BOSTON -- Craig Anderson stopped 28 shots in regulation and overtime and three more in the shootout Thursday night to help the Ottawa Senators beat 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 but not the most important one: regulation and overtime wins (see full recap).
Leafs fail to clinch as Lightning stay alive
TORONTO -- Brayden Point scored two goals and the Tampa Bay Lightning kept their slim playoff hopes alive by beating the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1 on Thursday night.
Nikita Kucherov and Michael Bournival also scored for the Lightning, who prevented the Maple Leafs from clinching their first postseason 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.
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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, with Frederik Andersen surrendering four goals on 30 shots (see full recap).
Hurricanes eliminated from playoff contention with loss to Isles
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 3-0 on Thursday night.
Brock Nelson and Scott Mayfield scored early goals 3 minutes, 12 seconds 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 postseason drought in the NHL. They've also been shut out in their last two home games.
Halak won his fourth straight start since his recall from Bridgeport of the AHL, and his first shutout since blanking Washington on Dec. 1 came in a must-win scenario for his team (see full recap).
Penguins lock up home ice for opening round
NEWARK, N.J. -- The Pittsburgh Penguins clinched home-ice advantage for their first-round playoff series against the Columbus Blue Jackets with a 7-4 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night.
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. Bonino also had two assists.
Stefan Noesen, John Moore, Taylor Hall and Kyle Palmieri scored for the Devils (see full recap).
