Leafs set franchise wins records with victory over Panthers
TORONTO (AP) Mitch Marner had a goal and an assist to extend his point streak to 10 games and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Florida Panthers 4-3 on Wednesday night to set a franchise record with their 46th win.
Toronto also set a high-water mark with its 27th home win and can clinch a playoff spot if the Philadelphia Flyers lose in regulation to the Colorado Avalanche later Wednesday.
James van Riemsdyk added his 35th goal - and the 200th career - for Toronto, while Auston Matthews and Patrick Marleau added their 30th and 25th goals, respectively.
Frederik Andersen made 30 saves and set a career high with his 36th victory.
Jonathan Huberdeau scored twice, and Evgenii Dadonov also scored for Florida, which got 31 stops from Roberto Luongo, including a couple of big ones early.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Evgeny Kuznetsov scored 38 seconds into overtime to help Washington move closer to its fourth consecutive playoff appearance.
Kuznetsov's goal came after Washington's Lars Eller tied it with 1:05 left in the third period with goaltender Braden Holtby pulled for an extra attacker. Holtby stopped 35 of the 37 shots he faced to look more like the Vezina Trophy winner than he had shown in recent months.
Andre Burakovsky also scored for Washington, which has won five in a row and leads the Metropolitan Division. Henrik Lundqvist made 30 saves for the Rangers in his first career game with no playoff implications.
Kevin Hayes and Ryan Spooner scored New York's goals as it outshot Washington 37-33 in its first contest since being eliminated from the playoff hunt.
FLYERS 2, AVALANCHE 1
DENVER (AP) - Ivan Provorov had a goal and an assist, Petr Mrazek stopped all 17 shots he faced in relief of starter Michal Neuvirth and Philadelphia held off Colorado.
Claude Giroux also scored as the Flyers climbed into third place in the Metropolitan Division. They're tied in points (92) with second-place Pittsburgh, with the Penguins currently holding the tiebreaker.
Philadelphia looked crisp early - scoring both goals in the first period - despite losing in overtime at Dallas a night earlier. Neuvirth turned back 10 shots in his first game since suffering a lower-body injury on Feb. 18, but he exited the game midway through the second period for an undisclosed reason.
Matt Nieto scored for an Avalanche team that's on the outside of the playoff picture with five games remaining. Andrew Hammond had 31 saves during an emergency start for Semyon Varlamov, who was sidelined by an illness.
COYOTES 3, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 2
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Kevin Connauton scored twice to lead Arizona over Vegas.
It marked Arizona's first victory over the expansion Golden Knights in the teams' fifth and final game this season.
Richard Panik also scored for the Coyotes, and Antti Raanta improved to 18-16-6 by making 27 saves.
Erik Haula and Alex Tuch scored for the playoff-bound Golden Knights. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 29 shots.
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