SUNDAY SPORTS

BOSTON – Johnny Boychuk scored the tiebreaking goal with 6:06 left in the third period, Milan Lucic had two goals and the Boston Bruins clinched the Eastern Conference’s best record with a 5-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday afternoon.

David Krejci also scored for the Bruins and Patrice Bergeron extended his consecutive point streak to 11 games, setting up Boychuk’s go-ahead score.

AVALANCHE 4, BLUES 0

ST. LOUIS (AP) – Semyon Varlamov tied the franchise single-season record for goalie wins held by Colorado coach Patrick Roy and Paul Stastny had another big game in his hometown in a penalty-filled victory over St. Louis.

Stastny had a goal and two assists and Nathan Mackinnon had a goal and an assist for Colorado, which has won six in a row and has 106 points, third-most in franchise history. Roy became the fifth coach in NHL history to win 50 games in his first season.

CAPITALS 4, ISLANDERS 3, SO

UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) – Evgeny Kuznetsov scored in regulation and had the only goal in the shootout to lift preserve Washington’s playoff hopes.

Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby stopped all three Islanders attempts in the shootout and Washington snapped a five-game losing streak and moved within two points of Columbus for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.

Kuznetsov tied it 1-1 at 2:36 of the second period, but John Persson put the Islanders back ahead at 4:16, and Frans Nielsen made it 3-1 on a power-play goal at 9:55. The Capitals fought back to tie it, getting goals from Nicklas Backstrom at 12:45 and Joel Ward at 15:01.

DEVILS 3, HURRICANES 1

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – Dainus Zubrus scored twice and New Jersey earned a point in its seventh straight game.

Travis Zajac scored the go-ahead goal on a deflection in the second period to help the Devils improve to 4-0-3 during a stretch that has given their playoff chances a significant boost.

Jeff Skinner scored for Carolina, which had its two-game winning streak snapped. The Hurricanes had kept their faint playoff hopes alive by earning points in their previous five games.

STARS 5, LIGHTNING 2

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Jamie Benn had two goals and an assist to lead Dallas past Tampa Bay.

Tyler Seguin had his team-leading 35th goal, and Vernon Fiddler and Antoine Roussel also scored for Dallas. Kari Lehtonen stopped 27 shots.

Steven Stamkos and Andrej Sustr scored for Tampa Bay, and Ben Bishop finished with 23 saves.

SENATORS 3, RANGERS 2

NEW YORK (AP) – Robin Lehner made 41 saves and held off a furious late push by New York to lift the Ottawa to a win that prevented the Rangers from clinching an Eastern Conference playoff berth.

The Rangers needed only one point to secure a post-season spot for the fourth straight year, but were shut down by the Senators, who hold only faint playoff chances.

JETS 4, MAPLE LEAFS 2

TORONTO (AP) – Tobias Enstrom scored the tiebreaking goal late in the second period and Winnipeg held on for the win.

Brian Little and Jacob Trouba scored in the first period, and Olli Jokinen had a goal in the third to give the Jets some cushion. Ondrej Pavelec stopped 23 shots for Winnipeg, which was eliminated from playoff contention on Thursday.

Phil Kessel tied a career high with his 37th goal and Nazem Kadri also scored for Toronto, which remained at 84 points. The Leafs have just three games remaining and trail Columbus by one point for the Eastern Conference’s last playoff spot. The Blue Jackets have five games left.

CANADIENS 5, RED WINGS 3

MONTREAL (AP) – Brian Gionta scored his second goal of the game late in the third period to give the surging Montreal Canadiens a 5-3 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night.

Michael Bournival, Max Pacioretty and Alex Galchenyuk also scored for Montreal, while Carey Price made 34 saves. The Canadiens are now 10-2-0 in its last 12 games.

WILD 4, PENGUINS 0

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Cody McCormick had a goal and an assist and Ilya Bryzgalov stopped all 20 shots he faced for Minnesota.

Erik Haula, Mikko Koivu, and Stephane Veilleux also scored for the Wild, who maintained a five-point cushion over Dallas for the seventh playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Bryzgalov posted his second shutout since being acquired by the Wild on March 4. He was steady throughout and made a pair of outstanding saves in the second period to keep the shutout intact.

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DeAndre Daniels had 20 points and 10 rebounds to help U-Conn snap Florida’s 30-game win streak with a 63-53 upset of the Gators at the Final Four. U-Conn will play for its second title in four years Monday against Kentucky who beat Wisconsin 74-73 in Dallas.

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Michael Bradley’s goal in the 11th minute was enough for Toronto FC to end the Columbus Crew’s unbeaten run with a 2-nil victory. Bradley scored from a bad angle, beating goalkeeper Steve Clark at the near, right post with a shot taken two yards from the end-line.

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Jose Mari scored a pair of goals three minutes apart in the second half as the Colorado Rapids came back to beat the Vancouver Whitecaps 2-1. The Rapids improved to 4-1-and-1 while handing the Whitecaps their first loss of the young season. Mari scored in the 79th and 82nd minutes shortly after Vancouver was reduced to 10 men.

(Canadian Press)