On a relatively quiet Sunday around the NHL rinks, the entertaining battle for second place in the Central Division continues to heat up while there are no more playoff spots in the Eastern Conference to be decided.
The St. Louis Blues scored a franchise-record seven goals in the second period in the 8-3 win over the Nashville Predators to remain in sole possession of second place in the Central Division.
Jordan Kyrou, Calle Rosen, and Brayden Schenn had two goals each as St. Louis won its ninth game in a row. Vladimir Tarasenko had a goal and two assists giving him eight goals and seven assists over his last six games. Tarasenko leads the NHL with 10 goals in the month of April.
“Every line can play and every line can score,” Kyrou said. “It is going to be huge going into the playoffs.”
Those who bet online might be interested to know that the Blues have scored at least six goals in four of its last five games.
Nick Cousins and Luke Kunin each had a goal and an assist for Nashville which has lost three of its last five home games.
Jared Spurgeon’s second goal of the game came in overtime as the Minnesota Wild edged the visiting San Jose Sharks 5-4 to remain a point behind St. Louis in the Central Division standings.
Kevin Fiala, who assisted on the game-winning goal, scored along with Dmitry Kulikov and Matt Boldy as Minnesota secured a spot in the playoffs.
Fiala finished with four points giving him 12 over the last six games.
Rudolfs Balcers, Nick Bonino, and Noah Gregor had a goal and an assist for San Jose while Matt Nieto had the other San Jose goal. Thomas Bordeleau had an assist in his NHL debut. He became the 18th rookie to play in at least one game for the Sharks this season which is a franchise record.
Minnesota (+1600) is tied for the seventh-best odds to win the Stanley Cup title.
William Nylander had a goal and an assist while Jack Campbell had 27 saves as the Toronto Maple Leafs topped the visiting New York Islanders 4-2.
Pierre Engvall, David Kampf, and Mitchell Marner also scored as Toronto set franchise marks for wins (50) and points (106) in a season. Auston Matthews, the NHL leader with 58 goals, was held out of the game due to an undisclosed injury.
Josh Bailey and Anthony Beauvillier scored for the Islanders. The loss means that all eight playoff spots in the Eastern Conference are accounted for with the idle Washington Capitals the final team in the conference to secure a postseason berth.
Toronto moved six points ahead of Tampa Bay for second place in the Atlantic Division standings.
Rookie Anton Lundell scored twice as the visiting Florida Panthers cruised to a 6-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings. Florida winning by five goals carried an NHL betting line payout of +475.
Maxim Maxin, Sam Reinhart, Anthony Duclair, and Gustav Forsling also scored as Florida won its 10th game in a row. Aleksander Barkov and Brandon Montour had two assists each as the Panthers now have an eight-point lead in the race for the top seed in the Eastern Conference. Florida is two points behind Colorado for the points lead in the NHL.
10 straight wins for your Cats 😼#TimeToHunt pic.twitter.com/Tz89X6FVW1
— x – Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) April 17, 2022
Spencer Knight had 33 saves to pick up his fifth win in a row for the Panthers. Knight is 5-0 with a 1.75 goals-against average and .939 save percentage since April 1.
Pius Suter had the lone goal for Detroit which has been outscored 14-5 in its last four games.
Victor Olofsson and Tage Thompson had two goals each as the Buffalo Sabres defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 5-3 for their 14th road win of the season. Anders Bjork added his first goal in 28 games. Buffalo scoring five goals carried a Las Vegas odds Moneyline of +375.
Noah Cates and Kevin Hayes each had a goal and an assist for the Flyers who are tied for the fewest points in the NHL since March 1.
Troy Terry had two goals and an assist as the Anaheim Ducks defeated the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets 6-4.
Terry has scored goals in four consecutive games and after scoring 15 goals in his first 129 games, he has 36 in 70 games this season.
Gerry Mayhew and Trevor Zegras each had a goal and an assist while Derek Grant scored with 56 seconds left after Columbus pulled within a goal. Jake Bean scored twice while Cole Sillinger and Sean Kuraly had the other goals for Columbus.
