NHL Recap March 27, 2024 – OTTAWA HAS FIRST-PERIOD OFFENSIVE OUTBURST

Wednesday the Senators erupted for four goals in the opening 8:49 of their contest against the Sabres en route to a five-goal first period. It marked the first time Ottawa scored five goals in an opening frame in more than 20 years (5 in P1 on Jan. 8, 2004).

• Shane Pinto assisted on three of their five first-period goals and fell one helper shy of the most in a period by a player in Senators history (Jason Spezza: 0-4—4 in P2 on Oct. 26, 2006).

LIGHTNING FEND OFF BRUINS, CLOSE IN ON MAPLE LEAFS
Brayden Point’s 42nd goal of the season was also his League-leading 11th game-winning tally and Victor Hedman (0-1—1) hit the 70-point mark for the third time in his career as the Lightning fended off the Atlantic Division-leading Bruins (42-17-15, 99 points). Tampa Bay (40-25-7, 87 points) moved within two points of Toronto (40-22-9, 89) points for third place in the Atlantic – a position the Lightning have not held since Feb. 16.

• Hedman (12-58—70 in 69 GP) assisted on Nikita Kucherov’s 42nd goal as the latter retook top spot in the 2023-24 Art Ross Trophy race (42-82—124 in 71 GP). Meanwhile, the 2017-18 Norris Trophy winner joined Erik Karlsson (5x), John Carlson (3x) and Brent Burns (3x) as the fourth active defenseman to record at least three 70-point campaigns. Outside of Karlsson, only two other Swedish-born blueliners have posted as many 70-point seasons as Hedman: Nicklas Lidstrom (4x) and Borje Salming (4x).
• The Lightning’s climb in the Atlantic Division standings has benefited from an 8-1-1 record in March, with their .850 points percentage trailing only the Predators (9-0-2, .909 P%) for the best among all teams this month.

RUSH TO THE PLAYOFFS CONTINUES WITH 14-GAME THURSDAY

With the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs set to begin in less than a month (Saturday, April 20), Thursday will see 28 teams hit the ice including every team in the Western Conference, six of the eight Eastern Conference teams that currently hold a playoff position as well as two teams within six points of Washington in the race for the final Wild Card position.

• Additionally, the Bruins (idle), Panthers, Hurricanes, Stars, Canucks and Avalanche all can clinch a playoff berth.

RACES AND STORYLINES TO WATCH ON THURSDAY

A look at key races and storylines to keep an eye on as part of Thursday’s 14-game slate:

Western Conference

• Division leaders will clash when the Canucks (45-19-8, 98 points) host the Stars (45-19-9, 99 points) in a showdown between the top two teams in the Western Conference. Dallas has won five straight games and is looking to hold off Colorado (46-21-5, 97 points) atop the Central Division.
• The Avalanche, who are 9-1-0 in their last 10 games, host an East division leader in the Rangers (48-20-4, 100 points), who were the first team to clinch a postseason berth on Tuesday. Nathan MacKinnon will look to become the third player in franchise history to record a 20-game point streak and also continues his pursuit of Wayne Gretzky (40 GP in 1988-89) for the longest home point streak in NHL history – MacKinnon has recorded a point in all 35 Avalanche home games this season.
• The Oilers (43-23-4, 90 points) and Kings (38-22-11, 87 points) sit second and third in the Pacific Division with the potential to meet in the First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the third straight season (EDM: 4-2 W in 2023 & 4-3 W in 2022). Edmonton (2-1-0) has a slight edge in the season series (LAK: 1-1-1).
• The Predators (43-25-4, 90 points) and Golden Knights (39-25-8, 86 points) hold the two Wild Card spots in the Western Conference with an eye towards moving up in the standings. Nashville, who holds the NHL’s longest active winning streak at six games, sits four points back of Winnipeg (44-22-6, 94 points) for third in the Central Division, while the Golden Knights are just one point back of the Kings for third place in the Pacific Division.

Eastern Conference

• The Panthers (46-21-5, 97 points) and Hurricanes (45-21-7, 97 points) will face off against teams in the thick of the Eastern Conference Wild Card race as they track the Bruins (42-17-15, 99 points) and Rangers (48-20-4, 100 points), respectively, for first place in their division. Since Jan. 1, the Bruins and Panthers have leap-frogged each other for first in the Atlantic Division eight times, while the Rangers have held first in the Metropolitan Division for 156 consecutive days (since Oct. 24).
• The Capitals (36-26-9, 81 points) hold the second Wild Card position in the Eastern Conference and sit one point back of the Flyers (36-27-10, 82 points) for third place in the Metropolitan Division as they visit the Maple Leafs (40-22-9, 89 points), with Auston Matthews one goal shy of becoming the only active player to record multiple 60-goal seasons.
• Chasing down the Capitals for the final Wild Card position are the Red Wings (36-29-7, 79 points), who visit the Hurricanes. The Detroit Red Wings are aiming to make the postseason for the first time since 2015-16, which concluded a 25-season run of playoff appearances.

Sabres’ Byram Fined for Interference

Buffalo Sabres defenseman Bowen Byram has been fined $5,000, the maximum allowable under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, for interference against Ottawa Senators forward Angus Crookshank during NHL Game No. 1148 in Buffalo on Wednesday, March 27. The incident occurred at 15:18 of the first period. Byram was assessed a minor penalty for interference. The money goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.