NHL Roundup: Bruins’ Rask Effective in Return

Boston — Tuukka Rask made 24 saves in his return from a one-game absence and the Boston Bruins beat the Nashville Predators, 4-1, on Tuesday night, boosting their playoff chances.

Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Noel Acciari and David Backes scored for the Bruins, who moved three points ahead of idle Tampa Bay for the second Eastern Conference wild card with six games remaining. Boston began the night a point behind Toronto for third place in the Atlantic Division.

Rask was sidelined with a lower-body injury for Boston’s 2-1 road win against the New York Islanders on Saturday.

Bergeron’s goal was his 18th of the season, and Krejci got his 22nd. Acciari scored his first career goal in 43 NHL games, Backes netted his 17th of the season and Zdeno Chara earned his 600th NHL point with an assist on Boston’s first goal.

Craig Smith scored his 10th goal for the Predators, who had their four-game winning streak snapped. Pekka Rinne made 27 saves but took his first loss in six starts.

Nashville remained one point ahead of idle St. Louis for third in the Central Division.

Maple Leafs 3, Panthers 2

Toronto — Auston Matthews broke Wendel Clark’s 31-year-old franchise rookie record with his 35th goal of the season in Toronto’s victory over Florida.

Curtis McElhinney made 25 saves for the Maple Leafs. Leo Komarov and Zach Hyman also scored for Toronto.

Blue Jackets 3, Sabres 1

Columbus, Ohio — Cam Atkinson scored his team-leading 34th goal and Sergei Bobrovsky made 41 saves to power Columbus past Buffalo.

Kyle Quincey also scored for Columbus, his first goal since being acquired from New Jersey on March 1. Brandon Saad added an empty-netter.

Hurricanes 4, Red Wings 1

Raleigh, n.c. — Former Dartmouth captain Lee Stempniak and Joakim Nordstrom scored about five minutes apart in the first period, and Carolina beat Detroit in the second meeting between the teams in two nights.

Jordan Staal and Elias Lindholm also scored for Carolina, and Cam Ward stopped 21 shots. The Hurricanes have earned a point in 12 straight games (8-0-4) to move within four points of the Eastern Conference’s final playoff spot.

Flyers 3, Senators 2 (so)

Philadelphia — Jordan Weal scored the only shootout goal after tying the game late in the third period to lift Philadelphia over Ottawa.

Brayden Schenn also scored for the Flyers, a long shot to make the playoffs with six games remaining. Philadelphia began the day six points out of a postseason spot but needing to jump four teams.

Canadiens 4, Stars 1

Montreal — Brendan Gallagher put Montreal ahead early in the third period against Dallas.

Max Pacioretty, Artturi Lehkonen and Alexander Radulov also scored for the Canadiens, who won their second straight. Carey Price finished with 27 saves.

Jets 4, Devils 3 (so)

Newark, n.j. — Patrik Laine scored in the shootout and Winnipeg rallied from a two-goal deficit to beat New Jersey in the makeup of a game postponed by a snowstorm this month.

Connor Hellebuyck made 20 saves and stopped all three Devils shootout attempts as the Jets climbed out of a 3-1 hole to sweep the season series.

Capitals 5, Wild 4 (ot)

St. Paul, Minn. — T.J. Oshie scored his second goal of the game 1:42 into overtime to bookend Alex Ovechkin’s hat trick, Braden Holtby earned his 40th win and Washington beat Minnesota for its fifth straight victory.

After Eric Staal’s goal for the Wild tied the game with 26.6 seconds left in regulation, Oshie took a pass in the left circle from Marcus Johansson and beat struggling Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk with a wrist shot.

Johansson had four assists.

Martin Hanzal and Jason Pominville had a goal and an assist apiece, but the Wild lost for the eighth time in nine games and fell to 3-11-1 in March after forward Zach Parise exited early with an injury .