Matt Savoie finished the regular season with his first NHL hat trick, helping host Edmonton steam to a 6-1 win over Vancouver Canucks on Thursday, giving the Oilers home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
With the victory in the regular-season finale, Edmonton clinched second place in the Pacific Division. The Oilers will host the third-place Anaheim Ducks in Game 1 of a best-of-seven Western Conference playoff series on Monday.
Edmonton’s Colton Dach added a goal and an assist, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Josh Samanski also scored. Connor McDavid had four assists, wrapping up the NHL scoring race with 138 points, while Evan Bouchard finished with three assists. Connor Ingram needed to stop just 11 shots for the win.
Rookie Ty Mueller got his first NHL goal for the NHL-worst Canucks, who saw a three-game winning streak end. Kevin Lankinen made 29 saves and assisted on Mueller’s goal.
Ducks 5, Predators 4
Troy Terry drew a high-sticking penalty and scored the tiebreaking goal on the ensuing power play with 2:54 left, lifting visiting Anaheim to a win against Nashville in the regular-season finale for both teams.
Cutter Gauthier, Jackson LaCombe, Alex Killorn and Tristan Luneau also scored, Mikael Granlund notched three assists, John Carlson produced two assists and Ville Husso made 17 saves for the Ducks, who will enter the playoffs for the first time in eight years.
Steven Stamkos had two goals and an assist, Filip Forsberg also scored twice, Luke Evangelista and Ryan Ufko registered two assists each and Juuse Saros stopped 35 shots for the Predators, who lost three of their last four.
Flames 3, Kings 1
Arsenii Sergeev made 27 saves, several of the spectacular variety, in his NHL debut, backstopping host Calgary to a win over Los Angeles.
Morgan Frost, Zayne Parekh and Joel Farabee scored and Zach Whitecloud added two assists for the Flames, who will miss the playoffs for the second straight season.
Quinton Byfield tallied for the Kings, who captured the second wild-card playoff spot in the Western Conference and will play the NHL-best Colorado Avalanche in the first round starting Sunday. Anton Forsberg stopped 18 shots in Los Angeles’ first regulation loss in April after a 6-0-2 run.
Avalanche 2, Kraken 0
Scott Wedgewood made 22 saves for his 12th career shutout, Parker Kelly and Nick Blankenburg scored and Colorado beat Seattle in Denver.
Valeri Nichushkin had two assists for the Avalanche, who set the franchise record for points in a season (121). The shutout was the fourth for Wedgewood this season. His 2.02 goals-against average and .921 save percentage both led the NHL.
Victor Ostman turned away 33 shots for the Kraken, who lost their third in a row and finished the season with 13 defeats in the last 16 games (3-11-2).
Blues 5, Mammoth 3
Robert Thomas recorded his second career hat trick, lifting St. Louis to a win over Utah in the regular-season finale for both teams in Salt Lake City.
Rookie defenseman Logan Mailloux scored the go-ahead goal with 2:57 remaining in the third period. Pavel Buchnevich also tallied, Dylan Holloway notched two assists and Joel Hofer turned aside 20 shots as the Blues headed into the offseason with their fourth straight victory.
Utah’s Lawson Crouse scored his career-high-tying 24th goal of the season, Kailer Yamamoto and Michael Carcone also tallied and captain Clayton Keller and MacKenzie Weegar each had two assists. The Mammoth have lost three of their past four games ahead of their Western Conference first-round series against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Sharks 6, Jets 1
Macklin Celebrini tallied one goal and two assists to become the franchise leader for points in a single season, guiding San Jose to a win against host Winnipeg in the season finale for both teams.
Celebrini, 19, reached 115 points (45 goals, 70 assists) to break Joe Thornton’s record of 114 points set in the 2006-2007 season. William Eklund also logged a goal and two assists, Will Smith had a goal and an assist and Alex Nedeljkovic made 25 saves.
Cole Koepke scored the lone goal for the Jets, who ended their season with four straight losses. Eric Comrie turned away 27 shots.
–Field Level Media
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