Taylor Hall scored his first goal for Boston, and Tuukka Rask stopped 22 shots from earning his first victory since February – and 300th of his career – in the Bruins’ 4-1 victory over the New York Islanders on Thursday night. Rask had played just once since March 7 because of a back injury. His teammates gave him an easy one, outshooting the Islanders 45-23 – including a 23-7 first period – and getting two goals from Brad Marchand and one from Craig Smith to win their second straight game. Travis Zajac scored his first goal for New York, and Semyon Varlamov made 41 saves. The Islanders had won five of their previous six games and trail the first-place Washington Capitals by two points in the East Division.
SABRES 5, CAPITALS 2
WASHINGTON (AP) – Anders Bjork scored his first goal with his new team and added an assist, helping Buffalo spoil Nicklas Backstrom’s 1,000th game. Sam Reinhart scored his 15th goal, and Victor Olofsson added his 12th for Buffalo, which has won five of its last nine following an 18-game winless streak. Casey Middlestadt added the first short-handed goal of his career during the Sabres’ three-goal second period.
Dustin Tokarski made 27 stops for Buffalo after Linus Ullmark was scratched with a lower-body injury. Tokarski, Buffalo’s fourth-string goalie, won for the first time since stopping 25 shots in Montreal’s 3-1 victory over Ottawa on December 12, 2015. Tage Thompson scored an empty-netter. Anthony Mantha scored his second goal in as many games with Washington following his trade from Detroit. Dmitry Orlov also scored.
RED WINGS 4, BLACKHAWKS 1
scored in his Detroit debut, and Troy Stecher added two goals for the Red Wings.
Since the Red Wings acquired them in a trade Monday with Washington, Vrana, and Richard Panik played for the first time. In the second period, Vrana put Detroit up 2-1 with a breakaway goal.
Michael Rasmussen scored into an empty net for the Red Wings, who have a three-game winning streak for the first time this season.
Duncan Keith scored the only goal for Chicago, which remained four points behind Nashville for the fourth spot in the Central Division.
LIGHTNING 3, PANTHERS 2, OT
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Victor Hedman scored 54 seconds into overtime to give Tampa Bay the victory against Florida. The Lightning remained tied in the Central Division with Carolina, though the Hurricanes have a game in hand. Florida is one point back.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 36 saves for his NHL-leading 26th victory of the season and added an assist. Alex Killorn had a goal and an assist. Ross Colton also scored for Tampa Bay. Chris Driedger stopped 16 shots for the Panthers. Patric Hornqvist and Anthony Duclair scored for Florida, with one win in the past four games.
