Overview
- Ottawa beat Carolina 6-3 to climb into the second Eastern Conference wild-card spot late in the regular season.
- Tim Stützle set up the tying goal and then scored on a end-to-end rush in what captain Brady Tkachuk called a “superstar moment.”
- Boston lost 2-1 in overtime to Philadelphia but still holds the East’s top wild-card position with 95 points, five more than Ottawa’s 90.
- Detroit fell 5-4 to Minnesota in a game decided by Kirill Kaprizov’s late power-play winner, which pushed the Red Wings out of a playoff place as Nico Sturm sat out for the Wild.
- Wild-card berths are the final playoff entries in each conference, so each win or loss in the last few games can swing which teams qualify.