Player of the Night: The Philadelphia Flyers put themselves on the verge of a playoff berth with a 4-3 overtime win against the Boston Bruins. After blowing a 3-1 lead and watching Patrice Bergeron force OT with 3.8 seconds left, captain Claude Giroux snatched the extra point with this beauty of a goal for his second of the afternoon:
Highlight of the Night: You could give this award to Giroux for that nasty goal, but let’s spread the love and allow Taylor Hall to take home tonight’s honors. With the game tied at one late in the third period and the New Jersey Devils killing off a 5-on-3, Hall exited the penalty box and took a Travis Zajac pass and beat Carey Price to earn a huge 2-1 victory:
Bizarre Goal of the Night: Alexander Kerfoot got credit for this weird one:
MISC:
• The Flyers doubled their lead thanks to some nifty stick work from Travis Konecny:
• Filip Forsberg scored twice and assisted on another as the Nashville Predators dispatched the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-1. Tampa’s power play couldn’t capitalize on any of their five opportunities. As if things haven’t been bad enough for the Bolts (four losses in five games), captain Steven Stamkos left the game and didn’t return after suffering a lower-body injury.
[The 2018 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs begin April 11 on the networks of NBC]
• Philipp Grubauer was tremendous for the Washington Capitals, stopping 36 shots in a 3-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. The victory meant that the Caps clinched the Metropolitan Division title for the third straight season. Alex Ovechkin was pointless in his 1,000th NHL game.
• Adam Henrique and Ryan Kesler scored in a span of 1:36 to erase a 3-1 deficit and force overtime against the Colorado Avalanche. In the extra period, it was Ondrej Kase earning the extra point for the Anaheim Ducks and eliminating the Dallas Stars from playoff contention in the process:
Factoid of the Night:
Carey Price moved into a tie with Jacques Plante for the most games played by a goaltender in @CanadiensMTL franchise history. #NHLStats #NJDvsMTL pic.twitter.com/nxSlbPO91s
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) April 1, 2018
Scores:
Flyers 4, Bruins 3 (OT)
Devils 2, Canadiens 1
Capitals 3, Penguins 1
Predators 4, Lightning 1
Ducks 4, Avalanche 3 (OT)
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Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.