NHL Roundup: Bruins Win Fifth Straight

Chicago — Backup goalie Anton Khudobin made 41 saves, and the Boston Bruins held off the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 on Sunday for their fifth straight victory.

Ryan Spooner, Patrice Bergeron and Kevan Miller scored for the Bruins, who jumped over idle Toronto and Ottawa into second place in the Atlantic Division. Boston began the day in wild-card position, four points ahead of Tampa Bay for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Chicago’s Artemi Panarin extended his goal-scoring streak to four games with his 29th. Jordin Tootoo also scored for the Blackhawks, who got 26 saves from Corey Crawford in their final regular-season home game.

The Blackhawks clinched first place in the Central Division and Western Conference on Saturday when Minnesota lost at Nashville. Chicago is assured of home-ice advantage through the first three playoff rounds.

Khudobin was sharp as the Bruins rested No. 1 goalie Tuukka Rask in their final regular-season road game.

Boston led 2-0 after the first period despite being outshot 16-11.

Spooner opened the scoring 6:34 in by deflecting Zdeno Chara’s bouncing shot from the left point for his 12th goal.

The Blackhawks turned up the pressure later in the period, but Khudobin made a series of close-in saves — including dandies on Marian Hossa and Panarin — to keep Chicago off the board.

Bergeron fired in his 21st goal on a power play from beyond the top of the right circle to make it 2-0. He beat Crawford high to the stick side after taking a pass from Brad Marchand, who had stolen the puck at center ice.

Panarin cut it to 2-1 with 1:48 left in the second on the Blackhawks’ 25th shot to cap a fluky play that withstood a video review.

Miller extended Boston’s lead to 3-1 at 9:15 of the third on a nice move and quick shot from the left circle that sailed past Crawford’s glove.

Tootoo trimmed it to 3-2 just 25 seconds later.

Penguins 3, Hurricanes 2

Pittsburgh — Jake Guentzel and Conor Sheary scored power-play goals, Scott Wilson picked up his eight of the season and Pittsburgh edged Carolina.

Matt Murray finished with 33 saves for the Penguins, who moved into second-place in the Metropolitan Division with a week to go in the regular season.

Blues 4, Predators 1

St. Louis — Alexander Steen scored the tiebreaking goal early in the second period, David Perron had a goal and two assists and St. Louis beat Nashville.

Islanders 4, Sabres 2

Buffalo, n.y. — Anders Lee scored third-period goals a little more than five minutes apart, and New York overcame the absence of captain John Tavares to stay in the playoff hunt.

Lightning 6, Stars 3

Tampa, Fla. — Adam Erne scored twice and Ondrej Palat added a power-play goal and two assists as Tampa Bay defeated Dallas.

Wild 5, Avalanche 2

St. Paul, Minn. — Erik Haula had a goal and assist, Devan Dubnyk stopped 30 shots and Minnesota beat Colorado.

Martin Hanzal, Jared Spurgeon, Zach Parise and Jordan Schroeder also scored for Minnesota.

Capitals 3, Blue Jackets 2

Columbus, Ohio — Braden Holtby stopped 35 shots, Andre Burakovsky had a goal and an assist and Washington held on for a win over Columbus. T.J. Oshie and Matt Niskanen also scored for the Capitals, who improved to 8-1-1 in their last 10 games.

Sharks 3, Canucks 1

Vancouver, British Columbia — Tomas Hertl scored twice in the first period and Martin Jones made 29 saves as San Jose beat Vancouver after losing Joe Thornton to an apparent injury to his left leg.

Rangers 4, Flyers 3

New York — Oscar Lindberg and Chris Kreider scored 2:09 apart midway through the third period, and the Rangers held on to beat Philadelphia for their first win at home in six weeks.

Mika Zibanejad and Brendan Smith scored in the first period, and Henrik Lundqvist stopped 20 shots to help the Rangers win at Madison Square Garden for the first time since beating Washington on Feb. 19. New York was 0-5-3 on home ice since.

The Rangers are guaranteed to fall no lower than the first wild card in the Eastern Conference.