Gameday 99 (Sat, 27 Apr) - Results

New Jersey v NY Rangers 0-4 - When the New Jersey Devils visited Madison Square Garden six days ago, the New York Rangers' top line of Ryan Callahan, Derek Stepan and Carl Hagelin set the tone early by scoring on the game's opening shift. On Saturday, they had to wait until their second shift to get things started against their Atlantic Division rival. Callahan and Stepan each collected a goal and an assist in the first period and Rick Nash scored twice as the Rangers defeated the Devils 4-0 to assure themselves of finishing no worse than seventh place in the Eastern Conference. The Rangers finished the regular season with 56 points, moving them past the New York Islanders. The Ottawa Senators (54 points) have games against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday and the Boston Bruins on Sunday; they need three points to pass the Rangers for sixth place Henrik Lundqvist stopped 20 shots for his second shutout of the season as the Rangers beat the Devils for the third time this season after losing their first meeting. The loss marked the end of a disappointing season for the Devils (19-19-10), who missed the playoffs one year after advancing to the Stanley Cup Final. Hedberg had to make a big stop early, stoning Callahan from the side of the net with a sprawling pad save just 35 seconds into the game. The Rangers' top line couldn't beat Hedberg on its first shift, but their second time on the ice yielded a goal as Stepan opened the scoring at 2:37 following a perfect feed by Callahan from behind the Devils net. With his 18th of the season, Stepan, who leads the Rangers in assists, exceeded his goal total from last season, which he reached in 82 games. Callahan's assist extended his point streak to seven games, matching his career high. The Rangers captain forced Hedberg to make another sprawling stop four minutes later as he raced down the left wing while killing a tripping penalty to Hagelin. The Devils looked to clamp down on the Rangers' speed from that point on, holding New York without a shot for the next 11 minutes. That span included a tripping penalty to Ryan Carter in which the Rangers failed to mount much of an attack. Naturally it was Callahan and Stepan who helped the Rangers break out of their funk. With Taylor Pyatt off for hooking, Callahan took a cross-ice pass from Stepan and beat Hedberg between the legs with 59 seconds remaining in the period. The goal was Callahan's second shorthanded tally of the season and gave the 28-year-old his fifth goal in five games. Hedberg was able to keep the Devils in the game early in the second, making big pad saves off Nash and Mats Zuccarello in quick succession. Darroll Powe's hooking penalty gave the Devils an opportunity to answer back 5:52 into the period. But that Devils advantage was negated when Adam Henrique was whistled for holding 64 seconds later. While New Jersey's puck possession improved in the second, the Devils struggled to create quality scoring chances against Lundqvist. That slower pace played perfectly into the Rangers hands, as Nash gave New York an insurmountable 3-0 lead when he beat Hedberg from the slot at 17:23 following a feed from behind the net by Brad Richards. Nash's team-leading 20th goal of the season set the stage for an uneventful final period of the Devils' season. Nash scored his second of the game and 21st of the season 5:30 into the final period, finishing off a perfect passing sequence involving Derick Brassard and Zuccarello.

Montreal v Toronto 4-1 - One team protected its No. 1 goalie by giving him the night off. The other team played its No. 1 goalie and his teammates took the night off. The Montreal Canadiens, with backup Peter Budaj between the pipes and starter Carey Price on the bench, thoroughly dominated the Toronto Maple Leafs, handing James Reimer a 4-1 loss Saturday before the largest crowd of the season at Air Canada Centre, 19,730. Depending on the outcome Sunday in a game between the Boston Bruins and Ottawa Senators, the Maple Leafs will face either the Canadiens or Bruins in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Maple Leafs and Canadiens have met 13 times in the postseason dating to a two-game total-goal series in 1925, with Montreal winning seven and Toronto six. The last time the teams met was in 1979, when the Canadiens swept the Maple Leafs in the quarterfinals. When Montreal traveled to Toronto two weeks ago, Price was the starter and was lit up for three goals on four shots before being replaced in what turned out to be a 5-1 loss. Knowing they might play Toronto in the first round, the Canadiens opted to rest Price on Saturday. It would not be a good thing to go up against a playoff opponent that manhandled your starting goalie in back-to-back games. Budaj had a rather easy night of it as the Canadiens outshot the Maple Leafs 28-17, including 11-1 in the second period. At the other end, Reimer was pulled after Toronto fell behind 4-1 and replaced by Ben Scrivens. Reimer actually had a solid first period when the Maple Leafs were outshot 9-6, but when his teammates stopped skating, it was not a night when he could singlehandedly defeat a very skilled team. Although Reimer has often said it is important for a goalie to put losses behind him quickly, he was still in a foul mood shortly after the game ended. Montreal center Lars Eller had an excellent game, leading the scoring charge with a goal and two assists. Defenseman Andrei Markov and rookie forward Brendan Gallagher each had a goal and an assist, and Tomas Plekanec also scored. Phil Kessel gave the Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead with his 20th goal of the season, and defenseman Cody Franson had an assist for the 100th point of his career. Leading up to the game, lots had been made of the fact the Maple Leafs are a bigger, more physical team, and when they elected to start tough guys Colton Orr, Frazer McLaren and Mark Fraser against Montreal's toughest players, Brandon Prust, Ryan White and P.K. Subban, it looked like it was going to be a long, hard-fought game. Didn't turn out that way, though, and Montreal certainly was not intimidated by Toronto. Toronto won the season series 3-2-0, but based on its play Saturday and during a number of games down the stretch, that would not give the Leafs much of an edge going into the playoffs if they do meet the Canadiens. Both teams will learn their first-round opponents after Sunday night's game between the Ottawa Senators and Boston Bruins; a Boston win will set up a Canadiens-Maple Leafs series.

Philadelphia v Ottawa 2-1 - The Ottawa Senators remain in eighth place in the Stanley Cup Playoffs after losing to the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1 Saturday night at Scotiabank Place. The Flyers (23-22-3) won their fourth straight game to finish their regular season. Ottawa native Jason Akeson scored in his NHL debut, and Jakub Voracek added one for Philadelphia. Kyle Turris had the goal for the Senators. Steve Mason made 43 saves for the win. Craig Anderson, 4-3-0 in his past seven starts, turned away 23 of 25 shots for the Senators (24-17-6). Ottawa could have climbed to sixth place in the Eastern Conference with a win, and would have had a chance to reach fifth with a win Sunday against the Boston Bruins in the NHL regular-season finale. The Senators continue to struggle finding offense: The club has scored five goals in its past four games and went 0-for-5 on the power play Saturday. The Flyers started the scoring 3:46 into the game when Anderson found himself in a 1-on-1 battle with Claude Giroux. The captain tried to push the puck past Anderson's pads, but it popped out into traffic, eventually landing on Akeson's stick. The wing wristed the puck high into the left corner. The Senators had several opportunities to score in the first period but were unable to capitalize. At the 11-minute mark, Mika Zibanejad passed across the slot to Milan Michalek, but the wing was stopped by the left pad of Mason. Zibanejad went to the net to see if he could capture the rebound but was stymied by the Flyers goaltender for the second save. With 8:05 left in the period, Karlsson nearly tied the game. Kyle Turris dished a saucer pass from beside the left side of the net to the defenseman in the high slot. Karlsson sent a hard shot toward Mason, but it hit the left post. In the second period, the Senators would continue with the pressure they applied during the final minutes of the first. Chris Phillips sent the puck from the right corner in front to Turris, who wristed it high into the net, tying the score 1-1 at 4:35. Phillips picked up his 200th career assist. In the dying seconds of the period, Turris almost scored his second of the night when he sent a blast from the high slot toward Mason, forcing the Flyers goaltender to make a glove save. The Flyers took a 2-1 lead in the third period when Senators defenseman Eric Gryba was caught in the Philadelphia zone and couldn't rejoin the play. Erik Gustafsson gained control of the puck and skated into the Ottawa zone. He passed to Voracek, who beat Anderson stick side with a wrist shot at 10:02. With that goal, the Flyers went into lockdown mode on defense, and Mason stood tall in net to hold on for the win. The postseason picture remains murky for the Senators, who travel to face the Bruins on Sunday. The Senators can finish no higher than seventh place, but their first-round opponent will be decided by myriad variables. If Ottawa loses in regulation to Boston, it will face the Pittsburgh Penguins. If the Senators lose after regulation play, they will play the Bruins. But if Ottawa wins in Boston in regulation, overtime or shootout, the club will face the Montreal Canadiens.

Boston v Washington 2-3 - The Boston Bruins' season extended one day past its scheduled end due to the Marathon tragedy. That last game will mean something after all. The Washington Capitals overcame a two-goal deficit in the third period and beat the Bruins 3-2 on Saturday night on Eric Fehr's power-play goal 3:23 into overtime. The single point left the Bruins one behind the Montreal Canadiens in the race for first place in the Northeast Division and the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. The Bruins need a victory of any kind against the Senators on Sunday night to finish ahead of Montreal; anything less and Boston will be seeded fourth and play the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round. The Capitals had nothing to play for but pride, they were already locked into the third seed as the Southeast Division champion and will face the New York Rangers in the first round of the playoffs. Milan Lucic and Andrew Ference gave Boston a 2-0 lead entering the third period. Washington captain Alex Ovechkin assisted on Mike Green's two power-play goals in a span of 1:55 in the third period. Ovechkin didn't get a goal himself, but he did win his third Rocket Richard Trophy as the NHL's top scorer with 32 goals (Mostly down to Sidney Crosby being injured). He won in 2007-08 and 2008-09. Fehr won it when he poked in the rebound after Rask stopped Green's shot. Boston captain Zdeno Chara was in the penalty box for hooking. It was the fifth power play of the game for Washington; four of them came in the third period and overtime. Boston went ahead 1-0 at 9:59 of the first period when David Krejci won a faceoff back to Lucic, whose shot deflected off Capitals defenseman Karl Alzner and past goalie Braden Holtby. Ference made it 2-0 at 7:49 of the second period with a wrister from near the right circle that went past Lucic's screen and beat Holtby. Green got the Capitals on the board at 5:30 of the third period with a wrister from the blue line for the first of Washington's three power-play goals. He tied it by beating Rask from nearly the same spot less than two minutes later. Now the Capitals can turn their attention to the Rangers. The teams are meeting for the fourth time in five years.

Florida v Tampa Bay 5-3 - The Florida Panthers and Martin St. Louis both got two points Saturday night. Florida won the season finale for both teams by rallying to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3 at Tampa Bay Times Forum. But St. Louis had a goal and an assist for the Lightning, giving him 60 points for the season and virtually assuring him of the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer. St. Louis also won the Art Ross in 2003-04, the nine-year gap would be the longest between wins by any player in NHL history when the regular season ends Sunday. At age 37, he's the oldest player to win the scoring championship, displacing Bill Cook, who was 36 when he won it while playing for the 1932-33 New York Rangers. St. Louis' assist came on the first goal of the game, credited to Mathew Carle at 5:00 of the first period. The goal, St. Louis' 17th of the season, gave the Lightning a 3-2 lead at 5:47 of the second period after the Panthers had battled back from a 2-0 deficit to tie the game. Steven Stamkos got an assist on St. Louis' goal, giving him 57 points and sole possession of second place in the scoring race. The Panthers won the game with three third-period goals. Scottie Upshall tied it at 5:30, Tomas Fleischmann scored his second of the game with 6:07 remaining to give the Panthers their first lead of the night and Marcel Goc hit the empty net. Jonathan Huberdeau assisted on both goals by Fleischmann and Goc's empty-netter to briefly take the scoring lead among rookies with 31 points; Edmonton's Nail Yakupov had a hat trick later in the evening to tie Huberdeau's point total. A careless turnover by Vincent Lecavalier at his own blue line led to Upshall's tying goal. Eric Selleck stole the puck and raced down the ice. Anders Lindback stopped his shot, but Upshall buried the rebound for his fourth goal of the season. The assist was the first NHL point for Petrovic. After Carle's goal put the Lightning ahead, Ryan Malone made it 2-0 when he found a huge rebound and fired it into a wide-open net at 13:14. The Panthers (15-27-6) went more than 10 minutes without a shot on goal through the midpoint of the period, but they picked it up late in the period and got on the board at 16:54 when Nick Bjugstad scored first NHL goal in his 11th game. Bjugstad's shot from right circle went under the crossbar and over Lindback's glove. Jacob Markstrom stopped 28 shots for the Panthers, including a penalty shot by Benoit Pouliot 1:10 into the game after he was hauled down by Bjugstad on a breakaway. Fleischmann tied the score at 2-2 on his first goal, a short-side goal that came at 54 seconds into the second period. Jonathan Huberdeau and Drew Shore got assists.

Nashville v Columbus 1-3 - The Columbus Blue Jackets did everything they could Saturday night to earn a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It just wasn't enough Jack Johnson scored the tie-breaking goal with 4:48 left, and the Blue Jackets ended their regular season by rallying to defeat the Nashville Predators 3-1 before a packed house at Nationwide Arena. Columbus had to get at least one point to have any chance of finishing in the top eight in the Western Conference for the first time since 2008-09, the only other time the franchise has qualified for the playoffs since entering the NHL in 2000. The Blue Jackets got two, but their playoff hopes expired when the Minnesota Wild defeated the Colorado Avalanche 3-1, a game that finished shortly after the Detroit Red Wings blanked the Dallas Stars 3-0. The Wild and Blue Jackets each finished with 55 points, one behind the seventh-place Red Wings, but Minnesota won the tiebreaker for eighth because it had more non-shootout wins than Columbus (22-19). The Blue Jackets trailed 1-0 after two periods but came out storming Chris Mason's net in the third period, dominating play for shifts at a time. Columbus finally tied it when Vinny Prospal fed a pass to Marian Gaborik, who quickly got the puck to Dubinsky for a power-play backhander that beat Mason at 10:09. At that point, the Blue Jackets had outshot the Predators 15-0 in the third period. Johnson, whose turnover led to Nashville's goal, put Columbus ahead when he came out of the corner to Mason's left and bounced the puck off the goaltender's leg into the net. Cam Atkinson added an empty-net goal with 29.4 seconds remaining on the Blue Jackets' 25th shot of the period. Mason finished with 44 saves. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 19 of 20 shots in front of 19,002 fans. Columbus, at one point 5-12-4, finished the season on a 19-5-3 run. The Predators finished a disappointing season by losing 10 of their last 11 games and missed the playoffs for the second time in nine seasons. Weber broke a scoreless tie 8:29 into the second period when the Predators capitalized on a turnover by Johnson. Nashville's captain finished off a give-and-go with David Legwand by snapping a shot from just above the right faceoff dot that beat Bobrovsky high to the short side for his ninth goal of the season. The scoreless first period saw the Blue Jackets outshoot the Predators 14-9. Nashville had the better of play in the early going and put the puck past Bobrovsky at 8:00, but the goal was quickly waved off because the officials ruled that Craig Smith kicked the puck into the net. Mason stopped Gaborik twice after he had gotten past the defense and the goalie made his best save of the period with less than two minutes remaining when he denied Nick Foligno on a 2-on-1 break. Dubinsky had the Blue Jackets' best chance in the second period, but Mason stopped him from just to the right of the crease after Dubinsky had slipped behind the defense. Mason got his left pad down in the first few seconds of the third period to stop Atkinson's stuff try on a breakaway.

Carolina v Pittsburgh 3-8 - James Neal debuted a new tinted visor for his first game back after missing three weeks because of a concussion. He didn't commit to wearing it for the long-term, though. Safe to say Neal liked the darkened view of things he saw Saturday. Neal had his third career hat trick and added an assist to tie a career high for points and the Pittsburgh Penguins wrapped up their regular season with an 8-3 win against the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday at Consol Energy Center. Jussi Jokinen scored twice against the team that waived and then traded him over the past six weeks and Evgeni Malkin had a goal and two assists for the Penguins, who a week ago clinched the Eastern Conference's No. 1 seed for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Brenden Morrow scored and added an assist during the Penguins' five-goal third period. Chris Kunitz had two assists for Pittsburgh (36-12), which completed the season by avoiding its first three-game losing streak. Kevin Westgarth scored his first two goals of the season and Tuomo Ruutu also scored for Carolina, which finished the season in 13th place in the Eastern Conference standings. Eric Staal had two assists and Jordan Staal had one assist in his first game back in Pittsburgh since being traded from the Penguins to the Hurricanes last summer. Neal scored twice in a span of 2:38 within the first 4 1/2 minutes of the third period, and when Morrow added his 12th of the season, and sixth in 15 games with Pittsburgh, 70 seconds later, the Penguins had blown open what was a tie game after two periods. Neal, who missed eight games after absorbing a reverse elbow to the face from New York Rangers defenseman Michael Del Zotto on April 5, had made it 2-0 when he beat Hurricanes goalie Justin Peters with a wrist shot from the slot early in the second period. Neal's 20th of the season proved to be the winner 1:36 into the third period off an assist from Malkin while on the power play. The Carolina penalty came on a Jared Staal goaltender-interference penalty that wiped out a goal that would have given the Hurricanes the lead. Neal completed his first hat trick since March 20, 2012, by one-timing a feed from Malkin on a 2-on-1 with 15:46 left in regulation. Malkin's goal, his ninth, came on the power play to open the scoring in the first period. After Matt Cooke scored his eighth of the season with 4:17 left, Penguins fans broke out into a "We want the Cup" chant. During the first extended stoppage of the game, that same 278th consecutive Penguins home sellout crowd gave a standing ovation to a tribute video for Jordan Staal, who rose to his feet, acknowledged the fans and applauded back at them. Staal was dealt for Brandon Sutter, a first-round pick and defense prospect Brian Dumoulin during the NHL Draft in Pittsburgh last June. Staal had spent the first six years of his NHL career with the Penguins, but turned down a lucrative contract extension offer from the team, indicating a desire to join brother Eric in Raleigh. Jared Staal was a minus-2 in his second career game for Carolina. Also returning to the Pittsburgh lineup was defenseman Paul Martin, who had missed 12 games because of a broken bone in his hand. Martin had an assist in 23:31 of ice time. Jokinen scored his second of the game at 19:11 of the third to give the Penguins a season-high for goals. Westgarth, whose tie to Pittsburgh is being married to former Steelers coach Bill Cowher's daughter, entered the second period with one career goal, but scored twice in a span of 5:21. His other goal came Nov. 23, 2011, for the Los Angeles Kings against the Dallas Stars. Ruutu has all four of his goals over the final six games of the season. He also scored Thursday in the Hurricanes' home finale. The Penguins almost certainly will open up the first round of the playoffs at home Wednesday against either the Ottawa Senators or New York Islanders. If Ottawa loses to the Boston Bruins in regulation Sunday, the Senators will be the No. 8 seed. If they earn a point, the Islanders are Pittsburgh-bound next week.

Minnesota v Colorado 3-1 - The drought is over for the Minnesota Wild, who are heading to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in five years. Needing a win to secure the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference, the Wild held off the Colorado Avalanche 3-1 on Saturday at the Pepsi Center. The Wild will meet the Presidents' Trophy-winning Chicago Blackhawks in the opening round. The Wild and Columbus Blue Jackets each finished with 55 points, but Minnesota gained the postseason berth because it had three more regulation/overtime wins than Columbus. The Wild went 1-2-0 against the Blackhawks in the regular season, with a shootout win and two regulation losses. The Wild needed to defeat the Avalanche, who finished last in the West and 29th in the NHL standings, because seventh-place Detroit and ninth-place Columbus won their games while their contest was in progress. The Wild could have clinched a playoff spot Friday at home, but were routed 6-1 by the Edmonton Oilers. Saturday's outcome was in doubt until Pierre-Marc Bouchard scored into an empty net with 3.4 seconds to go. The Avalanche pulled goalie Semyon Varlamov for a sixth skater with 1:39 remaining after Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom made a glove save against PA Parenteau. The Wild broke a 1-1 tie on a power-play goal by Devin Setoguchi at 12:20 of the second period. Setoguchi had gone 14 games without a goal before he ripped a shot from the top of the right faceoff circle past a screened Varlamov. The Avalanche had killed off 19 consecutive penalties at home covering parts of six games. The Avalanche thought they had taken a 2-1 lead at 4:55 of the second period when the rebound of Stefan Elliott's shot caromed into the net off the right skate of Chuck Kobasew. The goal was wiped out following a lengthy review. The Wild went on a two-man advantage that began with 9:41 left in the third period and lasted 55 seconds, but the Avalanche killed it off. Shortly after that, Varlamov robbed Jason Zucker on a clean breakaway. The Wild launched the first nine shots of the game and opened the scoring when Parise poked the rebound of Mikko Koivu's shot between Varlamov's pads. Ryan O'Reilly tied the game for the Avalanche at 18:07, a little more than a minute after Varlamov made back-to-back saves from point-blank range against Matt Cullen off a pass from Bouchard, who intercepted a poor pass from John Mitchell. Avalanche right wing Milan Hejduk, in what could have been his final NHL game, skated on a line with Jamie McGinn and Paul Stastny. Hejduk, 37, had two shots on goal in 16:39 of ice time. He was a healthy scratch for seven of the previous eight games and finished with four goals and seven assists in 29 games this season. It also could have been Sacco's last game as coach, though he has one year left on his contract. The Avalanche have missed the playoffs three years in a row.

Chicago v St Louis 1-3 - Even a week ago, the St. Louis Blues never imagined home-ice advantage was possible. But after Saturday's 3-1 win against a makeshift Chicago Blackhawks squad at Scottrade Center, the Blues ended the regular season awaiting an opponent in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and they'll do it at home. The game Saturday had a ton of meaning for the Blues, as a victory secured the fourth seed in the Western Conference and home-ice advantage in the opening round. They will host the Los Angeles Kings when the playoffs start next week. The Blackhawks were playing with eight rookies in the lineup, many recalls from the Rockford IceHogs of the American Hockey League, and the Blues took advantage. Jaden Schwartz set the tone with the first two-goal game of his NHL career, Brian Elliott stopped 22 shots to give him a franchise-best 11 wins in the month of April, and David Backes added a pair of assists to give him 300 career points. The Blues, who concluded the season 29-17-2, will get a chance to avenge a four-game sweep by the Kings in the Western Conference Semifinals last sprring. The Blackhawks, who finished 36-7-5, won the Presidents' Trophy and will have home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs, got a goal from Ben Smith. They finished 16-1-1 against Central Division foes, both losses coming at the hands of the Blues. Goalie Carter Hutton, who stopped 25 shots, and defensemen Shawn Lalonde and Ryan Stanton all made their NHL debuts. Patrik Berglund opened the scoring by knocking in the rebound of an Andy McDonald shot past Hutton 4:33 into the game. It was Berglund's 17th of the season. The Blackhawks' younger skaters displayed some quality zone time and quick skating ability but were unable to solve Elliott, and Schwartz was able to give the Blues a 2-0 lead with 2:36 left in the opening period when he was on the doorstep and scooped the backhand of a Backes redirection past Hutton. It was the kind of start the Blues needed to set the tempo and establish that the game meant much more to them. Schwartz added his second of the game when he and Backes used a nifty little give-and-go play and Schwartz was able to slide a backhand between Hutton's pads with one of those rookies [Drew LeBlanc] applying pressure 8:39 into the second period for a 3-0 lead. Smith scored his fourth career goal when his snap shot from the top of the left circle beat Elliott 8:23 into the third period off a feed from Jeremy Morin. Elliott finished April 11-2-0 with a 1.28 goals-against average, a .948 save percentage and three shutouts after starting the season 3-6-1 with a 3.65 GAA and .851 save percentage. It was quite the turnaround for him, just like the team.

Detroit v Dallas 3-0 - When the Detroit Red Wings needed him the most, captain Henrik Zetterberg stepped up, delivering two goals and an assist as Detroit clinched a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for a 22nd straight season with a 3-0 blanking of the Dallas Stars before a sellout crowd at American Airlines Center on Saturday. Jimmy Howard also stopped all 17 shots he faced to earn his fifth shutout of the season. Zetterberg's first goal came at 18:17 of the first, when a backhand pass deflected off the left skate of Dallas defenseman Alex Goligoski before landing in the back of the net. The Detroit captain then added a second tally, his 11th of the season, at 1:57 of the third with the Red Wings shorthanded, as Zetterberg beat Dallas goaltender Richard Bachman with a 14-foot backhand through the five-hole. Dallas was on the power play after Detroit's Brendan Smith earned a double-minor for roughing at the end of the second for his role in a confrontation with Stars center Vernon Fiddler. Detroit then made it 3-0 at 6:30 of the final period when Jonathan Ericsson netted his third of the season, beating Bachman with a wrist shot that came while the Dallas backup netminder was screened by Red Wings forward Justin Abdelkader. With Saturday's win, Detroit's fourth straight victory, the Red Wings earned the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference and will face the No. 2 Anaheim Ducks in the opening round of the playoffs. The Red Wings last missed the playoffs in 1989-90. Dallas, who finished on a five-game losing streak for a second consecutive year, will miss the playoffs for a fifth straight season and also saw a 15-year streak of winning seasons snapped with Saturday's defeat. Following a penalty-free first period, Dallas center Jamie Benn drew the first penalty of the night at 9:44 of the second when Niklas Kronwall held the 2012 All-Star behind the Stars' goal. However, that power play would last just 16 seconds as Erik Cole was called for interference after taking down Smith in the left faceoff circle at 10:10. Bachman stopped 34 of 37 shots he faced for Dallas.

Vancouver v Edmonton 2-7 - The Edmonton Oilers ended a disappointing season on a happy note. The Oilers left the Rexall Place ice Saturday with cheers ringing in their ears after rookie Nail Yakupov's first NHL hat trick powered them to a 7-2 victory against the Vancouver Canucks. All three goals came in the third period, when the Oilers scored five times in a span of 3:35 to blow open a close game. Jordan Eberle scored twice, rookie defenseman Justin Schultz had a goal and two assists and Jerred Smithson had the other goal for the Oilers. Edmonton (19-22-7) ended the season with back-to-back victories after a stretch in which it dropped nine of 10 on the way to missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the seventh consecutive season. The Canucks (26-15-7) got goals by Derek Roy and Tom Sestito on a night when they rested many of their key regulars to get them ready for the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs next week. Vancouver captain Henrik Sedin dressed and played one 22-second shift, enough to extend his consecutive games-played streak to 629. The Canucks lost two in a row and four of their last six to end the regular season. Their next game will be the opener of their first-round playoff series against the San Jose Sharks. With Vancouver starter Cory Schneider sidelined due to injury, Roberto Luongo was torched for all seven goals. Afterwards, coach Alain Vigneault said he still didn't know who would start Game 1 against the Sharks. Yakupov got his first of the night when he flipped Schultz's rebound past Luongo early in the third period during a 5-on-3 advantage to make it 2-1. Sestito banged the rebound of Kevin Bieksa's shot past Devan Dubnyk two minutes later to tie the game. Dubnyk robbed Keith Ballard on a breakaway and denied a point-blank shot by Maxim Lapierre, setting the stage for Edmonton's barrage. Taylor Hall's no-look backhand passout found Schultz at the top of the crease at 13:17 to put the Oilers ahead to stay. Yakupov got his second of the night 59 seconds later after a misplay by Luongo behind his own net, and Eberle got his second of the game just 21 seconds after that. Yakupov completed the hat trick a little over a minute later when picked up a rebound in front and lifted a backhander into the net for his 17th of the season, tops among all NHL rookies. Despite the season-ending blowout win, the reality is that the Oilers are headed for the draft lottery again, they've had the No. 1 pick in the NHL Draft in each of the past three years.

Phoenix v Anaheim 5-3 - Jason LaBarbera and Radim Vrbata sent the Phoenix Coyotes into the summer on a winning note. LaBarbera made 43 saves and Vrbata had a hat trick as the Coyotes spoiled Fan Appreciation Night for a sellout crowd at Honda Center by beating the Anaheim Ducks 5-3 Saturday. Though the game meant nothing to the Ducks, who had already locked up the Pacific Division title and will face the Detroit Red Wings in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, they bombarded LaBarbera for most of the night. The Coyotes' backup goaltender made a handful of fine stops in the final minute after the Ducks pulled goaltender Viktor Fasth for an extra attacker, but they couldn't get the equalizer and Antoine Vermette iced the win by hitting the empty net with less than two seconds to play. Phoenix (21-18-9) missed the playoffs one year after advancing to the Western Conference Finals. It's the first time in four seasons under coach Dave Tippett that they haven't made the postseason. Vrbata knocked in a rebound 8:14 into the game, but the Ducks tied it two minutes later when Teemu Selanne roofed a pass from Patrick Maroon. Ex-Duck Kyle Chipchura's shot trickled behind Fasth and into the net at 17:36 to put Phoenix ahead 2-1. Anaheim tied it again when defenseman Francois Beauchemin fired through a screen and beat LaBarbera for a power-play goal 14 seconds into the second period. Vrbata gave the Coyotes their third lead 6:46 into the middle period when he fired home a fat rebound into an open net. He completed his fourth career hat trick by scoring a shorthanded goal 7:43 into the third period; that goal proved to be the game-winner when Bobby Ryan scored midway through the period. The Ducks finished 30-12-6, second in the Western Conference. They're ready to start the playoffs.

San Jose v Los Angeles 2-3 - Los Angeles Kings coach Darryl Sutter walked into his postgame press conference with his tie typically loosened as he exhaled out the 48-game season. After all the scenarios that could have played out Saturday, the Kings earned the fifth seed in the Western Conference with a 3-2 win against the San Jose Sharks. L.A. will open at the St. Louis Blues, while No. 6 San Jose will travel to the Vancouver Canucks. Both teams knew before the puck dropped that they were playing for the fifth seed after St. Louis defeated the Chicago Blackhawks to secure the fourth and final home-ice advantage seed in the first round. Sutter and his players said they weren't really disappointed at losing home ice. That's probably because of all the injuries L.A. had this season, which started 3-5-2. The Kings cleaned up at home with a 19-4-1 record, outscoring opponents, 74-44. They finished 24-11-3 over their final 38 games. Justin Williams finished off a nifty play down low with Dustin Penner to give the Kings a 3-1 lead at the 12-minute mark of the third period. It was L.A.'s third shot on goal of the period, but Jonathan Quick withstood late push by the Sharks to prevail over counterpart Antti Niemi. San Jose pulled to 3-2 on James Sheppard's goal with 2:26 to go and pulled Niemi, but couldn't get a scoring chance despite the extra skater. L.A. played its last game without suspended captain Dustin Brown and injured Matt Greene but put together a solid territorial game in the second period and came out with a 2-1 lead on goals by Kyle Clifford and Slava Voynov. Voynov's shot from the right point deflected in off James Sheppard at 5:31. It was Voynov's sixth of the year and second in 27 games. Clifford knocked home his own rebound for his career-high tying seventh goal, 48 seconds into the second. San Jose turned it over in the neutral zone and L.A. gained a mini-rush with Clifford and Kopitar. The Sharks responded 49 seconds later after Clifford's goal when Logan Couture drove between Voynov and Rob Scuderi and snapped it past Quick from the left side for an unassisted goal, his team-leading 21st. Los Angeles went 3-0 against St. Louis this season and upset the Blues in the Western Conference Semifinals as the eighth seed. They again must go into their building and face hot goalie Brian Elliott behind a cast of bruising, hulking defenders. The Sharks went 3-0 against Vancouver, but they went 8-14-2 on the road. It will be a rematch of the 2011 Western Conference Finals, won by the Canucks in five games. The Sharks do have Niemi playing well, and he did his job early. Without Brown, the Kings put their lines in a blender and came out with energy in the form of several scoring chances. But Niemi starred in net with an extended leg pad save on Jordan Nolan and stops on Kopitar and Tyler Toffoli. San Jose didn't put a shot on goal until 8:35 in but outshot L.A., 8-4, the rest of the period.