Bruins make playoffs with win against Lightning

BRUINS EXTEND WIN STREAK, PUNCH TICKET TO THE POSTSEASON

* Pastrnak reached the 70-point plateau for the first time in his NHL career (34-36-70) and became the second Bruins player to hit the mark this season, joining Brad Marchand (39-46-85). Pastrnak and Marchand became the first pair of Bruins teammates to score 70 or more points in a season since 2008-09 (Marc Savard: 25-63-88 and David Krejci: 22-51-73).
* Rask earned his eighth shutout of 2016-17 to move into a share of the League lead and eclipse his single-season NHL career high of seven set in 2013-14. Rask became the first Bruins goaltender to have eight or more shutouts in a season since Tim Thomas in 2010-11 (9).

TUESDAY'S RESULTS

Home Team in Caps
BOSTON 4, Tampa Bay 0
NEW JERSEY 1, Philadelphia 0 (OT)
PITTSBURGH 4, Columbus 1
Washington 4, TORONTO 1
OTTAWA 2, Detroit 0
Winnipeg 5, ST. LOUIS 2
NY Islanders 2, NASHVILLE 1 (OT)
MINNESOTA 5, Carolina 3
DALLAS 3, Arizona 2 (OT)
COLORADO 4, Chicago 3 (OT)
ANAHEIM 3, Calgary 1
LOS ANGELES 6, Edmonton 4
SAN JOSE 3, Vancouver 1

CAPITALS, PENGUINS KEEP PACE IN PRESIDENTS' TROPHY RACE

The Washington Capitals (53-18-8, 114 points) and Pittsburgh Penguins (49-19-11, 109 points) each earned victories to keep pace in the race for the Presidents' Trophy and the No. 1 seed in the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs:
* Kevin Shattenkirk (GWG) scored his first goal in a Washington uniform to help the League-leading Capitals to a 9-1-1 record in their past 11 games. Alex Ovechkin (558-475-1,033) had an assist to pass Alexander Mogilny (473-559-1,032) for the second-most points by a Russian-born player in NHL history, trailing Sergei Fedorov (483-696-1,179).
* Matt Murray made 38 saves to help the Penguins past the Columbus Blue Jackets. Pittsburgh earned its third consecutive win and increased its lead to three points over Columbus (49-22-8, 106 points) for second place in the Metropolitan Division, keeping pace with Washington.

TOP PACIFIC DIVISION CLUBS REGISTER WINS

The playoff-bound Anaheim Ducks (44-23-13, 101 points) and San Jose Sharks (45-28-7, 97 points) earned wins to gain ground in the tightly contested race for the No. 1 seed in the Pacific Division:
* Down 1-0, the Pacific Division-leading Ducks scored three unanswered goals to extend their point streak to 12 games (9-0-3) and eclipse the 100-point mark for the fourth straight season. Anaheim has won 25 consecutive regular-season home games against the Calgary Flames since April 4, 2004 (CGY: 0-20-5), the longest such run against one opponent in NHL history.
* The Sharks scored twice in the opening 30 seconds of the game en route to a 3-1 win against the Vancouver Canucks. They set a Sharks record for the fastest two goals to start a game, eclipsing the mark set on Oct. 22, 1998 against the Chicago Blackhawks (0:47). The Sharks moved into a tie with the Edmonton Oilers (44-26-9, 97 points) -- in terms of points -- for second place in the Pacific Division.

OTHER EASTERN CONFERENCE TEAMS SECURE VALUABLE WINS

Two Eastern Conference clubs in the hunt for postseason berths secured wins:
* Craig Anderson turned aside all 24 shots he faced to help the Ottawa Senators (42-27-10, 94 points) end a five-game slide (0-3-2) and move into second place in the Atlantic Division. Anderson, who was

for recently appearing in his 500th NHL game, picked up his fifth shutout of the season and is 23-11-4 (2.35 goals-against average, .925 SV%, 5 SO).
* Thomas Hickey scored at 1:25 of overtime to help the New York Islanders (38-29-12, 88 points) to their third consecutive win. The Islanders moved within five points of the Maple Leafs (39-25-15, 93 points) for the final wild card into the playoffs from Eastern Conference.

MCDAVID, DRAISAITL EXTEND POINT STREAKS TO 11 GAMES

Oilers forwards Connor McDavid (6-14-20) and Leon Draisaitl (5-14-19) each had assists to extend their respective point streaks to 11 games. Elias notes that McDavid and Draisaitl equaled the longest point streak by an Oilers player since Andrei Kovalenko from Dec. 12, 1996 - Jan. 7, 1997 (8-7-15).

LOOSE PUCKS

Nino Niederreiter (2-1-3) and Zach Parise (1-2-3) each had three points and the Minnesota Wild (47-25-8, 102 points) clinched second place in the Central Division . . . Blackhawks forward Artemi Panarin scored for the fifth consecutive game (6-1-7) and has reached the 30-goal mark in each of his first two NHL seasons . . . Winnipeg Jets forward Mark Scheifele (1-1-2) reached the 80-point mark for the first time in his NHL career (31-49-80) . . . Los Angeles Kings forward Nicholas Shore (1-3-4) had an NHL career-high four points . . . Dallas Stars defenseman Julius Honka scored the first goal of his NHL career (14 GP) . . . Carolina Hurricanes forward Bryan Bickell
skated in his first NHL game
since being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in November . . . Dion Phaneuf (900) and Jimmy Howard (400) appeared in milestone games . . . Andrew Poturalski (CAR), Ben Thomson (NJD), Samuel Morin (PHI) and Mike Vecchione (PHI) made their NHL debuts . . . The Wild honored forward Eric Staal (0-2-2) in

for recently skating in his 1,000th NHL game . . . The New Jersey Devils honored Patrik Elias, who
recently announced his retirement
from the NHL after 20 seasons (all w/ NJD), in a pregame ceremony . . . The Wild donned vintage
1967-68 Minnesota North Stars jerseys
in pregame warmup and forward Zach Parise honored his late father J.P. Parise by wearing his helmet and gloves for the occasion.

SNEAK PEEK AT WEDNESDAY'S ACTION

All Times Eastern
Montreal @ Buffalo, 7:30 p.m., SN, MSG-B, RDS
NY Rangers @ Washington, 8 p.m., TVA Sports, NBCSN
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LEAGUE-LEADING CAPITALS LOOK TO CLINCH PRESDENTS' TROPHY

The League-leading Capitals (53-18-8, 114 points) look to clinch the Presidents' Trophy and the No. 1 seed in the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs when they host the New York Rangers (47-26-6, 100 points) on NBCSN'S Wednesday Night Rivalry. The Rangers enter the game leading the League with 27 road wins and aim to match their single-season record of 28 set in 2014-15.