CAPITALS CLINCH PRESIDENTS’ TROPHY, MATCH FRANCHISE RECORD IN WIN.

Knotted at 1-1 after two periods, the Capitals scored three unanswered goals to clinch the Presidents’ Trophy and the No. 1 overall seed in the playoffs.

At 54-16-5 (113 points), the Capitals equaled a franchise record for wins in one season, established in 2009-10 when they captured their only other Presidents’ Trophy (54-15-13, 121 points).

Both the Flyers (37-25-13, 87 points) and Red Wings (38-27-11, 87 points) eked out wins to keep pace in the race for the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference.

The Red Wings raced to a 3-0 lead and held off a late Sabres rally to pick up their fourth victory in their last six outings. Dylan Larkin notched his 22nd goal of the season, three off the rookie lead held by Chicago’s Artemi Panarin (25), while Jimmy Howard made 18 saves to improve to 7-0-1 in nine career appearances vs. BUF (1.52 GAA, .937 SV%, 1 SO).

Even at 2-2 after two periods, the Sharks potted three unanswered goals to defeat the rival Kings and clinch their 11th playoff berth in the past 12 seasons.

TODAY’S CLINCHING SCENARIO
The Predators will clinch a playoff berth if they defeat the Stars in any fashion AND the Avalanche lose to the Blues in regulation.

MILESTONES & MUSINGS

• Avalanche forward Blake Comeau (1-1—2) potted his 100th NHL goal.
• Kings defenseman Drew Doughty played in his 600th NHL game.
• Nashville’s Roman Josi (13-44—57) scored to break the single-season franchise record for points by a defenseman, established by Shea Weber in 2013-14 (23-33—56).

MONDAY’S RESULTS
Home Team in Caps
PHILADELPHIA 3, Winnipeg 2 (OT)
WASHINGTON 4, Columbus 1
DETROIT RED WINGS 3, Buffalo 2
TAMPA BAY 3, Toronto 0
Colorado 4, NASHVILLE 3
Anaheim 2, EDMONTON 1
Calgary 5, ARIZONA 2
SAN JOSE 5, Los Angeles 2

SNEAK PEEK AT TUESDAY’S ACTION
All Times Eastern
Boston @ New Jersey, 7:00 p.m.
Carolina @ NY Islanders, 7:00 p.m.
Buffalo @ Pittsburgh, 7:00 p.m.
Detroit @ Montreal, 7:30 p.m.
Toronto @ Florida, 7:30 p.m.
Chicago @ Minnesota, 8:00 p.m.
Colorado @ St. Louis, 8:30 p.m.
Nashville @ Dallas, 8:30 p.m.
San Jose @ Vancouver, 10:00 p.m.