second-period saves and 11 more in the third to finish off his 12th career shutout.

The win increased New York's lead over the second-place Carolina Hurricanes to six points in the Metropolitan Division standings. 

Flyers rally to top Coyotes, extend winning streak to four games

Travis Konecny had a goal and two assists and helped spark a third-period rally that lifted the surging Philadelphia Flyers to a 5-3 win over the Arizona Coyotes.

The Flyers trailed 3-2 after two periods before getting goals from Jamie Drysdale, Scott Laughton and Owen Tippett that kept them unbeaten since the All-Star break. Philadelphia is now 4-0-0 since the stoppage.

Laughton added an assist on Konecny's 25th goal of the season, while both of Konecny's assists came during Philadelphia's third-period comeback.

Drysdale began the rally when his shot deflected off Arizona defenseman Matt Dumba and trickled past goaltender Karel Vejmelka to tie the game at 3-3 with 6:12 elapsed in the third period.

Laughton put the Flyers ahead just over four minutes later by beating Vejmelka on a wraparound attempt, and Tippett's empty-net goal with 1:21 left put the game out of reach.

Dumba scored the lone goal of an otherwise quiet first period, but the action picked up in the second as both teams scored twice. 

Morgan Frost successfully converted a penalty shot 4:23 into the period to get the Flyers on the board, but Matias Maccelli sent the Coyotes back ahead by sneaking a shot past Philadelphia goaltender Samuel Ersson just 3:34 later.

Philadelphia answered on Konecny's goal midway through the second before Alex Kerfoot scored on a partial breakaway to give Arizona a 3-2 edge heading into the third. 

Vejmelka stopped 29 of 33 shots in the Coyotes' sixth consecutive loss (0-5-1), while Ersson finished with 20 saves. 

Eriksson Ek's two goals help Wild down Golden Knights

The Minnesota Wild lengthened a winning streak of their own with Monday's 5-3 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights that was sparked by a pair of goals from Joel Eriksson Ek.

Minnesota scored three times in the third period to snap a 2-2 tie and record its third consecutive win and sixth in eight games. Matt Boldy netted the eventual game-winner with 12:31 left to play and added two assists on the night.

The Wild's Marco Rossi broke the deadlock by knocking in a rebound 6:28 into the third period. Just 61 seconds later, Boldy fired a loose puck over the shoulder of Vegas goaltender Adin Hill to give Minnesota a 4-2 advantage.

Mark Stone's goal with 10:20 remaining got the Golden Knights within one, but the Wild held on before putting the game away on Eriksson Ek's empty-net tally with 22 seconds left.

Vegas started the game strong, taking a 1–0 lead just 22 seconds in when Jonathan Marchessault's chip attempt deflected off a Minnesota skater and trickled past goaltender Filip Gustavsson.

Mats Zuccarello and Eriksson Ek scored 81 seconds apart later in the first period to put the Wild on top before the Knights' Michael Amadio scored on a power play to forge a 2-2 tie. 

Gustavsson finished with 27 saves while Hill stopped 24 of 28 shots for Vegas, which was dealt just its second regulation loss in its last 10 games. The Knights entered the contest 7-1-1 over their last nine outings.

 

 

Evander Kane and Connor McDavid scored 55 seconds apart in the third period and the Edmonton Oilers extended their franchise-record winning streak to 14 games with a 4-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday.

Warren Foegele and Dylan Holloway also scored and Stuart Skinner made 27 saves as Edmonton became the seventh team in NHL history to win 14 in a row.

Edmonton improved to 22-3 in its last 25 games and is nearing the NHL record for longest winning streak of 17, set by Pittsburgh in 1992-93.

Skinner won his 11th straight game, passing Grant Fuhr for the longest single-season winning streak in franchise history.

Dmitri Voronkov had the lone goal for the Blue Jackets, who dropped to 1-4-1 in their last six games.

Kucherov powers Lightning

Nikita Kucherov had a hat trick and set up another goal as the surging Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Philadelphia Flyers, 6-3.

With his four points, Kucherov moved into the NHL lead with 80 points, three ahead of Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon.

Brayden Point and Brandon Hagel each had a goal and an assist to help Tampa Bay win for the sixth time in seven games.

Jamie Drysdale, Cam York and Cam Atkinson had goals for the Flyers, who dropped their third straight following a five-game winning streak.

Hill sharp in return as Knights win

Adin Hill turned away 40 shots in his return from injury and the Vegas Golden Knights held on for a 3-2 win over the New York Islanders.

Ivan Barbashev and Nicolas Roy had a goal and an assist apiece for Vegas, which has point in five straight games (4-0-1).

Hill made his first start since Dec. 17 after missing 22 of the previous 23 games with a lower-body injury.

Brock Nelson notched his 500th career point with a first-period goal and Jean-Gabriel Pageau had a short-handed tally for the Islanders, who fell to 1-1 under new coach Patrick Roy.

 

Predators spoil Oettinger’s return

Filip Forsberg had a goal and an assist in the third period and Ryan O’Reilly had a goal and two assists to lift the Nashville Predators to a 6-3 win over the Dallas Stars on Friday.

Jeremy Lauzon, Gustav Nyquist and Juuso Parssinen also scored and Roman Josi had three assists for Nashville, which improved to 6-0-1 in its last seven road games.

Dallas’ Jake Oettinger made 32 saves in his first appearance since Dec. 15.

Jani Hakanpaa, Wyatt Johnston and Matt Duchene tallied for the Stars, who had gone 8-3-2 in Oettinger’s absence.

Farabee scores in overtime to lift Flyers

Joel Farabee scored his second goal of the game at 3:36 of overtime to give the Philadelphia Flyers a 4-3 win over the struggling Minnesota Wild.

Tyson Forester and Owen Tippett also had goals for the Flyers, who have won three of four.

Minnesota’s Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 31 shots and remained tied with Patrick Roy for second on the NHL’s career wins list.

The Wild dropped to 1-6-1 in their last eight games since losing star forward Kirill Kaprizov to an injury on Dec. 30.

Valeri Nichushkin scored two power-play goals and Alexander Georgiev stopped 25 shots for his second shutout of the season as the Colorado Avalanche defeated the slumping Vegas Golden Knights, 3-0 on Wednesday.

Logan O’Connor also scored and Nathan MacKinnon had an assist to extend his season-opening home points streak to 23 games.

MacKinnon is the fourth player in NHL history with a season-opening home points streak of at least 23 games. The others are Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito.

MacKinnon also tied Joe Sakic (2000-01) for the longest home points streak at any stage of a season in franchise history.

Colorado improved to 8-1-1 in its last 10 games and pulled within one point of Central Division-leading Winnipeg.

The Golden Knights have dropped seven of nine games overall and six straight on the road.

Stars roll past slumping Wild

Nils Lundkvist had a goal and an assist and Esa Lindell set up three scores as the Dallas Stars completed a season sweep of the Minnesota Wild with a 7-2 rout.

Joe Pavelski, Matt Duchene, Roope Hintz, Jason Robertson, Tyler Seguin and Sam Steel also scored for the Stars, who won all three games this season against the Wild by a 19-5 score.

Matt Boldy had a goal and an assist as Minnesota dropped to 1-6-0 in its last seven games.

Jesper Wallstedt made his NHL debut in net for the Wild and stopped 27 of 34 shots.

Couturier lifts Flyers over Canadiens in shootout

Sean Couturier tallied the only goal in the shootout and the Philadelphia Flyers rallied for a 3-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens.

Owen Tippett and Morgan Frost scored in regulation for the Flyers, who overcame as 2-0 deficit to cap a four-game homestand with its third victory in 10 games.

Sean Monahan and David Savard had goals and Cayden Primeau stopped 37 shots for Montreal, which has lost five of seven.

Defenseman Jamie Drysdale had an assist in his Flyers debut after he was acquired from Anaheim on Monday for top prospect Cutter Gauthier.

Connor McDavid had a goal and four assists to reach 900 points for his career and the Edmonton Oilers won their sixth straight game, 5-2 over the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday.

McDavid’s milestone point came on an assist on Zach Hyman’s goal in the second period. The 900th point came in his 602nd game, making McDavid the fifth-fastest player in NHL history to reach that total, trailing only Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Mike Bossy and Peter Stastny.

McDavid had five points in a game for the 10th time. He had a career-high six points on Nov. 14, 2019 against Colorado.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had two goals and an assist for the Oilers, who are 14-3-0 in their past 17 games.

Surging Jets handle Lightning

Nikolaj Ehlers and Morgan Barron scored third-period goals as the Winnipeg Jets extended their point streak to nine games with a 4-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Neal Pionk and Alex Iafallo also scored and Vladimir Namestnikov had three assists as the Jets won their third straight and improved to 7-0-2 in their past nine games.

Connor Hellebuyck, named the NHL’s third star of the month of December, stopped 33 shots. He is 7-0-2 with a 1.99 goals-against average in his last nine starts.

Red-hot Hurricanes roll past Rangers

Andrei Svechnikov scored a pair of goals and Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 28 shots to lift the Carolina Hurricanes to a 6-1 rout of the New York Rangers.

Brady Skjei had three assists against his former team and Jack Drury had a goal and an assist to help the Hurricanes win their fourth straight and improve to 7-1-3 in their last 11 games.

Svechnikov has points in five consecutive games, including six goals, while Sebastian Aho has points in his last five games with three goals and 10 assists.

Chris Kreider scored for New York, which has lost seven times this season by three or more goals.

Logan Thompson stopped 32 shots and the Vegas Golden Knights held on for a 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday to snap a four-game losing streak.

Jack Eichel, Michael Ammadio and Williams Karlsson scored for Vegas, which tied Vancouver for first place in the Pacific Division.

Thompson bounced back after he allowed four goals on Anaheim’s first nine shots during a 5-2 loss to the Ducks on Wednesday.

Anže Kopitar had a goal and an assist for Los Angeles, which lost on the road in regulation for just the second time this season (13-2-1).

Svechnikov, Fast power Hurricanes

Andrei Svechnikov had a hat trick and Jesper Fast scored twice to lift the Carolina Hurricanes to a 5-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens.

Svechnikov tallied his first goal of the night 1:35 into the first period and snapped a tie with 6:09 remaining in the third. He completed his third career hat trick with an empty-net goal with 18.9 seconds to play.

Sebastian Aho had four assists and Brent Burns set up three scores for Carolina, which has points in eight of its last nine games (5-1-3).

Flyers score 3 quick goals to beat Canucks

Egor Zamula, Sean Walker and Joel Farabee scored in the second period and Samuel Ersson made 18 saves before leaving as the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Vancouver Canucks 4-1.

Ersson allowed only Teddy Blueger’s goal 25 seconds into the third period before leaving shortly after due to dehydration. Carter Hart stopped all eight shots the rest of the way.

Vancouver suffered its first loss in 10 games (7-1-2).

Patrick Kane scored twice in Detroit’s five-goal first period and had the clinching shootout tally as the Red Wings squandered a four-goal lead before pulling out a wild 7-6 victory Friday over the Philadelphia Flyers.

Kane scored the game’s first two goals and Daniel Sprong, J.T. Compher and Shayne Gostisbehere also tallied to give the Red Wings a 5-1 lead after one period.

The Flyers, though, scored twice in the second period before Garnet Hathaway, Scott Laughton and Owen Tippett netted third-period goals for a 6-5 lead. Dylan Larkin’s bad-angle goal came just 37 seconds after Tippett’s and made it 6-6.

 Detroit snapped a four-game skid while Philadelphia moved to 7-1-2 in its last 10 games.

Niederreiter, Hellebuyck keep Jets surging

Nino Niederreiter had two goals and an assist and Connor Hellebuyck carried a shutout late into the third period in the Winnipeg Jets’ 5-1 win over the Boston Bruins.

Josh Morrissey, Gabriel Vilardi and Adam Lowry also scored for the Jets, who moved back atop the Central Division with their eighth win in 10 games (8-1-1).

Vilardi has goals in five straight games with six goals and six assists during that span. 

Hellebuyck kept the Bruins scoreless until Brandon Carlo’s goal with 5:38 remaining. He is 6-0-1 with a 1.86 goals-against average in his past seven starts.

Boston is winless in three straight games (0-1-2).

Oilers score 4 in 3rd period to beat Rangers

Zach Hyman triggered a four-goal outburst in the third period and the visiting Edmonton Oilers held on for a 4-3 win over the New York Rangers.

Blake Wheeler’s first-period goal stood up until Hyman scored the equaliser at 3:07 of the third. Evander Kane tallied 70 seconds later, and Warren Foegele and Ryan McLeod added goals to put the Oilers up 4-1.

Mika Zibanejad and Will Cuyle scored late goals for the Rangers, who are 4-4-0 in their last eight games but still lead the Eastern Conference with 45 points.

Owen Tippett scored with 1:35 remaining in overtime to lead the surging Philadelphia Flyers to a 3-2 win over the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday.

Ryan Poeling, who entered with two goals in 25 games this season, had the other two goals and Samuel Ersson stopped 24 shots as the Flyers improved to 7-0-2 in their last nine games.

Philadelphia already has 39 points in 31 games this season after it had 75 all last season and missed the playoffs.

Michael McLeod and Jesper Bratt tallied for New Jersey, which has points in nine of its last 12 games (8-3-1).

Rangers snap Maple Leafs’ point streak

Mika Zibanejad scored two goals and Igor Shesterkin turned aside 31 shots as the New York Rangers ended the Toronto Maple Leafs’ nine-game point streak, 5-2.

Braden Schneider, Alexis Lafreniere and Artemi Panarin also had goals to help the Eastern Conference-leading Rangers win their third straight.

Auston Matthews scored two more goals for Toronto, giving him 11 in his last seven games and a league-high 25.

The Leafs had been 6-0-3 in their last nine games.

Marchenko has hat trick as Blue Jackets roll

Kirill Marchenko had a natural hat trick and the Columbus Blue Jackets rolled to a 9-4 rout of the reeling Buffalo Sabres.

Johnny Gaudreau had a goal and two assists for the Blue Jackets, who had the second-highest scoring game in franchise history.

Columbus set the record in a 10-0 win over Montreal on Nov. 4, 2016.

Casey Mittelstadt had three assists as the Sabres dropped to 3-7-1 in their past 11 games. The nine goals were the most allowed by Buffalo since a 10-4 loss to Dallas in March.

Devon Levi was pulled in the second period after allowing four goals on 18 shots and was replaced by Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who stopped 11 of 16 shots the rest of the way.

The Boston Bruins saw no better preparation for the Stanley Cup playoffs than chasing NHL regular-season records under pressure.

That was the message from Bruins coach Jim Montgomery after Boston set a single-season NHL record with their 63rd win following a 5-3 triumph over the Philadelphia Flyers.

The Bruins moved past the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings and 2018-19 Tampa Bay Lightning (both 62 wins) and have two games to lay down another benchmark.

Boston are just one point behind the all-time single-season record of 132 held by the Montreal Canadiens (in 1976-77), who they visit on Thursday after hosting the Washington Capitals two days prior.

Montgomery had previously said his group are "aware" and "grasp" their record-breaking exploits, and acknowledged his team are using the regular season to prepare for the playoffs, which start on April 17.

"Being able to stay focused and learn how to win when chasing records is the closest thing you can do when you're having a season like us to prepare for the playoffs," Montgomery said.

David Pastrnak scored a hat-trick against the Flyers to take his tally for the season to 60, only Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid has more with 64.

Bruins forward Pastrnak echoed Montgomery's sentiment as Boston aim to etch their name further in history.

"It's been a lot of fun, I'm not going to lie," Pastrnak said of the season. "It's been enjoyable, especially the group we have here.

"We obviously knew the stakes, and it's definitely special to hit it in a game like this. Made history today in the biggest league in hockey."

The Bruins set NHL records for the fastest team to 50 wins (64 games) and 100 points (61 games), while they have already secured home advantage in the playoffs after clinching the Presidents' Trophy.

Their latest record may come with some slight contention, given the Red Wings' 62 wins came without shoot-outs replacing tied games, whereas Boston have won four games via that deciding method this term.

Nevertheless, Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman says the 62-win mark stood for so long for a reason and revelled in breaking it.

"It's hard to win in this league and there's a reason why this record is at 62 because not many teams can get there, so it's a special honour," Swayman said.

"These guys in this room are more than deserving."

Montgomery added: "Anytime you're talking about putting your team's name in the history books of the most wins ever in a regular season, it's special."

Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper implored his players to "man up" after their 3-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday left them with only one win from their first four games.

The Lightning have made it to three consecutive Stanley Cup Finals, winning championships in 2020 and 2021 before falling to the Colorado Avalanche in the 2022 decider.

Against the Flyers, Tampa Bay led 2-0 in the second period after a quick double from Steven Stamkos, but they were unable to defend their lead. 

Scott Laughton snatched one goal back in the second term for the Flyers, before James van Riemsdyk and Noah Cates struck in the third for the comeback win.

Speaking to the media after the game, Cooper said it was inexcusable to fall apart the way his side did, and that it is easy to take for granted all the winning they have had in recent years.

"This is a stinger," he said. "We should never leave this game with zero points... probably should have left with two.

"This group should close that game out, and we didn't. That's probably a little bit of a concern. We probably take things for granted with this team, just for the past decade, what's gone on. 

"Early on in this first week and half, two weeks, it's not going the way we're used to it going. We have to fight through it, you've got to man up."

Flyers coach Jon Tortorella heaped praise on his 24-year-old goaltender Carter Hart, who saved 38 shots in the victory.

"Carter was outstanding," he said. "He kept us in it, and we found a way at the end. 

"We hope we're building a little bit of a mindset of resiliency. I think each time it happens that way and you succeed, it just builds it for you.

"We've done some good things in just finding ways to win the games at key times late in the game.

"They're showing me they're ugly, they're showing me it doesn't matter, and they still have a little bit left in the tank to get things done."

Keith Yandle's NHL-record consecutive regular-season games played streak is ending at 989, as the Philadelphia Flyers are making the 35-year-old defenceman a healthy scratch for Saturday's meeting with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

This will be the first regular-season game Yandle will miss since March 22, 2009, when he played for the Phoenix Coyotes.

Flyers interim coach Mike Yeo said it was an "organisational decision" to not dress Yandle so the team can give ice time to some of its younger players. Philadelphia are 21-35-11 and have already been eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs.

"He received it exactly the way you'd expect Keith Yandle to handle it. Obviously disappointed, which you'd expect from a competitor," Yeo said.

"My only hope is that he recognises how amazing it is what he's done. For him, it's disappointing, no question. No way does this diminish what he's accomplished. It is remarkable."

Yandle broke the league's consecutive games played streak record just over two months ago, surpassing Doug Jarvis' mark of 964 on January 25. But in the 24 games he has played in since then, the veteran has just one goal and one assist with a minus-16 +/- rating.

 

Yandle is in the midst of the worst season of his 16-year career with one goal and 14 assists and a league-low minus-39 rating in 67 games.

"I don't really know if it's hit me completely," Yandle said. "I don't know yet, I don't know when it will. It's kind of one of those things during it, I didn't really try to think about it too much just to kind of go out and play. Maybe now the next day or two it might hit me.

"Obviously something I take a lot of pride in. I'm fortunate to play one game in this league. I say it all the time, I've been blessed to be in this league as long as I have. I owe pretty much my whole life to this league. It's been a great journey too.

"You look back and you think about your first game, and then it's one of those things that the last couple days have been a lot of reflecting and I'm not really a guy who reflects too much."

Yandle's streak is in danger of being broken next season by Arizona Coyotes forward Phil Kessel, who passed Jarvis' mark last weekend and has played in 968 consecutive regular-season games.

Page 1 of 2
© 2024 SportsMaxTV All Rights Reserved.