NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - Martin Brodeur made 16 saves in what might have been his last start in a 20-year career with the Devils, and New Jersey beat Boston 3-2 on Sunday as the Bruins rested many of their stars in preparation for the playoffs.
The soon-to-be 42-year-old Brodeur is in the final year of his contract and is likely to test the free-agent market now that he has become the backup to Cory Schneider.
Defenseman Marek Zidlicky scored twice and Travis Zajac had a goal for the Devils, who have now missed the playoffs two straight seasons after making the Stanley Cup finals in 2012.
Loui Eriksson scored for Boston, which rested eight starters, including Zdeno Chara and No. 1 goalie Tuukka Rask.
New Jersey’s Jaromir Jagr had two assists, giving him 1,050 and moving him past Gordie Howe for eighth on the NHL career list.
The Devils announced during the game that coach Pete DeBoer will return next season.
LIGHTNING 1, CAPITALS 0, SO
WASHINGTON (AP) - Tampa Bay wrapped up home-ice advantage for its first-round playoff series against Montreal by edging Washington in a shootout in the regular-season finale.
Matthew Carle scored the only goal in the tiebreaker. The victory clinched second place in the Atlantic Division for Tampa Bay, which finished with 101 points, one more than Montreal.
Tampa Bay will host Montreal in Game 1 on Wednesday night.
Alex Ovechkin finished with an NHL-leading 51 goals, but the Capitals failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 2006-07, his second season in the league.
Ovechkin’s between-the-legs attempt in the shootout was stopped by goalie Anders Lindback, who also prevented Nicklas Backstrom and Evgeny Kuznetsov from scoring. It was Lindback’s third career shutout, first this season.
The shootout was Washington’s NHL-record 21st of the season. The Capitals were 10-11 in those games.
RED WINGS 3, BLUES 0
ST. LOUIS (AP) - Detroit backup goalie Petr Mrazek kept injury-riddled St. Louis down heading into the playoffs with his second career shutout.
The Blues had been in contention for the No. 1 overall seed but lost their last six and missed a chance at taking the Central Division. Without three of their top five scorers, their top faceoff man and two top defensemen, the Blues were shut out for the second straight game and third time during the slump.
Justin Abdelkader scored twice, Riley Sheahan added a goal, and Pavel Datsyuk had two assists for the Red Wings, who earned the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference and will face Boston in the first round of the playoffs.
HURRICANES 6, FLYERS 5, SO
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Eric Staal scored twice in regulation and had the only goal in the shootout to lead Carolina over Philadelphia in the regular-season finale.
Jeff Skinner added a pair of goals for the Hurricanes, who finished seventh in the Metropolitan Division and outside of the playoff picture.
Wayne Simmonds scored twice for the Flyers, who had already wrapped up third place in the Metropolitan. Philadelphia will face the New York Rangers in the first round of the playoffs.
Cal Heeter made 33 saves in his NHL debut for the Flyers, before stopping one of two shots in the shootout.
Anton Khudobin made 39 saves and stopped all three of shots in the shootout for the Carolina.
ISLANDERS 4, SABRES 3, SO
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - Brock Nelson scored with 3:44 left in regulation to force overtime and then netted the decisive shootout goal to lift the New York Islanders to a win over Buffalo in a season-ending matchup of non-playoff teams.
Anders Lee scored twice for the Islanders (34-37-11), who finished with three straight wins. Anders Nilsson stopped 36 shots through overtime and all three he faced in the shootout. Nilsson clinched the victory by using his glove to sweep away a puck that got away from Ville Leino as he drove to the net.
The Islanders rallied from a 2-0 deficit.
Torrey Mitchell, Jamie McBain and Matt Ellis scored for Buffalo (21-51-10), which had already clinched the NHL’s worst record. The Sabres went 0-6-1 in their final seven games.
The Sabres wrapped up one of the franchise’s worst seasons in 44 years of existence. With 150 goals scored, Buffalo set the NHL-low in the league’s post-expansion era that began in 1967.
Buffalo got off to a 2-13-1 start, and ended with a 2-16-2 skid.
SENATORS 3, PENGUINS 2, SO
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Jason Spezza scored in the shootout to help Ottawa beat Pittsburgh and finish the season on a five-game winning streak.
The teams were tied 2-2 after two periods and didn’t score in the third or overtime.
Kyle Turris added a goal in the shootout for the Senators. Ottawa goalie Robin Lehner stopped Beau Bennett and Jussi Jokinen to seal the win.
Turris scored his 26th goal in regulation, and Mark Stone had his fourth for Ottawa, which will miss the playoffs for the second time in six years and first since 2011.
Jokinen scored on the power play in regulation, his 21st of the season, and Lee Stempniak added his 12th for the Penguins, who rested captain Sidney Crosby and several others for their final game before the playoffs.
Pittsburgh will face Columbus in the first round of the playoffs.
PREDATORS 7, WILD 3
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Craig Smith had two goals and two assists for Nashville, which finished the season strong with a win over playoff-bound Minnesota.
Wild goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, though, didn’t do himself or his team any good with this shaky performance, as meaningless as the game was against a Predators team that missed the playoffs for a second straight year. Nashville went 9-1-2 in its final 12 games, including eight regulation wins, but finished in 10th place.
Ryan Ellis, Shea Weber, Roman Josi and Smith scored consecutively in the second period, and Bryzgalov was benched at the second intermission. Including his previous game, Bryzgalov gave up eight goals in a span of 43 shots.
Rich Clune had a goal in the first period, and Calle Jarnkrok and Smith scored against goalie John Curry in the final frame.
Erik Haula, Jason Pominville and Zach Parise scored for the Wild, who gave up a season-high seven goals.
DUCKS 3, AVALANCHE 2
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - Nick Bonino scored 1:33 into overtime, and Anaheim finished the best regular season in franchise history with a victory over Colorado.
Devante Smith-Pelly controlled the puck in the slot and passed to Bonino, who wrapped up Anaheim’s 54th victory with his 22nd goal.
With their playoff position secure, the Ducks used the game to honor Teemu Selanne, who plans to retire after the season. The 43-year-old Finnish Flash got standing ovations on every shift in the third period in Anaheim, his home for 15 of his 21 NHL seasons.
The Ducks will face Dallas in the first round starting Wednesday, and the Avalanche open against Minnesota on Thursday.
Patrick Maroon and Saku Koivu scored 3:13 apart to tie it early in the third period for the Ducks, who won seven of nine to close the season. John Gibson made 29 saves to remain unbeaten in his third career start.
Brad Malone and Stefan Elliott scored for the Avalanche, who lost for the third time in 11 games. Longtime Ducks goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere stopped 33 shots in possibly his final game on his longtime home rink.
COYOTES 2, STARS 1
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) - Dave Moss scored late in the third period, Thomas Greiss stopped 16 shots, and Phoenix ended a seven-game losing streak by beating Dallas.
Knocked out of playoff contention on Friday, the Coyotes wanted desperately to end their season-worst losing streak. Greiss gave them a chance with some difficult saves, and Moss finished it with a one-timer past Tim Thomas with 2:31 left.
Shane Doan also scored for the Coyotes, who finished two points behind Dallas in the Western Conference and missed the playoffs for the second straight season.
Dallas was already locked into a first-round playoff series with Anaheim and rested many of its key players. The Stars kept it close behind Colton Sceviour’s first-period goal and 29 saves by Thomas, but couldn’t get anything past Greiss with an extra attacker in the closing seconds.
CANUCKS 5, FLAMES 1
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) - Daniel Sedin scored twice before leaving on a stretcher after taking a hit from behind in Vancouver’s win over Calgary in the season finale.
Frank Corrado scored his first NHL goal, and Ryan Kesler and Yannick Weber also scored for Vancouver. Jacob Markstrom made 21 saves for his first victory with the Canucks.
The result of a game that meant very little was overshadowed by a nasty incident late in the second period when Sedin was checked in the numbers by Calgary’s Paul Byron and stayed down before being taken off on a stretcher. Byron was assessed a major penalty for boarding and was ejected.
The Canucks said in a statement that Sedin was taken in stable condition to a hospital to undergo further evaluation.
Henrik Sedin added two assists for Vancouver, which missed the playoffs for the first time in six years.
Johnny Gaudreau scored in his first NHL game and Karri Ramo stopped 18 shots for Calgary, which is out of the postseason for the fifth straight year.
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