The Ottawa Senators remain in good shape to finally solve the puzzle of making the NHL playoffs. But they certainly had no solution for the Buffalo Sabres this season.

The Sabres defeated the Senators 5-2 on Tuesday night to sweep the season series, outscoring the Sens 17-5, and taking all eight points in the process.

Speaking of dominance, veteran Buffalo goalie James Reimer stopped 33 shots and improved to 19-6-4 against the Senators. No goalie in NHL history has a better record against Ottawa.

Linus Ullmark gave up four goals on 21 shots. Claude Giroux and Jake Sanderson scored for the Senators, who, despite a six minute flurry of chances in the third, were never really in this one.

Buffalo jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first, with goals from Alex Tuch and Rasmus Dahlin. They extended their lead in the second, capitalizing on some atrocious Ottawa defending. They had great view of Tage Thompson making it 3-0 after a perfect give-and-go with JJ Peterka.

However, just over a minute later, Claude Giroux got Ottawa on the board after a nice solo rush and a pass from Tyler Kleven.

In the third, Senators newcomer Dylan Cozens inadvertently provided a lovely parting gift to his old team, putting an errant pass right onto the stick of Peyton Krebs. Krebs capitalized on the mistake, scoring on the ensuing breakaway to restore Buffalo's three-goal lead.

Jake Sanderson responded shortly after, cutting the deficit to 4-2. After that, the Senators put together a strong push for five or six minutes, but Reimer wasn’t having any of it.

With the Sens on a 6-on-4 late in the game, Ryan McLeod sealed Buffalo's win with an empty-netter. 

The Senators played this one without Brady Tkachuk, who’s out with an upper-body injury suffered Sunday in Pittsburgh. It was a particularly rough night for Drake Batherson who was a minus 5 on the evening.

The loss was costly, as the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Florida Panthers 3-2 in overtime on Tuesday, cutting the Sens’ lead to five points with eight games to play. The Columbus Blue Jackets are now the best of the non-playoff teams in the East. They won 8-4 over the Nashville Predators and stand seven points behind Ottawa.

Things don't get any easier for the Sens. Their next game is Thursday night at home against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Then it's a visit from Florida Saturday, followed by a home and home with Columbus starting Sunday in Ottawa.

NEW YORK (AP) — Jake Guentzel had a goal and an assist, Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 28 shots, and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the New York Islanders 4-1 on Tuesday night for their fourth straight win to inch closer to clinching a playoff spot.

Oliver Bjorkstrand scored his 20th of the season, Victor Hedman also scored and Nick Paul added an empty-netter for the Lightning. Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point each added two assists.

Bo Horvat scored a short-handed goal for New York and Ilya Sorokin made 19 saves as the Islanders lost their sixth straight (0-4-2), further diminishing their slim playoff hopes.

Guentzel scored the tiebreaking goal at 8:09 of the second period. Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech inexplicably left Guentzel alone and Kucherov delivered a beautiful pass to set up the go-ahead goal.

Hedman made it 3-1 about 2 1/2 minutes later, and Paul capped the scoring into an empty net with 3 1/2 minutes left in the third.

Takeaways

Lightning: Vasilevskiy recorded his 36th win of the regular season, trailing only Connor Hellebuyck of the NHL-leading Winnipeg Jets.

Islanders: Sorokin started four of the Islanders' previous six losses, allowing 14 goals during that stretch.

Key Moment

Horvat missed a one-timer during an Islanders two-man advantage roughly five minutes into the second period while the game was even at 1-1. Tampa Bay then scored twice in the period to take a 3-1 lead.

Key stat

Kucherov’s two assists raised his season total to 111 points and reclaimed the NHL scoring lead. Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon is in second place with 110.

Up next

Lightning visit Ottawa on Thursday, and Islanders host Minnesota on Friday.

The New York Islanders knew that Tuesday night's contest against the Tampa Bay Lightning would be pivotal in their uphill climb towards the postseason.  

But with their backs up against the wall the Islanders were unable to muster what it takes to defeat the Atlantic Divisional power, losing 4-1. 

The Isles began the first period creating a number of opportunities, however Tampa goalie, Andrei Vasilevskiy stood tall including stopping Bo Horvat on a breakaway. 

Soon after, the Islanders got caught in their own zone after a few failed exits, and Oliver Bjorkstrand deflected a shot from the point to give Tampa a 1-0 lead with 11:14 to play in the first.

Oliver Bjorkstrand tips in his 20th as Tampa Bay strikes first! ⚡️

📺: Lightning vs. Islanders on SN360 or stream on Sportsnet+ pic.twitter.com/RKSEGCO6VF

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 1, 2025

Casey Cizikas then took a slashing penalty, with 10:53 to go in the first. 

Incredibly, Horvat cashed in shorthanded, tying the score at 1-1 with 9:03 to go in the first.

Horvat’s shorty ties it up. #Islespic.twitter.com/C36oLdx7Ej

— The Elmonters (@TheElmonters) April 2, 2025

The teams went to the dressing room locked up 1-1 after one, with both sides getting Grade-A opportunities. 

In the second, the Lightning showed their skill. 

Jake Guentzel scored his 38th goal of the season 8:09 into the 2nd, finishing a neat pass from Nikita Kucherov out of the corner.

Nikita Kucherov gets his 110th point of the season with a sweet feed to Jake Guentzel 🍎 pic.twitter.com/T5NnSeW1of

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 2, 2025

Minutes later Victor Hedman put the Bolts ahead by two, as Kucherov set up the big defenseman for his 14th goal of the season. 

Kuch put it on a tee for Hedman 🚀 pic.twitter.com/iHUNEimW5H

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) April 2, 2025

At the second period's buzzer, Anthony Cirelli was called for tripping, and so the Islanders ended the third frame on a power play. In the second period, the Isles held Tampa to only six shots, however two went in and the Lightning entered the third with a 3-1 lead.

Only :24 seconds into the third period, Anders Lee was called for slashing setting up 1:37 seconds of four-on-four action, negating the Islanders power play.  In an effort to get back into the game, the Isles were unable to utilize the open ice to their advantage, and the teams returned to five aside.

3:59 into the second, Pierre Engvall was called for tripping, giving the Lightning their fourth power play of the night - - however, the Isles successfully killed the penalty.

Then with 6:39 remaining in the game, Yanni Gourde and Cizikas dropped the gloves -- possibly an attempt by Cozies too get the Islanders emotionally back into the game.

However, with under four minutes remaining, coach Patrick Roy pulled Sorokin, and with 3:31 remaining, the Bolts sealed the deal, as Nick Paul scored the empty net goal making the score 4-1.

The Islanders will be back in action on Friday when they host the Minnesota Wild at 7:30.

It certainly felt like a playoff game on Tuesday night in Montreal.

The back end of a home-and-home between the Florida Panthers and Montreal Canadiens had a little bit of everything, but it was the hometown Habs who came out on top.

A late goal and an overtime goal gave Montreal a resounding 3-2 victory and Florida more questions to answer.

For the second game in a row, it was Montreal striking first.

Josh Anderson got positioning in front of the net on Uvis Balinskis and deflected a shot by Kaiden Guhle past a screened Vitek Vanecek to put the Habs up 1-0 just 4:43 into the game.

About five minutes later, a faceoff in Montreal’s end led to the Panthers’ first goal of the game.

Anton Lundell won the draw back to Niko Mikkola, and his shot tipped off the end of Habs defenseman Jake Evans’ stick and over the goal line.

Florida briefly through they’d taken the lead but the goal was quickly waived off.

Uvis Balinskis fired a shot that went off the post and directly into A.J. Greer's skates.

Greer dragged a skate that pushed the puck into the net, and officials initially said no goal, then changed their call after chatting with each other and went to video review, which ultimately led to a no goal call.

It took a little while longer but the Panthers did eventually their first lead of the game, and of the season, over Montreal, and it came on Florida’s first power play of the night.

Rookie Mackie Samoskevich sent a wrist shot right along the ice that hit off Guhle on its way underneath Sam Montembeault with just 1:13 left in the middle frame.

Florida was able to hold on to the lead until quite literally the game’s final seconds.

A failed clear attempt at the Panthers blue line led to the puck being sent toward Florida’s net by Lane Hutson. The bouncing shot went through Sam Reinhart, who went down to his knees in an attempt to block it and instead ended up on the tape of Nick Suzuki with nothing to stop him from scoring with just 8.4 seconds left.

It was the first shot on goal for Montreal in over eight minutes.

Their next shot would end the game.

Never relinquishing possession after the overtime faceoff, it was Suzuki scoring again, this time on a wraparound goal.

This one is going to sting.

On to Toronto.

QUICK THOUGHTS

Lundell’s primary assist on Mikkola’s goal was his first helper since Feb. 27 against Edmonton.

Seth Jones has points in four of his past six games after assisting on Samoskevich’s power play goal.

It was the first tally for Mackie in seven games, his longest stretch without a goal since the end of January.

The goal was also the fifth game-winner for Samoskevich this season.

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The Philadelphia Flyers knew Nikita Grebenkin was a stud prospect when they acquired him from the Toronto Maple Leafs, but were they expecting this?

Grebenkin, 21, failed to score a point in his seven NHL appearances with the Toronto Maple Leafs this season.

In 39 AHL games with the Toronto Marlies, Grebenkin was averaging a goal every four games and joined the Flyers organization with nine goals, 12 assists, and 21 points under his belt.

But, since arriving from Toronto in the trade that saw the Flyers send Scott Laughton the other way, all Grebenkin has done is produce

The 6-foot-2 Russian winger has already shown his chops in front of the net, from both in tight and long range.

Already with three goals and two assists since joining up with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, Grebenkin's latest exploits saw him dance a defender in the neutral zone before finding the middle of the ice, loading up, and ripping a shot past the glove of Laval goaltender Connor Hughes.

Like and share if you love Nikita Grebenkin pic.twitter.com/7BEB1rNsC4

— Jonathan Bailey (@ByJonBailey) March 29, 2025

Known best for his enthralling blend of size and skill, Grebenkin still needs to work on skating through and navigating traffic and, sometimes, playing through contact, even for a bigger player. 

Skill can only be taught to a certain point, especially at the NHL level, whereas strength and a more aggressive mentality can come with experience and further time spent in the gym.

Because the Flyers already used their fourth and final post-trade deadline call-up on rookie goalie Aleksei Kolosov, Grebenkin will only see NHL ice again this season if the squad suffers a rash of injuries.

Winger Garnet Hathaway just returned from a long layoff, so with the Flyers only getting the healthier, the chances of Grebenkin making his debut with the Orange and Black this season are virtually nil.

Flyers fans can, however, excitedly look towards the near future.

Grebenkin, Kolosov, Jett Luchanko, and others are all set to help lead the Phantoms in their Calder Cup playoff campaign.

Ty Murchison just joined the Phantoms on an amateur tryout offer, Alex Ciernik has yet to make his debut, and there's a chance Alex Bump can join the fold, too.

Grebenkin is already playing like a beast for the Flyers organization, and the excitement amongst fans is understandably reaching a fever pitch.

Extra seasoning in the AHL never hurt anybody, plus, this is the perfect opportunity for Grebenkin to build chemistry and familiarity with someone like Luchanko, for example.

Watch this space.

Jonathan Kozub via Getty Images

Alex Ovechkin scored career goal No. 891 for the Washington Capitals on XXXX night against the XXXX, putting him four away from breaking Wayne Gretzky's all-time NHL record of 894.

Ovechkin notched the goal, the record 322nd power play score of his career, on a rebound from John Carlson that was deflected by Dylan Strome.

Ovechkin's goal was his 38th of the season, inching him closer to the 14th 40-goal season of his 20-year NHL career. He's currently tied for third in goals scored this season and will likely come up short in his bid for a 10th Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy.

The Eastern Conference-leading Capitals have eight games to play in the regular season. Now that Ovechkin is in striking distance of Gretzky's record, "The Great One" will soon be accompanying NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman to every Capitals game until the record is broken.

Capitals remaining schedule

Wed, Apr 2: at Carolina, 7 p.m. ET
Fri, Apr 4: vs. Chicago, 7 p.m. ET
Sun, Apr 6: at Islanders, 12:30 p.m. ET
Thu, Apr 10: vs. Carolina, 7:30 p.m. ET
Sat, Apr 12: at Columbus, 7 p.m. ET
Sun, Apr 13: vs. Columbus, 6 p.m. ET
Tue, Apr 15: at Islanders, 8 p.m. ET
Thu, Apr 17: at Pittsburgh, 7 p.m. ET

NHL top-10 in career goals

1. Wayne Gretzky (894)
2. Alex Ovechkin (891)
3. Gordie Howe (801)
4. Jaromir Jagr (766)
5. Brett Hull (741)
6. Marcel Dionne (731)
7. Phil Esposito (717)
8. Mike Gartner (708)
9. Mark Messier (694)
10. Steve Yzerman (692)