* Wild Card races in both conferences heated up Monday as the Canucks, Blue Jackets and Red Wings each earned two valuable points and moved closer to the playoff line in their respective conferences.
* Jake Oettinger climbed several lists with his 12th career shutout and helped the Stars extend their home point streak to 11 games.
* The Jets will have another opportunity to clinch a berth into the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs when they visit the Capitals, the only team to have done so to date. Winnipeg will clinch a playoff berth if it gets at least one point versus Washington OR St. Louis loses to Montreal in any fashion.
CANUCKS, BLUE JACKETS, RED WINGS IMPROVE POSITIONING IN WILD CARD RACES
Wild Card races in both conferences took center stage Monday night as the Canucks, Blue Jackets and Red Wings each picked up crucial wins.
* Conor Garland (1-0—1) knotted the score with just 36 seconds remaining in regulation – the second time in five days that the Canucks scored a game-tying goal in the final minute of a contest (also Brock Boeser at 59:56 on March 20 at STL) – to set the stage for a shootout win. Vancouver (33-26-12, 78 points) was the only team in the Western Conference Wild Card race to pick up points Monday and moved three back of St. Louis (37-28-7, 81 points) for the final playoff position in the West.
* After the Islanders took an early 2-0 lead, Adam Fantilli (1-0—1) scored to start the Blue Jackets rally – notching his 70th career point in the process – and found the back of the net in the shootout to lift Columbus to a crucial victory against New York, which is also chasing a playoff position. The Blue Jackets (32-29-9, 73 points) moved within two points of the idle Canadiens (33-27-9, 75 points) for the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference, while the Islanders (32-28-10, 74 points) also moved within one point of them.
* After falling behind early, the Red Wings (33-31-6, 72 points) scored five unanswered goals to snap their six-game losing skid on the road and move within three points of the playoff line in the Eastern Conference. Patrick Kane (0-1—1) recorded at least one point in a game for the 844th time in his career and passed Phil Housley (843 GP) for the second-most instances by a U.S.-born player in NHL history behind only Mike Modano (891 GP).
OETTINGER COLLECTS SHUTOUT AS STARS EXTEND HOME POINT STREAK
Jake Oettinger made 32 saves to allow the Stars (45-21-4, 94 points), who occupy second in the Central Division, to extend their home point steak to 11 games (10-0-1) and tie their fourth-longest run in team history. Dallas secured its second-highest win total through 70 games in a season in franchise history, behind only the 2005-06 campaign (47).
* Oettinger, who is from Lakeville, Min., improved to 7-0-2 through his first nine regular-season games against his home state team. He passed Cesare Maniago (145) for the fourth-most wins by a goaltender in Stars/North Stars history, trailing Marty Turco (262), Kari Lehtonen (216) and Ed Belfour (160). Oettinger also tied Jon Casey (12) for the sixth-most shutouts in franchise history.
QUICK CLICKS
*Filip Gustavsson, Jack Eichel, Dylan Holloway named NHL’s “Three Stars” presented by GEICO
* Color of Hockey: Sarah Nurse out to ‘make an even bigger impact’ on, off ice
*Dalibor Dvorsky’s dad cancels flight to see son’s NHL debut for Blues
* Members of Israel Elite Hockey League teams visit NHL office in NYC
* #NHLStats: Live Updates from Monday
THE GR8 CHASE, ANOTHER CHANCE AT A JETS CLINCH AND MORE ON TUESDAY’S SLATE
There are a number of storylines on the horizon heading into Tuesday’s slate, including within the first game of a doubleheader on Sportsnet ONE that features the Penguins (29-32-11, 69 points) visiting the Lightning (40-25-5, 85 points), before the Kings (39-21-9, 87 points) welcome the Rangers (34-31-6, 74 points). Sidney Crosby is two points away from his 20th straight point-per-game season, the Maple Leafs (42-35-3, 87 points) can boost themselves atop the Atlantic Division, the Jets (48-19-4, 100 points) have another opportunity to clinch a berth into the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs and Alex Ovechkin could make more movement in The Gr8 Chase.
* Crosby (25-53—78 in 70 GP) enters Tuesday two points shy of becoming the first player in NHL history to record 20 point-per-game seasons and would surpass Wayne Gretzky (19 from 1979-80 – 1997-98) for the all-time record. Crosby has recorded 490 multi-point games, which is 97 more contests than he has been held off the score sheet entirely.
* Playoff implications will be on the line for multiple Canadian teams: the Maple Leafs can end the day in first place in the Atlantic Division should they earn a regulation win while the Canadiens will partake in an all Wild Card 2 matchup against the Blues – the club that owns that position in the West. Montreal and St. Louis are two of the top performing teams since the 4 Nations Face-Off break, sitting first (STL; .813 P%) and second (MTL; .769 P%) among all clubs in terms of points percentage.
* The Golden Knights (42-20-8, 92 points) and Wild (40-25-5, 85 points) will face off in what could be an opening round preview, which would mark the second all-time postseason meeting between the two clubs after Vegas bested Minnesota in the 2021 First Round. The two teams have been lined up to face off in the 2025 First Round since March 7.
* The Flames return home after a four-game road trip that concluded with a three-game sweep of the New York metropolitan area. Calgary, winners of four straight on two occasions this season, sits four points back and has three games in hand on St. Louis (owners of Wild Card 2) entering its contest against Seattle. After that, Calgary closes the month against last year’s Western Conference finalists, Dallas and Edmonton, before facing the Art Ross Trophy frontrunner when they visit Nathan MacKinnon in Colorado.
* Ovechkin scored his 600th NHL goal against Connor Hellebuyck and the Jets seven years ago (March 12, 2018), and now has The Gr8 Chase just seven shy of a new all-time NHL goals record entering a clash between No. 1 seeds in Winnipeg. The Capitals and Jets have been the No. 1 seed in their respective conferences since Dec. 31 and Jan. 14, respectively, and have taken turns atop the overall standings during that span.
