NHL REVIEW MARCH 17 2018 – LEAFS BRUINS CLOSE IN ON ATLANTIC

SATURDAY’S RESULTS
Home Team in Caps
BUFFALO 5, Chicago 3
Edmonton 4, FLORIDA 2
New Jersey 3, LOS ANGELES 0
Boston 3, TAMPA BAY 0
TORONTO 4, Montreal 0
Philadelphia 4, CAROLINA 2
COLUMBUS 2, Ottawa 1
ST. LOUIS 4, NY Rangers 3 (OT)
Minnesota 3, ARIZONA 1
San Jose 5, VANCOUVER 3

BRUINS, MAPLE LEAFS INCH CLOSER TO TOP OF ATLANTIC WITH SHUTOUTS
The Bruins (45-17-8, 98 points) and Maple Leafs (43-22-7, 93 points) – the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds in the Atlantic Division, respectively – each earned shutout wins to inch closer to the Lightning (48-19-4, 100 points) for the top spot in both the division and Eastern Conference.

Tuukka Rask made 23 saves to help the Bruins shut out the Lightning and improve to 8-2-0 in their last 10 games. Boston improved to 2-0-0 against Tampa Bay this season and moved within two points of them for first place. The two clubs meet twice in the remaining three weeks of the regular-season: March 29 at TD Garden and April 3 at AMALIE Arena.

Rask improved to 6-0-0 in his last six appearances and 30-11-4 overall (2.29 GAA, .919 SV%, 3 SO). He became the eighth goaltender to reach the 30-win mark in 2017-18, hitting the milestone for a fifth consecutive season – the only Bruins goaltender ever to achieve that feat.

Curtis McElhinney turned aside all 33 shots he faced as the Maple Leafs recorded their fourth straight win overall and extended their franchise-record home win streak to 12 games, the longest in the NHL this season. McElhinney improved to 7-0-1 in his last eight decisions dating to Jan. 25 (1.46 GAA, .954 SV%, 2 SO).

The Maple Leafs share second in the NHL with 25 home wins in 2017-18 (behind PIT: 26), one shy of matching the single-season franchise record established in 2005-06 (26-12-3, 2005-06), with six contests remaining at Air Canada Centre. Overall, Toronto sits two victories shy of matching the highest single-season total in franchise history (45: 1998-99, 1999-00 and 2003-04).

NHL Schedule for Sunday March 18 2018

Matchup	Time
Detroit@ Colorado	3:00 PM ET
Calgary@ Vegas	4:00 PM ET
Edmonton@ Tampa Bay	5:00 PM ET
Carolina@ NY Islanders	5:00 PM ET
Washington@ Philadelphia	5:00 PM ET
St. Louis@ Chicago	7:30 PM ET
Dallas@ Winnipeg	7:30 PM ET
New Jersey@ Anaheim	9:00 PM ET