Marco Rossi scored with 10 seconds left in overtime as the last-place Vancouver Canucks played the role of spoiler Sunday with a 4-3 victory over the host Anaheim Ducks, who needed a win to snap a seven-year playoff drought.
Rossi rifled a slapshot past Ducks goalie Lukas Dostal after taking a pass from Jake DeBrusk for the Canucks’ second power-play goal of the contest.
The Ducks’ (42-32-6, 90 points) next chance to punch their ticket to the postseason with a win will be Tuesday when they visit the Minnesota Wild.
Brock Boeser, Curtis Douglas and DeBrusk also scored and Rossi added an assist for the Canucks, who won their second straight game. Goaltender Nikita Tolopilo made 24 saves for Vancouver, which improved to 24-48-8, with 56 points.
Cutter Gauthier scored two goals, Leo Carlsson scored one and Chris Kreider added two assists for the Ducks, who were trying to punch their ticket to the postseason for the first time since 2018. Goaltender Dostal made 22 saves for Anaheim.
Flames 4, Mammoth 1
Brayden Pachal scored his first goal of the season and added two assists, and host Calgary beat Utah.
Matt Coronato, Connor Zary and Mikael Backlund also scored for the Flames, who had lost three straight and are eliminated from playoff contention. Dustin Wolf made 28 saves. In two wins versus Utah this season, Wolf stopped 56 of 57 shots.
Lawson Crouse scored his 23rd goal of the season for the Mammoth, who have clinched a playoff berth and lead the Los Angeles Kings by three points for the first wild card in the Western Conference. The Kings have played one fewer game, but Utah holds the regulation wins tiebreaker (32-21). Vitek Vanecek made 19 saves.
Capitals 3, Penguins 0
Logan Thompson stopped 24 shots in his fourth shutout of the season and Connor McMichael scored a pair and added an assist in Washington’s victory over visiting Pittsburgh.
Trevor van Riemsdyk added his third goal of the season for the Capitals, while Martin Fehervary assisted on a pair and Ryan Leonard, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Alex Ovechkin each added an assist. It may have marked the final home game for the 40-year-old Ovechkin, who has been mum about his plans.
Stuart Skinner made 23 saves on 25 shots for the Penguins, who lost their second straight.
Bruins 3, Blue Jackets 2
Sean Kuraly scored and set up two others, leading Boston to a win over host Columbus.
Boston clinched an Eastern Conference wild-card berth on Saturday. The first wild-card seed is still within reach with the Bruins battling the Senators for seeding. Henri Jokiharju and Mark Kastelic added a goal and a helper each for Boston, which swept the three-game season series against Columbus and snapped a five-game skid overall (0-3-2).
Mason Marchment and Adam Fantilli responded for the Blue Jackets. With the loss, Columbus’ chances at the third seed in the Metropolitan Division took a substantial blow. Jet Greaves stopped 19 shots.
Canadiens 4, Islanders 1
Nick Suzuki, Ivan Demidov and Alex Newhook scored in a 55-second span late in the second period for Montreal, which eliminated collapsed New York from playoff contention in Elmont, N.Y.
Jacob Fowler made 30 saves while Zachary Bolduc scored with 14.7 seconds left in the third for the playoff-bound Canadiens, who maintained their hopes of winning the Atlantic Division or finishing second and earning home ice in the first round. The Canadiens are tied for first with the Buffalo Sabres, two points ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Montreal does not have the regulation wins tiebreaker over either team.
Casey Cizikas scored in the third for the Islanders, who occupied a playoff spot for most of the season before losing nine of their past 13 (4-9-0). New York entered the weekend one point behind the third-place Philadelphia Flyers in the Metropolitan Division but had its hopes damaged in a 3-0 loss to the Ottawa Senators Saturday afternoon.
Devils 4, Senators 3 (OT)
Nico Hischier scored a power-play goal with 1:42 remaining in overtime and New Jersey earned a victory over Ottawa in Newark, N.J.
Hischier collected two goals and an assist and finished off his fifth three-point game of the season by getting to the net after winning an offensive zone faceoff from Shane Pinto. Jack Hughes notched two assists to reach 50 assists for the second time in his career as the Devils improved to 14-7-1 in their past 22 games.
Ottawa countered New Jersey’s early lead with three goals in a span of 6:32 during the second period. Reimer made 26 saves for the Senators, who saw a four-game winning streak stopped and are one point behind Boston for the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. If the teams finish tied, Ottawa would win the tiebreaker due to their 37 regulation wins.
