Sports
Bruins bid to strengthen grasp on playoff spot at Flyers' expense
Sep 29, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman (1) defends against Philadelphia Flyers forward Nikita Grebenkin (29) during overtime at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images The Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers are experiencing the Eastern Conference wild-card race from very different perspectives.
In either case, both teams are hungry for a win Sunday afternoon when the Bruins visit the Flyers in a late-season clash.
Boston (43-26-8, 94 points) currently sits atop the East wild-card standings with five games remaining. There is a four-way tie for the second and final wild-card spot that includes Philadelphia (38-26-12, 88 points), with all four teams having five or six games to play.
“It’s awesome. It’s the best time of the year, just trying to make the playoffs and just the playoff push,” Flyers rookie Alex Bump said. “It’s the best time of the year. It’s fun hockey. It’s kind of the situation you want to be in.”
Bump was in a good mood Friday after Philadelphia notched a 4-1 road victory over the New York Islanders, who sit one point ahead of the Flyers for third place in the Metropolitan Division. The top three teams in each division earn automatic playoff spots.
Bump joined defenseman Travis Sanheim with a goal and an assist against the Islanders, while Matvei Michkov had one and two, respectively. The Flyers had lost their previous two games — both against wild-card contenders — and desperately needed a crisp performance on Long Island.
“Obviously, a lot of resilience from our team,” Philadelphia coach Rick Tocchet said. “(We’ve played) three in four, four in six. I just love the energy, especially early. It’s a tough building to come into and they had a couple of days’ rest. … Everyone contributed tonight.”
Dan Vladar made 21 saves as the Flyers avoided their first three-game losing streak since late January.
“The guys played an unbelievable game today,” Vladar said.
The Flyers have a day of rest heading into Sunday’s affair, while the Bruins are facing a challenging back-to-back after losing 3-1 at Tampa Bay on Saturday. The Bruins led 1-0 in the third period before the Lightning scored three times to drop Boston to 0-2-0 on its four-game road trip.
“We played a pretty good game. We really did,” Boston coach Marco Sturm said.
Casey Mittelstadt scored the only goal for the Bruins, while Jeremy Swayman made 20 saves on 22 shots.
“I thought we had a lot of positives for our group. Sometimes you don’t get the results,” said Swayman, who has allowed three goals or fewer in each of his last nine starts. “Our team shouldn’t be hanging their heads. A lot of great things came out of tonight’s game and that’s what we should be focused on.”
The Bruins have one of the top-10 power-play units in the NHL but went 0-for-4 with the man advantage against Tampa Bay. They also failed to score with the extra skater (0-for-2) in Thursday’s 2-1 loss to the Florida Panthers.
“We had a few chances, even in the first, but I also thought the power play needed to step up,” Sturm said. “It didn’t really give us a whole lot of Grade-A chances. We were fine, though. We were still good enough today. But those little details, they matter, and those details have been hurting us for two games in a row.”
This is the third and final meeting this season between Philadelphia and Boston. The Bruins defeated the Flyers 6-3 on Jan. 29 before Philadelphia returned the favor with a 3-1 home victory on Feb. 28.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Habs outlast Devils in shootout to earn 8th straight victory
Apr 4, 2026; Newark, New Jersey, USA; Montréal Canadiens right wing Cole Caufield (13) swipes at the puck in front of New Jersey Devils goaltender Jake Allen (34) during the first period at Prudential Center. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Salus-Imagn Images Oliver Kapanen scored in the fifth round of the shootout to extend the Montreal Canadiens’ win streak to eight games after Saturday’s 4-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils in Newark, N.J.
Cole Caufield failed to find his 50th goal of the season, but tallied a pair of assists in the win, while Ivan Demidov, Jayden Struble, and Lane Hutson all scored for the Canadiens (45-21-10, 100 points).
Both goaltenders impressed as Jakub Dobes made 35 saves en route to his fifth consecutive win, while Jake Allen stopped 26 shots in the loss.
Jack Hughes, Timo Meier and Dawson Mercer all scored for the Devils (39-34-3, 81 points).
Struble broke the deadlock with 4:02 remaining in the first as he sent a rocket of a shot into the top corner for just his second goal of the season.
Caufield picked up his second assist of the night just over eight minutes into the second period as he slid a sneaky pass across to Demidov, who made no mistake in burying the power-play goal and extending his point streak to five games (two goals, four assists).
Hutson stretched it to a 3-0 lead 9:28 into the middle frame as the puck bounced out to him with Allen sprawled out and an empty net in front of him.
Mercer finally solved Dobes as he sent a short-side snipe over the netminder’s shoulder with 6:52 left in the second.
Just moments after Bratt was denied on a short-handed odd-man break, Hughes made the most of the second consecutive 2-on-1 chance, cutting the deficit to one with 2:20 left in the second.
Caufield had his best chance at finding his 50th goal with 7:44 left in the contest as he fired off a high shot from the slot, but Allen got it with the blocker.
Meier knotted things up at three with just 2:15 remaining in regulation as he took a pass from Hughes and sent his shot off the post and in.
Dobes robbed Bratt at one end, before Allen stoned Kapanen at the other during an exciting overtime frame.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Optimistic Red Wings see 'opportunity' in matchup with Wild
Mar 28, 2026; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Minnesota Wild right wing Ryan Hartman (38) is congratulated by his teammates after scoring a goal during the third period against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images The Detroit Red Wings are moving closer to a 10th consecutive season without a playoff game.
Following a damaging loss on Saturday, the desperate Red Wings will host the Minnesota Wild on Sunday afternoon.
Facing a team out of the playoff picture, the Red Wings were nearly blanked by the New York Rangers, 4-1. Gabe Perreault collected his first NHL hat trick for the Rangers while the Red Wings couldn’t get a puck past Jonathan Quick until the final minute.
David Perron prevented the shutout with his first goal since he was acquired from the Ottawa Senators at the trade deadline. The Red Wings (40-28-8, 88 points) have lost three of their past four games and eight of their last 12 while going 4-7-1 in that span.
“We have to forget about this one quick and get ready for Minnesota,” Detroit captain Dylan Larkin said. “That’s the focus for me right now and for our group. We talked about it after (the game), we have to move on and go get points against Minnesota.”
Forward Lucas Raymond had a similar viewpoint as the Red Wings begin a four-game homestand.
“We would have loved to be in a playoff spot but that isn’t the case,” Raymond said. “At the same time, we’re tied in points with the team that is (in the spot) so we have a good opportunity here. We have games left to really do something special with this team.
“We have a lot of faith in ourselves and our team. It’s just about going out there and getting it done.”
Detroit reside in a four-way tie in points for the second wild card in the East with the Senators, Columbus Blue Jackets and Philadelphia Flyers.
The Wild (43-21-12, 98 points) already have secured a playoff berth. They did the Red Wings a favor on Saturday by defeating the Senators 4-1.
Ryan Hartman continued to pump up his stat line, scoring two goals for the second consecutive game. Hartman will carry a four-game goal streak into Sunday’s contest.
“We talked a lot about getting ourselves ready, trying to build our team and build our style of game and feel good going into playoffs,” Hartman said. “If we’re up goals, if we’re down a couple, we want to use those as learning spots for us.”
Jesper Wallstedt made 33 saves for the Wild. Filip Gustavsson likely will get the nod in goal for Minnesota on Sunday.
“Every game is obviously a different game,” Hartman said. “Sometimes you feel great; sometimes there’s other things you need to do because you’re not feeling 100%. But we feel good right now and we’re building our game.”
Gustavsson was the winning goalie in the first meeting between the Wild and Red Wings this season. He made 31 saves in a 4-3 overtime victory in St. Paul, Minn., on Jan. 22.
Kirill Kaprizov scored his second goal of the game 45 seconds into the overtime. Mats Zuccarello scored the other goals for Minnesota. Raymond led Detroit’s offense with two goals.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Golden Knights win 3rd straight, glide past Oilers
Apr 4, 2026; Edmonton, Alberta, CAN; Vegas Golden Knights forward Mitch Marner (93) looks to make a pass in front of Edmonton Oilers forward Jack Roslovic (28) during the second period at Rogers Place. Mandatory Credit: Perry Nelson-Imagn Images Defenseman Jeremy Lauzon and forward Brett Howden had a goal and an assist each to lead the Vegas Golden Knights to a 5-1 win over the host Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night.
Colton Sissons, captain Mark Stone and defenseman Rasmus Andersson also scored for the Golden Knights (35-26-16, 86 points), who won their third straight under new coach John Tortorella and moved to within a point of first place in the Pacific Division. Jack Eichel had three assists and Ivan Barbashev two as Carter Hart made 31 saves.
Defenseman Evan Bouchard got the goal for the Oilers (39-29-9, 87 points), who had their five-game winning streak snapped and remain tied on points for the Pacific Division lead with the Anaheim Ducks. Connor Ingram stopped 28 shots.
Howden’s goal with 8:17 left in the first period gave Vegas a 1-0 lead. He put in the rebound of Eichel’s shot off the rush for his second goal in as many games.
Sissons and Lauzon scored 2:21 apart in the second period to make it 3-0.
Sissons tipped in a pass from Mitch Marner off the rush 5:44 into the middle period, and Lauzon also scored via the rush by putting in a snap shot from the inside edge of the left circle off a pass from Eichel.
It was Lauzon’s first goal since the 2023-24 season and his first for the Golden Knights.
Bouchard put the Oilers on the board with 34 seconds remaining in the middle period with a wrist shot from the slot. It was his 400th career point and 21st goal of the season.
Stone restored the three-goal lead 4:04 into the third period when he tipped in Barbashev’s shot 13 seconds after Vegas had killed off an Edmonton power play.
Andersson added a power-play goal with 3:47 left. It was his 16th tally and fourth in his last six games.
A fan looked to be okay, despite being hit in the head with a puck that left the rink with 6:52 left in the second.
The Oilers’ Zach Hyman did not play because of an undisclosed injury.
Vegas salvaged the final game between the two Pacific Division rivals after Edmonton had prevailed in the first three.
–Field Level Media
Habs outlast Devils in shootout to earn 8th straight victory
Optimistic Red Wings see 'opportunity' in matchup with Wild
