Read reports from Thursday’s NHL games.
Noel Acciari broke the tie late in the third period, Joseph Woll made 22 saves and the Toronto Maple Leafs edged the New York Rangers 3-2 on Thursday night in the final game of the schedule consistent for both teams.
Acciari pushed the puck behind Jaroslav Halak with 7:39 remaining to put the Maple Leafs ahead and start the playoffs 5-0-1 in their last six games.
Rangers forward Filip Chytil believed he had tied the game with 1.9 seconds left, but referees ruled he intentionally pushed the puck into the Leafs’ net with his skate.
Timothy Liljegren and William Nylander also hit the mark for Toronto. Artemi Panarin and Kaapo Kakko hit back for Rangers.
The Maple Leafs finished second in the Atlantic Division with 111 points, enough to give them home-ice advantage against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Leafs are entering the spring tournament for the seventh straight year, but they haven’t won a series since 2004.
The Rangers finished the season with a 47-22-13 record, third in the Metropolitan Division with 107 points. They will face the New Jersey Devils in the first round of the playoffs.
Rookie Wyatt Johnston scored his 24th goal of the season and the Dallas Stars wrapped up their regular schedule by beating the St. Louis Blues 1-0 on Thursday night. They will now have to wait to find out if they will obtain the title of the Central section.
The Stars (47-21-14) won their sixth straight game and finished the campaign with 108 points, putting them three points ahead of the Colorado Avalanche in their division.
The Avalanche were playing their last game at home as the Stars wrapped up their season, and they are also scheduled to play Friday night against the Predators in Nashville.
Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger made 25 saves for his fifth shutout of the season. He stopped four shots in the final two minutes as the Blues pulled their goaltender for a sixth skater.
Dougie Hamilton tied the game in the third period, Luke Hughes scored his first NHL goal in overtime and the New Jersey Devils beat the Washington Capitals 5-4 on Thursday night in their final game in the regular season.
The Devils erased a three-goal deficit, thanks to two goals from Erik Haula and another on the power play from Miles Wood.
However, the Carolina Hurricanes’ victory in Florida allowed the Devils to grab second place in the Metropolitan Division. They will face the New York Rangers in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
This is the first time the Devils and Rangers will meet in the playoffs since the Eastern Finals in 2012. All three New York-area clubs are competing in the NHL playoffs at the same time for the first times since 2007.
The goal of finishing No. 1 after 82 games was secondary on Thursday, as the Devils want to be healthy for the first game of their series next Monday or Tuesday. The Devils have given goaltender Vitek Vanecek, forward Ondrej Palat and defenders Ryan Graves and John Marino a night off.
Brent Burns scored twice and the Carolina Hurricanes scored four times in the third period en route to a 6-4 win over the Florida Panthers.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Jesper Fast, Shayne Gostisbehere and Sebastian Aho all rattled the ropes for the Hurricanes, who started the night one point ahead of the Devils at the top of the Metropolitan Division. Frederick Andersen finished the night with 31 saves.
The Hurricanes will open their Stanley Cup playoffs against the New York Islanders.
Aleksander Barkov, Ryan Lomberg, Anthony Duclair and Carter Verhaege fought back for the Panthers, who started the night one point behind the Islanders in the fight for the first bye given to teams drafted in the East. Alex Lyon stopped 30 shots.
The Panthers will face the best club in the NHL, the Boston Bruins, in the first round of the playoffs in the East.