Lightning clinch Presidents’ Trophy; Canucks win in OT
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Steven Stamkos scored his 36th goal of the season and the Tampa Bay Lightning clinched the Presidents' Trophy with a 4-1 victory over the Arizona Coyotes on Monday night.
The Lightning, who have 116 points, will have home-ice advantage throughout the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Stamkos became the franchise leader in goals with his 384th.
Victor Hedman added his 10th goal of the season and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 28 shots. Anthony Cirelli scored his fifth short-handed goal of the season while Yanni Gourde notched his 20th goal of the season.
Clayton Keller scored for Arizona, which remains one point ahead of Minnesota for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
Darcy Kuemper finished with 20 saves.
Stamkos' record-breaking goal was scored at 6:54 of the first period as Stamkos, battling in front of the Arizona net, got his stick on Ryan McDonagh's shot and deflected the puck past Kuemper.
The goal came in the 737th game for Stamkos and broke the tie with former captain Vinny Lecavalier, who set the record in 1,037 games with Tampa Bay from 1998-2013.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 7, SHARKS 3
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Reilly Smith and Jonathan Marchessault each had four points and Vegas won for the ninth time in 10 games by beating San Jose.
Smith assisted on three goals in the first period and added a score of his own in the third. Marchessault had a goal and two assists in the first and an empty-netter in the third. William Karlsson, Mark Stone, Paul Stastny and Cody Eakin also scored for the Golden Knights. Malcolm Subban made 36 saves in place of injured Marc-Andre Fleury.
In a possible playoff preview, Vegas moved within seven points of the Sharks with nine games to play in the race for home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. San Jose remains one point behind Pacific Division-leading Calgary, with the Flames holding a game in hand.
The Sharks dropped their third straight home game in regulation for the first time in three years as they failed once again with an opportunity to clinch a playoff berth.
Logan Couture scored twice and Joe Thornton had a goal for San Jose. Martin Jones allowed three goals on 11 shots before being replaced by Aaron Dell in the first period.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kyle Connor had a goal and an assist to lead Winnipeg over Los Angeles.
Kevin Hayes and Tyler Myers also scored for the Jets, who have a three-point lead on Nashville atop the Central Division. Laurent Brossoit made 15 saves.
Sean Walker and Dustin Brown had the goals for the Kings. Jack Campbell stopped 25 shots.
Los Angeles, which has dropped six of seven and 15 of 18, was eliminated from playoff contention. At 58 points, the Kings are last in the Western Conference.
CANUCKS 3, BLACKHAWKS 2, OT
CHICAGO (AP) — Bo Horvat scored 16 seconds into overtime, and Vancouver stopped Chicago's five-game win streak with a victory over the Blackhawks.
Alexander Edler and Markus Granlund also scored for Vancouver, which was coming off a 3-2 shootout victory in Dallas on Sunday. Thatcher Demko made 29 saves in his third career win.
The Canucks (31-32-10) pulled within six points of Arizona for the second wild card in the jumbled bottom of the Western Conference. They begin a seven-game homestand on Wednesday night against Ottawa.
Jonathan Toews and Erik Gustafsson scored for Chicago (32-30-10), and Corey Crawford made 31 stops.
The Blackhawks trailed 2-1 before Gustafsson's long slap shot got by Demko with 3:13 left in regulation. It looked as if Gustafsson's shot might have gone off Edler in front.
But Horvat stepped up for Vancouver, beating Crawford for his 25th of the season.
