ST. PAUL, Minn. — Jaroslav Halak made 26 saves for his fifth shutout of the season and 47th of his career, and the short-handed Boston Bruins beat the Minnesota Wild 3-0 on Thursday night.

Joakim Nordstrom, David Pastrnak and Zach Senyshyn scored for Boston.

Halak, who has split time with Tuukka Rask in goal for Boston, was rarely challenged by a Minnesota team that was shut out for the 10th time, and seventh time on its home ice.

The Bruins rested several regulars, including Zdeno Chara, David Krecji, Brad Marchand and Charlie McAvoy, since they are locked into the second spot in the Atlantic Division behind Tampa Bay.

Alex Stalock stopped 32 shots for Minnesota, which has lost nine times in its last 13 games and was eliminated from playoff contention on Tuesday. The Wild are 3-8-4 at home since the All-Star break, and the 10 shutouts this season are tied for the second most in franchise history and are the most since 2002-03, the franchise’s third year in existence.

A game that didn’t mean anything for either team didn’t feature much action until Nordstrom broke the scoreless stretch midway through the second period.

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Boston defenseman Matt Grzelcyk sent in a shot that went wide of the goal and bounced off the end boards, where forward Noel Acciari astutely tipped the puck out to the front of the net. Nordstrom was wide open and sent a quick shot past Stalock for his seventh goal of the season.

Pastrnak and Senyshyn scored 36 seconds apart with less than three minutes remaining. It was Pastrnak’s team-leading and career-high 38th goal. Senyshyn, the 15th-overall pick in the 2015 draft, was making his NHL debut and capped the scoring with an empty-netter.

HURRICANES 3, DEVILS 1: Justin Faulk scored the go-ahead goal in the second period, and Carolina clinched its first playoff berth in a decade by beating visiting New Jersey.

Warren Foegele and Nino Neiderreiter also scored to help the Hurricanes snap the NHL’s longest active playoff drought.

CAPITALS 2, CANADIENS 1: Nic Dowd put Washington ahead for good early in the second period, Braden Holtby made 33 stops and the Capitals clinched the Metropolitan Division title with a victory at home.

PENGUINS 4, RED WINGS 1: Phil Kessel scored twice, Sidney Crosby added a goal and two assists and Matt Murray stopped 33 shots as Pittsburgh won at home and clinched a postseason berth for the 13th straight year.

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Jimmy Howard finished with 43 saves for the Red Wings but couldn’t quite duplicate his spectacular performance in a victory over the Penguins on Tuesday as Detroit’s six-game winning streak came to a halt.

LIGHTNING 3, MAPLE LEAFS 1: Steven Stamkos had a goal and an assist, Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 29 shots, and Tampa Bay won at Toronto, becoming the second team in NHL history to win more than 60 games.

ISLANDERS 2, PANTHERS 1: Brock Nelson scored in the second period and then got the winner in the fourth round of the shootout to give the New York a victory at Sunrise, Florida.

SABRES 5, SENATORS 2: Jack Eichel got a goal and two assists, and Buffalo closed its home schedule by snapping an eight-game skid.

NOTES

RANGERS: Hall of Fame executive Glen Sather is stepping down as president and transitioning to a new role as senior adviser to owner James Dolan.

Sather’s move comes after 19 years with the Rangers in which he served the first 15 as president and general manager. He ceded general manager duties to longtime assistant Jeff Gorton before the 2015-16 season.


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