Ryan McLeod collected a goal and two assists to help lift Buffalo to a 5-4 victory over the visiting Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday, giving Sabres coach Lindy Ruff his 900th career win.
With the result in the regular-season finale for both teams, Ruff became the fifth NHL coach to achieve the milestone. Alex Tuch, Jack Quinn and JJ Peterka scored one goal and set up another, Peyton Krebs also tallied and James Reimer made 21 saves for the Sabres.
Philadelphia rookie Matvei Michkov scored twice to boost his team-leading goal total to 26 on the season. He also had an assist.
Tyson Foerster scored his ninth goal in his last nine games and added an assist. Bobby Brink also had a goal and an assist and Aleksei Kolosov turned aside 26 shots for the Flyers.
Rangers 4, Lightning 0
Mika Zibanejad scored twice and added an assist as host New York ended one of the more disappointing seasons in team history with a victory over playoff-bound Tampa Bay.
Vincent Trocheck scored a short-handed goal early in the second to open the scoring and Zibanejad set up Chris Kreider’s tally early in the third before scoring both of his goals. The Rangers ended the season with three wins in four games but will miss the playoffs for the first time since 2021.
New York’s Igor Shesterkin made 27 saves for his sixth shutout this season and 21st of his career. Tampa Bay goalie Jonas Johansson stopped 18 shots.
Maple Leafs 4, Red Wings 3 (OT)
Scott Laughton scored 56 seconds into overtime — after Chris Tanev tied the game with two seconds left in regulation — and Toronto came back to defeat visiting Detroit.
Auston Matthews and Philippe Myers also scored for the Maple Leafs, while Mitch Marner and Matthew Knies each added two assists and Joseph Woll made 31 saves.
Justin Holl had a goal and an assist and Austin Watson and Alex DeBrincat also scored for the Red Wings. Cam Talbot stopped 16 shots.
Senators 7, Hurricanes 5
Ottawa scored four goals in a third-period rally and beat visiting Carolina in a battle of playoff-bound teams.
Drake Batherson and Adam Gaudette had two goals each and Tim Stutzle and Dylan Cozens added a goal and two assists apiece. Senators captain Brady Tkachuk returned after missing eight games with an upper-body injury. He left early in the third period as a precaution after taking a stick in the face.
Andrei Svechnikov had a goal and an assist and Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Skyler Brind’Amour (the first of his career), Jack Roslovi1c and Tyson Jost got the other goals for the Hurricanes.
Penguins 5, Capitals 2
Alex Ovechkin scored his 897th NHL goal, but visiting Washington dropped its season finale to Pittsburgh. The 39-year-old veteran finished the season with 44 goals in 64 games, and he broke the NHL’s all-time goal-scoring record with No. 895 on April 6.
Bryan Rust scored twice and Sidney Crosby and Philip Tomasino each had a goal and an assist for the Penguins, who will miss the playoffs for the third straight season. Alex Nedeljkovic made 18 saves.
Connor McMichael scored for the Capitals, who will be the top seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Clay Stevenson stopped 33 shots in his NHL debut.
Blue Jackets 6, Islanders 1
Jet Greaves made 36 saves for Columbus, which beat visiting New York to end the season on a six-game winning streak.
Greaves, a 24-year-old rookie, won his final five starts, allowing four goals in that span.
Cole Sillinger and Zach Werenski each had a goal and an assist for the Blue Jackets, who finished two points out of a playoff spot. Hudson Fasching scored and Marcus Hogberg made 20 saves for the Islanders, who lost five of their final six.
Flames 5, Kings 1
Nazem Kadri scored twice as visiting Calgary topped Los Angeles in the last game of the NHL’s regular season.
Mikael Backlund added a goal and an assist for Calgary, which wrapped up its season on a four-game winning streak. Sam Morton and Zayne Parekh, making their NHL debuts, also scored. It was the first time in Flames history two players netted their initial goals in their debuts in the same game.
Taylor Ward tallied in his first NHL game and David Rittich stopped 24 shots for the Kings, who will have home-ice advantage against the division-rival Edmonton Oilers in the first round. It was the first NHL game since 2002 (and just the fifth in the expansion era) to feature three players scoring in their league debuts.
–Field Level Media
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