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CALGARY, Alberta -- Jiri Hudler scored twice and the Calgary Flames clinched an NHL playoff berth for the first time in six years with a 3-1 win over Los Angeles on Thursday night that eliminated the defending Stanley Cup champion Kings from postseason contention. Johnny Gaudreau also scored for the Flames and Jonas Hiller stopped 33 shots for the win. Jonathan Quick had 22 saves in the loss. The Flames will face the Vancouver Canucks in the first round of the playoffs. Calgary concludes its regular season Saturday at Winnipeg. Los Angeles won two of the last three Stanley Cups, but struggled this season to keep pace in the Pacific Division. PANTHERS 4, BRUINS 2 SUNRISE, Fla. -- Roberto Luongo earned his 401st career win and Jaromir Jagr got his 1,800th career point, helping the Panthers beat Boston, damaging the Bruins' playoff hopes. The Bruins have lost two straight after winning their previous five games. They trail Ottawa by two points and Pittsburgh by one for the eighth and final spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Bruins have the tie-breaker over the Senators and finish Saturday at Tampa Bay. Detroit and the New York Islanders clinched playoff berths when Boston lost. Jonathan Huberdeau scored the go-ahead goal, while Jimmy Hayes, Brad Boyes and Aleksander Barkov also scored for the Panthers. Luongo stopped 34 shots and is tied with Chris Osgood for 10th in career wins. Jagr had two assists. The first gave him 1,799 career points and moved him past Ron Francis for sole possession of fourth place. Jagr's second assist gave him 1,800 points and he tied Adam Oates for sixth in assists with 1,079. BLUES 2, BLACKHAWKS 1 ST. LOUIS -- Paul Stastny scored the winner, Dmitrij Jaskin broke a 16-game scoreless string, and Jake Allen made 21 saves as the Blues won the Central Division. The Blues clinched home-ice advantage for the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs with their second win over Chicago in five days and a loss by Nashville. It's their first division title since 2011-2012 and only the third since 1986-87. Jaskin poked a rebound past Alex Pietrangelo at 17:10 of the second period to break a scoreless tie. It was the Blues' first goal in 121 minutes, 58 seconds. Jaskin's last goal came March 1 in a 6-5 overtime loss to Vancouver. Andrew Shaw scored for Chicago, which has lost three in a row and is guaranteed of opening the playoffs on the road, finishing third in the division. AVALANCHE 1, JETS 0, SO DENVER -- The Jets clinched their first playoff spot in eight seasons despite the shootout loss. Ryan O'Reilly and Matt Duchene scored in the shootout, and Reto Berra stopped both Winnipeg shots. Berra finished with a season-high 41 saves, then stymied Blake Wheeler and Andrew Ladd in the shootout. The Jets received help from Calgary to squeeze into the playoffs as a wild card when the Flames beat Los Angeles. The last time the franchise made the postseason was in 2006-07, when the team was the Atlanta Thrashers. The Jets are making their first playoff appearance since relocating to Winnipeg for the 2011-12 season. Ondrej Pavelec had another brilliant night, stopping 21 shots through overtime. But O'Reilly beat him with a backhanded shot and Duchene followed with another. Colorado did not make the playoffs this season. WILD 4, PREDATORS 2 NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Jason Pominville scored with 2:03 remaining in regulation for Minnesota. Jason Zucker scored twice and Marco Scandella had the other goal for Minnesota, which extended its franchise-record road winning streak to 12 games. Filip Forsberg and Seth Jones had the goals for Nashville, loser of the last five games. When St. Louis beat Chicago, it meant the Predators can't win the Central Division, which belongs to the Blues. Goaltender Darcy Kuemper saw his first action in the NHL since Jan. 20. After starting 39 consecutive games, Devan Dubnyk finally got a rest Thursday. Having a playoff spot clinched, the Wild also did not dress their top three goal scorers: Zach Parise, Nino Niederreiter, and Thomas Vanek. Kuemper made 32 saves. LIGHTNING 4, DEVILS 3, OT TAMPA, Fla. -- Tyler Johnson scored his second goal, an overtime power play effort. Johnson scored from along the goal line 1:22 into the extra session. Nikita Nesterov and Steven Stamkos also scored for the playoff-bound Lightning, who are battling Montreal for the Atlantic Division title. Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat had three assists apiece. New Jersey, 1-6-3 over its last 10 games, got two goals from Steve Bernier, while Patrik Elias had the other Devils goal. Scott Gomez and Adam Henrique both had two assists. CANADIENS 4, RED WINGS 3, OT MONTREAL -- Lars Eller scored 1:21 into overtime to lift the Canadiens, giving Carey Price a team record with his 43rd win of the season. Andrei Markov, Jeff Petry and Tomas Plekanec also scored for Montreal (49-22-10), which played its final home game. The Canadiens play their final regular-season game Saturday night in Toronto and lead Tampa Bay by two points in the Atlantic Division. Tomas Tatar, Pavel Datsyuk and Darren Helm scored in regulation for the Red Wings (42-25-14), who reached the postseason for a 24th consecutive season despite the defeat. Detroit qualified by earning a point while Boston lost to Florida. Eller scored on a shot from the left side that dribbled through goalie Jimmy Howard. SENATORS 3, RANGERS 0 NEW YORK -- Clarke MacArthur and Kyle Turris scored in a 1:04 span late in the second period and the Senators' continued their dazzling playoff push behind goaltender Andrew Hammond. Hammond had 26 saves for his third shutout as the Senators improved to 22-4-4 since Feb. 10. They have 97 points in the wild five-team race for the final four playoff spots in the Eastern Conference, and will make the postseason by winning in Philadelphia on Saturday. Hammond has been the difference for Ottawa. The 27-year-old is 19-1-2 since taking over as the starting goaltender on Feb. 8. This win over the Presidents' Cup winners avenged his only loss. Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored into an empty net with 1:39 to play. Henrik Lundqvist made 24 saves. His four-game winning streak and the Rangers' five-game run ended. HURRICANES 3, FLYERS 1 PHILADELPHIA -- Brent Bellemore and Ryan Murphy each scored a goal to lead Carolina. Jordan Staal added an empty-netter for the Hurricanes, who snapped a five-game road losing streak while taking their fourth victory in five games against Philadelphia this season. Sean Couturier scored for the Flyers, while Jakub Voracek went without a point for Philadelphia. Voracek entered Thursday fourth in the league with 81 points, two behind the NHL-leading trio of John Tavares, Jamie Benn and Sidney Crosby. The game pitted a pair of teams not headed for the postseason. CANUCKS 5, COYOTES 0 VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Yannick Weber scored twice and Eddie Lack made 28 saves for his second shutout of the season. Daniel Sedin, Ronalds Kenins and Dan Hamhuis had the other goals for Vancouver, which clinched a Western Conference playoff spot two nights earlier. Alexander Edler added three assists, while Henrik Sedin chipped in with two for the Canucks, who missed the postseason in 2013-14 for the first time in six years. They have rebounded under rookie head coach Willie Desjardins. Depending on what Calgary does in its finale Saturday against Winnipeg, the Canucks still might need a victory in their home game later that evening against Edmonton to lock up second place in the Pacific Division and home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. SHARKS 3, OILERS 1 EDMONTON, Alberta -- Bryan Lerg scored in his NHL debut in a game between two teams out of the playoff picture. Patrick Marleau and Matt Nieto also scored and Antti Niemi made 26 saves to help the Sharks snap a two-game losing streak. Nail Yakupov scored for Edmonton and Laurent Brossoit made 49 saves in his NHL debut. The Oilers have lost four of five games. San Jose will miss the playoffs after qualifying for postseason play the last 12 seasons. The Oilers are on the outside for the ninth straight year.
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