NHL NEWS MARCH 23 – ROOKIES VAULT MAPLE LEAFS UP ATLANTIC DIVISION STANDINGS

William Nylander (1-1—2) extended his point streak to nine games (3-7—10) and Auston Matthews scored his team-leading 33rd goal of the season as the Maple Leafs improved to 6-1-1 in their last eight contests.

Toronto (34-23-15, 83 points) moved one point ahead of idle Boston (38-29-6, 82 points) for third place in the Atlantic Division. The Maple Leafs, who have one game in hand, completed a four-game season sweep of the Bruins on Monday.

Matthews (33-25—58) moved within one goal of matching Wendel Clark (34 in 1985-86) for the most by a rookie in Maple Leafs history and vaulted back into a tie with Patrik Laine for the rookie goal-scoring lead.

NHL NEWS MARCH 23 AND MUSINGS

• Andrew Ladd scored the tiebreaking goal with 7:22 remaining in regulation – his 20th of the season – as the Islanders (34-26-12, 80 points) moved within two points of the idle Bruins (38-29-6, 82 points) for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The teams face off Saturday at Barclays Center
• Oilers captain Connor McDavid (26-59—85) recorded his 10th three-point game of the season to extend his lead in the Art Ross Trophy race
• Ducks forward Andrew Cogliano skated in his 777th consecutive game, surpassing Craig Ramsay (776) for the fourth-longest such streak in NHL history
• Rangers forward Rick Nash reached the 20-goal plateau for the 12th time in his 14 NHL seasons
• The Department of Player Safety announced that Toronto’s Roman Polak and Buffalo’s Rasmus Ristolainen each will have hearings on Thursday
• Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin will wear Russian-American themed skates for pregame warmup as part of Russian Heritage Night on Thursday.

WEDNESDAY’S RESULTS
Home Team in Caps
Toronto 5, COLUMBUS 2
NY Islanders 3, NY RANGERS 2
ANAHEIM 4, Edmonton 3

SNEAK PEEK AT THURSDAY’S ACTION
All Times Eastern
Tampa Bay @ Boston, 7 p.m.
Columbus @ Washington, 7 p.m.
New Jersey @ Toronto, 7:30 p.m.
Carolina @ Montreal, 7:30 p.m.
Pittsburgh @ Ottawa, 7:30 p.m.
Arizona @ Florida, 7:30 p.m.
Vancouver @ St. Louis, 8 p.m.
Calgary @ Nashville, 8 p.m.
Philadelphia @ Minnesota, 8 p.m.
Dallas @ Chicago, 8:30 p.m.
Edmonton @ Colorado, 9 p.m.
Winnipeg @ Los Angeles, 10:30 p.m.