BOSTON – Nazem Kadri scored the only shootout goal to help the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Boston Bruins 4-3 on Thursday night.

With the point for reaching overtime, the Bruins clinched a tie for the Northeast Division title. The next Boston win or loss by Montreal will give the Bruins the division title.

Toronto is 10th in the Eastern Conference, five points behind seventh-place Buffalo and the New York Rangers for one of the eight playoff spots.

Joffrey Lupul scored twice for Toronto, Luke Scheen added a goal and former Bruins forward Phil Kessel had a pair of assists. Brad Marchand, David Krejci and Andrew Ference scored for Boston.

Bruins goalie Tim Thomas, who made 28 saves, made a right-pad save on Mikhail Grabovski’s penalty shot 43 seconds into overtime, but Kadri beat him with a backhand shot over the left shoulder in the shootout.

Tyler Seguin, Michael Ryder and Rich Peverley each failed in the shootout for the Bruins. James Reimer made a glove stop on Peverley to end it.

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Grabovski was awarded the penalty shot when he was hooked by Steven Kampfer after beating Zdeno Chara for a clean breakaway. Thomas also made a sliding right-pad save on that scoring bid.

Boston had a power play for the final 1:05 of overtime after Lupul was called for slashing, but Reimer made a couple of good stops on long-range shots. He finished with 35 saves.

Lupul’s second goal of the game tied it at 3 with just over 12 minutes left in the third period. He slipped a wrister past Thomas from the right circle.

ISLANDERS 6, RANGERS 2: Radek Martinek and P.A. Parenteau each had a goal and assist in the Islanders’ four-goal second period that sealed a win over the Rangers at Uniondale, N.Y.

After Blake Comeau got the Islanders even 1-1 at 3:24, Martinek put them in front 33 seconds later.

THRASHERS 1, FLYERS 0: Nik Antropov scored the only goal and Chris Mason stopped 43 shots for his first shutout of the season, leading Atlanta to a win at Philadelphia.

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Mason, who earned his 21st career shutout, stopped 14 shots in the second period and got some timely offensive help for his 13th win of the season.

Antropov scored his 15th goal midway through the third period to help keep Atlanta’s faint playoff hopes alive.

CAPITALS 4, BLUE JACKETS 3: Jason Chimera tipped in a rebound 2:30 into overtime to give Washington a victory over visiting Columbus.

The Capitals had a three-on-two rush and goalie Steve Mason stopped Brooks Laich’s shot, but the rebound went to Chimera and he tapped it in to give Washington its 12th victory in March.

The Capitals reached 101 points, crossing the 100-point plateau for the third straight season, to move within a point of Philadelphia for the Eastern Conference lead.

Scottie Upshaw forced overtime for Columbus, fighting off two defenders to score his 22nd goal of the season with 5:37 left.

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SENATORS 4, PANTHERS 1: Rookie Colin Greening scored twice in the second period and visiting Ottawa completed a season sweep of Florida.

Nick Foligno and Filip Kuba also scored for the Senators, who have won six in a row against Florida dating to last season. Marek Svatos had two assists.

Michal Repik scored for the Panthers, whose losing streak stretched to seven games.

LIGHTNING 2, PENGUINS 1: Martin St. Louis scored his 30th goal of the season, helping Tampa Bay clinch its first playoff berth since 2007 with a victory over visiting Pittsburgh.

Steve Downie also scored for the Lightning, who have won three in a row following a four-game losing skid.

Pittsburgh, which had won its previous four road games, got a goal from Michael Rupp.

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Downie put the Lightning up 1-0 with a backhand rebound goal at 4:51 of the first. St. Louis made it 2-0 with 9:47 left in the period.

WILD 4, OILERS 2: Minnesota goalie Niklas Backstrom ended a six-start winless streak as Minnesota won at St. Paul, Minn.

Defenseman Tom Gilbert and Linus Omark each had power-play goals for the last-place Oilers, who fell to 0-8-3 in their last 11 games.

Antti Miettinen, Marek Zidlicky, Brad Staubitz and Martin Havlat scored for Minnesota.

NOTES: Columbus called up right wing Tomas Kubalik from its AHL affiliate in Springfield, Mass. … Merrimack College standout Stephane Da Costa signed a two-year, entry-level contract with Ottawa.

 


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