BOSTON/ ALBERTA — Jesper Boqvist scored 2:05 into overtime, Linus Ullmark stopped 28 shots as the Boston Bruins beat Florida Panthers 3-2 in a matchup of the top two teams in the Atlantic Division.
Evan Bouchard, also, scored the tiebreaking goal midway through the third period as the Edmonton Oilers thrashed Calgary Flames 4-2.
First-place Boston moved five points ahead of second-place Florida. Both teams have four games left in the regular season – with the Panthers´ all at home.
“It’s another big game, another playoff-type game against a team that’s going to be there and those games aren’t hard to get up for,” said Boston center Charlie Coyle.
“It makes you feel good. It gives you confidence to win those ones, first off, but just to do it and play the way we want to play and know how to play,” Coyle added according to AP.
Charlie McAvoy also scored for the Bruins, who improved to 5-1 since coach Jim Montgomery blasted the team during practice on March 25 for their lack of attention to details and not being prepared for the playoffs.
“I just think that was a wake-up call that our group needed that day,” Montgomery said. “I think why we’re 5-1 is because our team is growing and maturing, and we have great leaders.”
Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov scored for the Panthers, who lost for the fifth time in seven games. Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves.
Leon Draisaitl, Connor Brown and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins also scored for Edmonton, which is 5-1-1 in its last seven games. Calvin Pickard stopped 33 shots to improve to 12-6-0.
“We played well in the third period and our power play came up with a huge goal at the end,” said Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch. “(Pickard) was outstanding. I thought he made huge saves, especially late in the game with the goalie pulled, game on the line, he came up big.”
Draisaitl reached 40 goals for the third straight season and fifth time in his career. That puts him third behind Wayne Gretzky (nine) and Jari Kurri (seven).
The Oilers climbed within three points of Vancouver for first place in the Pacific Division. They have a game in hand on the Canucks, who lost 6-3 at Los Angeles.
Elsewhere, Adrian Kempe had two goals and an assist, Trevor Moore reached 30 goals for the first time in his career and the Los Angeles Kings got closer to wrapping up a playoff spot with a 6-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks.
Los Angeles moved out of a wild card spot in the Pacific Division with five games remaining in the regular season. The Kings have a one-point lead over Vegas and are eight points up on St. Louis, which is still vying for a playoff spot.
“We´re excited. I think we´re also kind of paying attention to the standings,” said defenseman Drew Doughty, who had a goal and an assist.
“We just want to move up as high as we possibly can. We don´t care who we face.”
Kevin Fiala also had a goal and an assist for Los Angeles, which has won three straight. Alex Laferriere also scored, Anze Kopitar had two assists and Cam Talbot stopped 39 shots.
Brock Boeser gpt his 39th goal for Vancouver. The forward is one away from becoming the 10th player in franchise history to reach 40 in a season.
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