RALEIGH, N.C. — Teuvo Teravainen and Dougie Hamilton scored 21 seconds apart in the first period, and the Carolina Hurricanes gave their playoff hopes a boost with a 5-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday.
Petr Mrazek made 30 saves for Carolina, which is in position for the first Eastern Conference wild card. The Hurricanes increased their lead to three points over Montreal and Columbus, both of which were playing Saturday night.
Seeking its first playoff appearance since 2009, Carolina also pulled within two points of Pittsburgh for the third playoff spot in the Metropolitan Division and could tie the Penguins in the standings with a win Sunday in Pittsburgh.
Claude Giroux and Oskar Lindblom scored and Cam Talbot made 27 saves for Philadelphia, which was eliminated from playoff contention.
For a stretch of two months starting in mid-January, the Flyers were one of the hottest teams in the NHL as they went on an 18-4-2 run to work themselves back into the playoff picture. But Saturday’s loss dropped them to 3-6 in their past nine games.
ISLANDERS 5, SABRES 1: Jordan Eberle continued his scoring surge with another goal, Anthony Beauvillier added two of his own and host New York clinched a playoff berth.
CAPITALS 6, LIGHTNING 3: Alex Ovechkin scored his 50th and 51st goals of the season, leading Washington to a win at Tampa, Florida.
SENATORS 4, MAPLE LEAFS 2: Anthony Duclair scored twice and Craig Anderson made 42 saves to help last-place Ottawa beat visiting Toronto for the second time in two weeks.
CANADIENS 3, JETS 1: Joel Armia, Jeff Petry and Jordan Weal scored and Montreal won at Winnipeg, Manitoba, to improve its playoff hopes.
BLUES 3, DEVILS 2: Defenseman Vince Dunn scored in close with 2.8 seconds left in overtime and the St. Louis won at Newark, New Jersey.
NOTES
COYOTES: Forward Nick Schmaltz agreed to a seven-year contract extension worth more than $40 million, according to the Athletic.
The 23-year-old Schmaltz arrived in the desert in a November trade that sent forward Dylan Strome and Brendan Perlini to Chicago. He had seven goals and 18 assists in 40 games between the teams before suffering a season-ending knee injury in December.
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