J.T. Miller scored the go-ahead goal in the third period, less than a minute after Minnesota tied the game, to give the New York Rangers a 3-2 victory over the Wild on Thursday night that clinched the Metropolitan Division title.
After Thomas Vanek scored for the Wild, Miller’s tip-in came 55 seconds later at the 6 minutes, 48 second mark. The Rangers improved to 26-11-2 away from home, setting a franchise record for road wins, and stayed in first place in the Eastern Conference with 105 points with five games to go.
Jason Pominville scored and Matt Dumba had two assists for the Wild, whose five-game winning streak ended.
Dominic Moore scored against one of his eight former teams, Rick Nash followed in the first period with his 41st goal and Ryan McDonagh had two assists for the Rangers, who finished 18-5-5 against Western Conference opponents this season.
PANTHERS 6, HURRICANES 1
In Sunrise, Florida, Roberto Luongo earned his 400th career win, and Jaromir Jagr had a goal and an assist to tie Ron Francis for fourth place on the NHL’s career points list to lift Florida over Carolina.
Luongo made 31 saves to become the 11th NHL goalie to record 400 wins as the Panthers recorded their largest margin of victory this season. With his two points against the Hurricanes, Jagr has 1,798.
Vincent Trocheck scored two third-period goals, and Aleksander Barkov, Brandon Pirri and Willie Mitchell also scored for Florida.
Chris Terry scored a late goal and Anton Khudobin stopped 29 shots for the Hurricanes.
CAPITALS 5, CANADIENS 4, SO
In Montreal, Troy Brouwer scored the winner in the fourth round of the shootout, leading Washington past Montreal.
Alex Ovechkin and Joel Ward each scored a pair of goals for the Capitals in regulation time. Braden Holtby made 23 saves and improved to 6-0-2 in his career against Montreal.
With his first goal — the 473rd of his career and fourth in his last three games — Ovechkin became the Capitals’ career leading scorer, passing Peter Bondra.
Jeff Petry, Tom Gilbert, Lars Eller and P.K. Subban scored for the Canadiens, while Carey Price stopped 15 shots in defeat.
BLUE JACKETS 4, ISLANDERS 3, SO
In Columbus, Ohio, Ryan Johansen scored late in regulation to tie it and then added the clinching goal in the shootout to lead the Columbus Blue Jackets over the New York Islanders, extending their streak to eight straight wins.
After Mark Letestu scored to lead off the shootout, Johansen slowed as he went in on goalie Jaroslav Halak and slid the puck between his leg pads. Sergei Bobrovsky, who stopped Frans Nielsen in the first round, then stopped Kyle Okposo to lock up the victory.
The Blue Jackets, out of the playoff picture, have won 11 of 12 in addition to running their road streak to a franchise-best eight in a row. Brandon Dubinsky and Jack Johnson had goals for Columbus, with Johansen also adding an assist.
John Tavares had a goal and an assist for the Islanders, who blew a two-goal lead in the third.
SENATORS 2, LIGHTNING 1, OT
In Ottawa, Canada, Patrick Wiercioch scored 4:43 into overtime, leading Ottawa past Tampa Bay.
Mark Stone also scored for the Senators, and Andrew Hammond made 28 saves to improve to 16-1-1 as an NHL starter.
Jonathan Drouin scored the lone goal for Tampa Bay, who have lost four of their past six. Ben Bishop made 32 saves in the loss.
The Senators continued to struggle on the power play, finishing nought-for-five with the man advantage. Ottawa are one-for-15 in their past three games.
In other NHL action, it was:
‧ Bruins 3, Red Wings 2
‧ Blues 4, Flames 1
‧ Blackhawks 3, Canucks 1
‧ Kings 8, Oilers 2
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