Thursday in the NHL | Auston Matthews scores 100th and 101st points

Maple Leafs win over Capitals

William Nylander, Michael Bunting and Ilya Mikheyev each scored twice, Auston Matthews got his 100^and and 101^and point of the season thanks to two assists and the Toronto Maple Leafs crushed the Washington Capitals 7-3 on Thursday.

Maple Leafs captain John Tavares had four assists. The victory propelled the Maple Leafs (48-20-6) to a club record, set in 2017-18.

Matthews became the third player in Maple Leafs history to reach 100 points in a season. Darryl Sittler and Doug Gilmour are the other players to have pulled off the feat.

Jack Campbell got his 28^and victory of the season by making 22 saves.

John Carlson, Tom Wilson and Nic Dowd scored for the visitors, who saw their four-game winning streak come to an end.

Ilya Samsonov stopped 15 of 19 shots for the Capitals before being substituted. His substitute, Vitek Vanecek, stopped 10 shots.

The Canadian Press

The Lightning confirm their presence in the playoffs

Anthony Cirelli flashed the red light in overtime as the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Anaheim Ducks 4-3 to confirm their presence in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Ross Colton, Alex Killorn and Nikita Kucherov also scored for the Lightning.

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 10 saves before being replaced by Brian Elliott, who stopped all 13 shots his way.

Adam Henrique, twice, and Troy Terry scored for the Ducks. Anthony Stolarz made 27 saves.

The Lightning qualified for the Spring Dance for the eighth time in the last nine seasons. The two-time defending champions are trying to become the first team since the 1980-83 New York Islanders to win three straight Stanley Cups.

Associated Press

Penguins advance to playoffs in 16^and season in a row

Jake Guentzel scored twice, Sidney Crosby also hit the target and the Pittsburgh Penguins earned a playoff bye in a 16^and consecutive season with a 6-3 win over the New York Islanders on Thursday.

Guentzel scored his 36^and and 37^and net of the season to allow the Penguins to extend the longest active streak of playoff years in North American major sports leagues.

Danton Heinen, Kris Letang and Brock McGinn also threaded the needle for the Penguins.

Tristan Jarry made 36 saves for the Penguins.

Zach Parise, Anders Lee and Zdeno Chara scored for the Islanders, who have lost three of their last five games. Ilya Sorokin stopped 22 shots.

The Islanders will resume the collar Friday in Montreal, to face the Canadian.

Associated Press

Vladimir Tarasenko wows in Blues win

Vladimir Tarasenko set a career-high five points in a game as the St. Louis Blues defeated the Buffalo Sabers 6-2.

Author of a hat trick, Tarasenko also participated in the goals of David Perron and Brandon Saad.

Pavel Buchnevich also scored for the Blues, who have won their last seven games.

Jordan Binnington made 35 saves.

Robert Thomas provided five assists; he has six goals and 23 points in 11 games.

The Blues and Minnesota are vying for second place in the Central Division, which will give home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

St. Louis is 9-0-1 in 10 games. The club will play again on Saturday at home, against the Wild.

Alex Tuch and Rasmus Asplund fought back for Buffalo. Craig Anderson blocked 22 shots.

John Wawrow, Associated Press

A 46-save shutout for Alex Nedeljkovic

Alex Nedeljkovic made 46 saves as the Detroit Red Wings defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 3-0 on Thursday.

Nedeljkov earned his third shutout of the season.

Moritz Seider, Adam Erne and Filip Zadina were the scorers.

Recently excluded from the playoffs for the sixth year in a row, the Red Wings nevertheless prevailed against section leaders.

Nedeljkovic was acquired from the Hurricanes last July.

Antti Raanta stopped 19 shots for Carolina.

Center Jesperi Kotkaniemi returned to action after an eight-game hiatus due to a lower-body injury.

Associated Press

Ottawa Senators win 3-2 at Boston

Brady Tkachuk, Josh Norris and Tim Stützle scored in 9:40 in the second period on Thursday as the Ottawa Senators rallied from a two-goal deficit to win 3-2 against the Boston Bruins.

Jesper Froden scored his first NHL goal for the Bruins, who were losing a third straight game for the first time this season.

Marc McLaughlin had his third goal in just six league games.

Before the current troubles, Boston had won eight times in 10 games.

Anton Forsberg stopped 40 shots for the Senators, who will host Toronto on Saturday.

Patriots quarterback Mac Jones watched the game from a box with two teammates.

Ken Powtak, Associated Press