The Boston Bruins are the Atlantic Division champions.
By virtue of a 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning, Jim Montgomery’s men secured their division title.
Boston signs a sixth straight win, a 56th victory this season. The NHL record is 62 and has belonged to the Detroit Red Wings since 1995-96.
It’s the seventh time in the past 20 years that the Bruins have won their division title.
“It makes you want to play in the playoffs, yeah,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said as he entered the postgame press conference.
On the power play, Quebecer Patrice Bergeron scored his 27th goal of the season on a power play. The pride of L’Ancienne-Lorette has collected at least one point in its last five games.
For the Lightning, defenseman Victor Hedman tied the game with his first career shorthanded goal. It was the first time in three years that a Tampa Bay guard hit the target short of a man.
It was finally Garnet Hathaway’s goal at 17:32 in the second period with his third since joining the Bruins that made the difference. Besides, two of his three goals gave his team the lead.
For his part, Matt Grzelcyk tied a personal best with a 20th assist.
Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark faced 27 shots while Andrei Vasilevskiy gave up twice on 34 shots.
“I loved our effort,” Montgomery said, adding that a secure division title with 10 games remaining in the regular season was “great.”
The Red Wings without answers in front of Carter Hart
Carter Hart made 29 saves for his second shutout of the season as the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Detroit Red Wings 3-0.
Kieffer Bellows and Scott Laughton both beat Alex Nedeljkovic in the second period to put the Flyers up front. Tyson Foerster completed the scoring in an empty net.
The Flyers have won four of their last five games as the Wings lost for the fifth time in six games.
Nedeljkovic stopped 19 pucks in his first start since Dec. 8. His last victory dates back to November 6.
Philly’s next game will be Tuesday night at home against the Montreal Canadiens.
The Kraken opens the machine third
Eeli Tolvanen scored twice against his former team in the Seattle Kraken’s 7-2 win over the Nashville Predators.
It’s the first time he’s hit the target against the Predators, who placed him on waivers last December.
It’s the fifth time this season that Seattle has scored seven times in one game. Only the Oilers (6) and Sabers (5) have done better so far.
With a score of 3-2 in the third, the Kraken followed up with four goals before the end of the meeting to save themselves with the two points of classification.
Daniel Sprong became the fourth player in Kraken history to open the scoring in a second straight game.
Matty Beniers hit 20 goals in the win to become the first rookie of the 2022-23 season to score 50 points.
Jared McCann had a three-point game with a one-goal performance and two assists. It’s the fourth time he’s earned that many points in a Kraken uniform, tying a team mark he shares with Jordan Eberle.
Oliver Bjorkstrand and Adam Larsson have the others for Seattle. Philipp Grubauer was lightly busy, making 14 saves. Tyson Barrie and Matt Duchene provided the replica of the Predators.
The Kings continue their momentum
Alex Iaffalo scored the game-winning goal as the Los Angeles Kings defeated the Winnipeg Jets 4-1.
Coming from behind the net, Phillip Danault sent the disc to the right mouthpiece to Iaffalo, early in the second period.
Viktor Arvidsson completed a brace into an empty net.
Drew Doughty also scored for the Kings, who have won four of their last five games.
The squad will wrap up a seven-game home stint on Sunday against the St. Louis Blues.
Joonas Korpisalo made 25 saves. He was beaten only by Pierre-Luc Dubois, during a numerical advantage of the visitors.
The Ste-Agathe-des-Monts hockey player is in his third season of at least 25 goals.
The Flames can still hope for the playoffs
Tyler Toffoli scored twice for the Calgary Flames in a 5-3 win over the San Jose Sharks on Saturday at Scotiabank Saddledome.
This victory allows the Flames to approach to four points of the Winnipeg Jets and the last place giving access to the playoffs. Both teams played the same number of games, 74.
Toffoli matched his career high with a career-high 31st goal he set in the 2015-16 season with the Los Angeles Kings.
Walker Duehr had a goal and an assist, and Nazem Kadri and MacKenzie Weegar also scored for the Flames, who have won two of their last three games. Jacob Markstrom made 28 saves in the win.
Logan Couture, Nico Sturm and Martin Kaut hit the target, and Erik Karlsson had two assists for the Sharks, who have lost nine straight and 14 of their last 15 games. Kaapo Kahkonen made 25 saves in the loss.
With his performance of two assists, Karlsson now has 90 points in 73 games this season. The Swede could become the first defender since Brian Leetch to reach 100 points in a season.
Mikael Backlund was playing his 900th game in the NHL. He is the third player with the most games played for the Flames, behind Jarome Iginla (1,219) and Mark Giordano (949).
