Sabres 2, Islanders 0

Kyle Okposo scored with 6 1/2 minutes remaining, Eric Comrie stopped 27 shots for his second career shutout, and the Buffalo Sabres beat the New York Islanders 2-0 on Saturday.

Jeff Skinner added an empty-net goal to help Buffalo win its second straight after losing the previous four. The Sabres remained six points behind Pittsburgh for the final wild card in the tightly-contested Eastern Conference playoff race after the Penguins beat Washington later Saturday night.

“It was a very mature game, I thought from us,” Okposo said. “We played the game that needed to be played today and we didn’t get frustrated. We just continued to play our game. We didn’t get sucked into trying to make too many plays or taking things that weren’t there. That’s obviously a very frustrating team to play against, they know how to win, they know how to lock it down. We just did a great job staying patient.”

Semyon Varlamov finished with 33 saves for New York, which lost its second straight. The Islanders had won 11 straight at home against the Sabres.

Comrie made a key third-period save with a stellar right-pad stop on Pierre Engvall from in close to keep the game scoreless midway through the final period.

“I found his stick blade early and saw that he is on his backhand,” Comrie said. “He’s either going to try and chip it really fast or pull it. I saw his left shoulder dip and knew he was going to pull it (to his fore-hand).”

Okposo opened the scoring with 6:29 left as he notched his 10th of the season. Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield failed to clear the puck and Buffalo capitalized. Sabres defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin sent a fluttering puck across the slot and Okposo controlled the pass and fired a wrist shot past Varlamov’s right pad, off the post and in.

Okposo spent the first nine years of his NHL career with the Islanders before signing a seven-year $42 million contract with the Sabres in the summer of 2016. He was named captain of Buffalo ahead of this season.

Skinner tallied an empty-net goal in the final minute to seal the victory for Buffalo.

“You had to be very patient,” Sabres coach Don Granato said. “That’s something that hasn’t been in our game a lot this season. We stayed on it, stayed on it and very, very good job and had to be good defensively tonight.”

One of Varlamov’s best saves came early in the third period when he denied Dylan Cozen’s breakaway attempt and the game remained 0-0. The Russian goaltender played well in his first start since March 11.

“Wasn’t good enough tonight,” Islanders captain Anders Lee said. “One of those games where not a ton of chances either way.”

Devils 5, Senators 4

Jack Hughes had a goal and an assist, Mackenzie Blackwood had 25 saves and New Jersey defeated Ottawa and clinched a playoff berth on Saturday night.

“It means everything to the group. I went into the dressing room after the game and just said that I was proud of the work that was put in, proud of where we got to clinch tonight to be one of three teams that have an X next to their name,” Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. “All the work that’s been put in, the adversity they face during the year. The adversity they face right at the start of the season to where we’ve got to now.”

New Jersey could have clinched its first postseason berth since 2018 with a win, but it happened before their first intermission when the Florida Panthers lost to the New York Rangers in regulation.

“I had a lesser role then,” said Jesper Bratt, who was a rookie for the Devils in 2017-18. “I would say at a younger age, it’s kind of like you think that just because it happened your first year that it might happen every year. And then it goes pretty fast with reality that was not the case and you got to work extremely hard for it.

“It’s a really tough league. So this feels really good. It’s been a lot of years with struggle, not winning, and it’s just awesome coming out now playing these kinds of games and getting that.”

Bratt, Dawson Mercer and Dougie Hamilton scored for the Devils and Tomas Tatar scored an empty netter with 42.3 seconds left to put things away.

Brady Tkachuk, Thomas Chabot and Mark Kastelic scored for the Senators and Dylan Ferguson had 30 saves.

Tkachuk scored his 33rd goal of the season to give the Senators the 1-0 lead 3:14 into the first period. The Devils responded midway through the first period with Hughes’ 40th goal of the season on a breakaway, going five-hole to tie it.

Nick Holden gave the puck away and Bratt scored his 31st goal of the season on the breakaway 2:24 into the second period to give New Jersey the 2-1 lead. Mercer’s 23rd of the season came just over a minute later.

The Senators answered midway through the second period when Thomas Chabot scored his 11th goal of the year to cut the deficit to 3-2. They knotted things up 16:03 into the second when Kastelic scored his fifth of the season.

“We were confident going into the third period. We felt like the game was there for our taking,” Travis Hamonic said. “They score on their chance, and that’s game.”

Hamilton scored 3:34 into the third period to give the Devils the lead. His 19th goal breaks the franchise record for goals in a season by a defenseman, surpassing Scott Stevens – the Devils great whose number is hanging in the rafters – record of 18 in 1993-94.

Hurricanes 5, Maple Leafs 3

Sebastian Aho scored his team-leading 32nd goal of the season with 2:26 remaining to lift Carolina past Toronto.

Aho’s goal came 32 seconds after Auston Matthews’ second goal for Toronto tied the game. Teuvo Teravainen added an empty-netter to seal it for the Hurricanes.

Brent Burns, Jordan Staal and Stefan Noesen also scored for Carolina, which won for the fourth time in its last eight games to maintain first place in Metropolitan Division. Jesper Fast and Martin Necas both two assists. Pyotr Kochetkov made 41 saves for his first victory in his last three outings.

Calle Jarnkrok scored Toronto’s first goal. Matt Murray made 23 saves. Matthews has 36 goals this season, including eight in the last nine games.

Penguins 4, Capitals 3

Evgeni Malkin beat Darcy Kuemper on a breakaway with 1:20 left in regulation to lift Pittsburgh over Washington.

Alex Ovechkin scored his 42nd goal of the season and 822nd of his career during a furious third-period rally by the Capitals that saw them erase a three-goal deficit. Washington drew even when Dylan Strome flipped the puck into an open net with 2:44 to go in regulation.

Ryan Poehling and Chad Ruhwedel scored a little over two minutes apart in the second period for Pittsburgh. Jake Guentzel added his team-high 32nd goal early in the third before Washington scrambled back. Casey DeSmith made 31 saves.

Tom Wilson had the other goal for the Capitals. Kuemper stopped 36 shots.

Kings 4, Jets 1

Viktor Arvidsson had two goals and Los Angeles matched its longest point streak in franchise history.

Drew Doughty had a goal and an assist and Alex Iafallo netted a power-play goal for Los Angeles, which has earned points in 11 straight games for the fourth time. The last was 2013-14, when the Kings won their second Stanley Cup.

Joonas Korpisalo stopped 25 shots for Los Angeles.

Arvidsson — who has 22 goals on the season — has four in the last four games, while Doughty has found the net four times in the last five games.

Pierre-Luc Dubois scored for Winnipeg and Connor Hellebuyck made 25 saves.

Kraken 7, Predators 2

Eeli Tolvanen scored twice and Philipp Grubauer made 14 saves in Seattle's win over Nashville.

Jared McCann had a goal and two assists. Daniel Sprong, Adam Larsson, Matty Beniers and Oliver Bjorkstrand also scored for Seattle, which entered Saturday holding the top spot in the Western Conference’s wild-card race. Vince Dunn had two assists.

Matt Duchene and Tyson Barrie each had a goal and an assist and Juuse Saros made 32 saves for Nashville, which had its two-game winning streak snapped. The Predators remained five points behind the Winnipeg Jets for the West’s second wild-card berth.

Flyers 3, Red Wings 0

Carter Hart made 29 saves, Scott Laughton scored and Philadelphia won its third straight with a shutout of Detroit.

Kieffer Bellows also scored and Tyson Foerster had an empty-netter for Philadelphia in a matchup of two of the Eastern Conference’s worst teams.

The Red Wings have lost five of six and were 0 for 7 on the power play.

Flames 5, Sharks 3

Tyler Toffoli scored two goals and Calgary kept its playoff hopes alive by beating San Jose.

MacKenzie Weegar, Walker Duehr and Nazem Kadri added the others for Calgary, which won for just the second time in its last nine games at the Saddledome (2-5-2). Jacob Markstrom made 28 saves. With the victory, the Flames climbed back to within four points of the Winnipeg Jets, who occupy the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

Logan Couture, Nico Sturm and Martin Kaut replied for San Jose, which had its winless skid extended to nine games (0-6-3). Kaapo Kahkonen had 25 stops. Erik Karlsson’s two assists helped him reach 68 on the year to surpass his previous career-high of 66 in 2015-16 and break the Sharks record for helpers by a defenseman. Brent Burns previously held it with 67 in 2018-19.

Wild 3, Blackhawks 1

Ryan Hartman scored with 1:11 remaining in the third period and Minnesota topped Chicago.

Ryan Reaves and Frederick Gaudreau also scored for Minnesota, and Filip Gustavsson made 22 saves in goal.

The Wild have points in four straight games after their franchise-record 14-game point streak was snapped on March 18.

Lukas Reichel scored for Chicago, which has lost four in a row. Former Minnesota goaltender Alex Stalock made 22 saves for the Blackhawks.

Canadiens 8, Blue Jackets 2

Rafael Harvey-Pinard scored three goals for his first career hat trick and Montreal beat Columbus.

Nick Suzuki had a goal and three assists, Mike Hoffman had a goal and two assists, Brendan Gallagher and Jesse Ylonen each added a goal and an assist, and Alex Belzile also scored for Montreal. Mike Matheson added three assists and Johnathan Kovacevic had two.

Sam Montembeault stopped 21 shots to help Montreal win for the third time in 13 games (3-8-2).

Lane Pederson and Kirill Marchenko scored for the Blue Jackets, whose two-game winning streak ended. They lost for the fourth time in six games. Elvis Merzlikins was pulled late in the second period after giving up six goals on 24 shots.

Canucks 3, Stars 1

Brock Boeser scored the go-ahead goal in the second period and Vancouver held Dallas scoreless on four power plays, including one late in the third period.

Jack Rathbone and Dakota Joshua also scored for Vancouver, which swept the three-game season series against Dallas and has won the past six meetings dating to last season. Thatcher Demko made 19 saves to help the Canucks open a three-game road trip with a victory.

Ryan Suter scored the lone goal for Dallas, which closed out a 1-1-1 homestand.

Blues 6, Ducks 3

Brayden Schenn and Kasperi Kapanen had two goals and an assist apiece in St. Louis’ victory over Anaheim.

Jakub Vrana and Sammy Blais also scored in a three-goal first period, and Jordan Binnington made 22 saves in St. Louis' fourth win in five games.

The sixth-place Blues are all but certain to miss the playoffs for only the second time since 2011, but they routed the Ducks while scoring at least five goals for the third time in their last six games.

Schenn secured his seventh career 20-goal season with his first score, while Kapanen matched his career high with his fifth three-point game

Nikita Nesterenko scored his first NHL goal and John Gibson stopped 30 shots for the Ducks, who have lost four straight.

Troy Terry and Ryan Strome also scored as lottery-bound Anaheim dropped to 1-5-1 on its eight-game homestand in the final weeks of its franchise-record fifth consecutive non-playoff season.

Golden Knights 4, Oilers 3 (OT)

Nicolas Roy scored the winning goal 2:26 in overtime, Jack Eichel had a goal and two assists and the Vegas beat Edmonton for its fourth straight victory.

Roy was left alone in front of Edmonton's net and shot in his own rebound past Stuart Skinner for the win.

Pavel Dorofeyev and Jonathan Marchessault also scored for the Knights, who have won eight of their last nine and are 17-3-2 since the All-Star break.

Zach Hyman, Leon Draisaitl and Warren Foegele scored for the Oilers, who had their five-game winning streak snapped.