Maple Leafs clinch Atlantic Division title with win over Sabres

By Canadian Press on April 15, 2025.

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Anthony Stolarz stopped 35 shots for his third consecutive shut out in Buffalo, and the Toronto Maple Leafs clinched their first Atlantic Division title with a 4-0 win over the Sabres on Tuesday night.

Steven Lorentz scored the go-ahead goal on a one-timer with 5:45 left in the second period. Mitch Marner set a career-high with 100 points by scoring with 4:21 left in regulation, Auston Matthews’ empty-net goal was the 400th in his career and Nicholas Robertson also scored.

The Leafs secured the Eastern Conference’s second seed, and will open the playoffs against Ontario provincial rival Ottawa.

DEVILS 5, BRUINS 4, OT

BOSTON (AP) — Brian Dumoulin scored 90 seconds into overtime to lead New Jersey past Bostont and end the Bruins’ first season without a playoff berth since 2016.

Timo Meier had a goal and two assists, and Jake Allen made 20 saves for the Devils, who had already clinched a postseason matchup with the Carolina Hurricanes. Dawson Mercer had a goal and an assist for New Jersey.

David Pastrnak had a goal and an assist for Boston and led the team with 106 points — his third straight 100-point season. Jeremy Swayman stopped 21 shots for the Bruins, who finished with the worst record in the Atlantic Division — and perhaps the Eastern Conference

BLUE JACKETS 3, FLYERS 0

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jet Greaves made 29 saves for his second shutout in his past three games, Dante Fabbro, Kent Johnson and Adam Fantilli each scored a goal and Columbus beat Philadelphia.

Greaves continued to backstop the Blue Jackets to their fifth straight win and an unexpected late-season push for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Fabbro broke a scoreless tie with a one-timer from the top of the right circle, 2:32 into the second period.

Johnson scored his 24th goal of the season on the power play later in the second period and Fantilli scored his fifth goal in the past three games in the third period for his first career 30-goal season.

Zach Werenski and Sean Monahan each had a pair of assists for the Blue Jackets. With those assists, Werenski reached 80 points in a season for the first time in his career.

Sam Ersson made 31 saves for the Flyers.

BLACKHAWKS 4, SENATORS 3, OT

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Frank Nazar scored 48 seconds into overtime to give Chicago a victory over Ottawa in their season finale.

The Blackhawks (25-46-11) missed the playoffs for the fifth straight year.

With an eye toward the playoffs, the Senators (44-30-7) rested players for the second straight game. Claude Giroux, Nick Jensen and Jake Sanderson got the night off. Brady Tkachuk missed his eighth straight game with an upper-body injury.

Thomas Chabot made it 2-all with a power-play goal at 1:19 of the second. Connor Bedard put Chicago back in front with his second goal of the game and 23rd of the season on the power play. The Blackhawks had three goals on five shots against Anton Forsberg, who made 12 saves.

LIGHTNING 5, PANTHERS 1

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Brayden Point had a goal and two assists to lead Tampa Bay to a victory against Florida.

Nikita Kucherov had a goal and an assists and Yanni Gourde added two assists. Conor Geekie, Jake Guentzel and Darren Raddysh also scored for Tampa Bay. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 23 shots.

Brad Marchand scored for Florida, which finished its regular season schedule. Vitek Vanecek finished with 26 saves.

The teams will meet in the opening round of the playoffs starting this weekend.

CAPITALS 3, ISLANDERS 1

NEW YORK (AP) — Dylan Strome scored three times, and Washington beat New York.

It was Strome’s third career hat trick. Charlie Lindgren made 33 saves for Washington, which had dropped two in a row.

Hudson Fasching scored in the third period for New York, and Ilya Sorokin stopped 33 shots.

The Islanders have dropped four of five going into their season finale at Columbus on Thursday night. They will miss the playoffs for the second time in four seasons.

The Associated Press