even though he's only a rookie.He's currently arguably the favorite to win the Calder trophy this season, because of how dominant he has been so

PITTSBURGH (AP) The Pittsburgh Penguins‘ quest for a three-peat is officially on.Patric Hornqvist picked up his 200th career goal and the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions clinched their 12th straight playoff berth with a 5-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.Phil Kessel Jonathan Huberdeau Jersey , Riley Sheahan, Conor Sheary and Carl Hagelin also scored for Pittsburgh, which dominated the largely listless Canadiens to improve to 17-1-1 in their last 19 games at PPG Paints Arena. Matt Murray finished with 24 saves for the Penguins, who swept their season series with Montreal for only the second time in franchise history.Jeff Petry and Jonathan Drouin scored for the Canadiens, who lost for the fifth time in seven games. Antti Niemi made 28 stops but Montreal couldn’t handle the league’s top-ranked power play.GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3, SHARKS 2LAS VEGAS (AP) – William Karlsson scored a short-handed goal in the third period, and the expansion Golden Knights clinched the Pacific Division title.Vegas (50-22-7) reached 50 wins in its inaugural season with its third victory in four games. San Jose (44-25-10) is second in the Pacific, four points ahead of Los Angeles.Shea Theodore and Oscar Lindberg also scored for the Golden Knights, and Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 29 shots.San Jose goaltender Martin Jones made 35 saves. Joe Pavelski and Marc-Edouard Vlasic scored for the Sharks.STARS 4, WILD 1DALLAS (AP) – John Klingberg scored and added to his NHL-leading assist total for defensemen, helping Dallas to the victory.Jason Spezza scored for the first time since Jan. 16 as the Stars, playing their home finale, won for just the second time in 11 games – a slide that wiped out any realistic hopes of making the playoffs.The Wild, still holding the third playoff spot in the Central Division with four games remaining, lost the second of a home-and-home set two nights after beating the Stars 5-2 in Minnesota.Wild defenseman Ryan Suter departed with a lower-body injury late in the second period. He wasn’t using his right leg as he was helped through the tunnel to the locker room.Klingberg got his career-best 56th assist on the first-period goal by Spezza.BRUINS 5, PANTHERS 1BOSTON (AP) – Jake DeBrusk scored twice in his first game in more than two weeks, and Tuukka Rask stopped 30 shots to help Boston move back into first place in the Eastern Conference playoff race.David Krejci had three assists and rookie Ryan Donato had a goal and an assist for Boston, which has won four of its last five games. The Bruins have earned a point in eight straight games and 15 of their last 17.Jamie McGinn scored for Florida, which remains three points behind New Jersey in the race for the eighth and final playoff spot in the East. James Reimer stopped 17 of the 22 shots he faced before he was replaced by Roberto Luongo with 3:28 left in the second period, trailing 5-1.Luongo, the losing goalie for Vancouver in the Bruins’ 2011 Stanley Cup run, stopped all 11 shots the rest of the way.Two days after a physical battle for first place with the Tampa Bay Lighting, which the Bruins won 4-2 to take temporary possession of the top spot, Boston sent the struggling Panthers to their third straight loss and moved back into first. The Lightning had jumped ahead of the Bruins with a win at the New York Rangers on Friday night.CANUCKS 5 Keith Yandle Jersey , BLUE JACKETS 4, OTVANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) – Alex Edler scored 1:21 into overtime to lift Vancouver to its season high-tying fourth straight win.Jussi Jokinen had a goal and two assists against his former team, and Darren Archibald, Bo Horvat and Nikolay Goldobin also scored for the Canucks, who have won five of six after a seven-game skid. Thatcher Demko stopped 26 shots in his first NHL start.Seth Jones had a goal and three assists, and Pierre-Luc Dubois, Zach Werenski and Cam Atkinson also scored for Columbus. Artemi Panarin had four assists and Joonas Korpisalo finished with 24 saves for the Blue Jackets, who are 12-1-1 in their last 14 games as they try to pass Pittsburgh for second place in the Metropolitan Division.The Blue Jackets erased a 4-1 deficit by scoring three goals in 2:37 to tie the game.JETS 3, MAPLE LEAFS 1TORONTO (AP) – Josh Morrissey and Dustin Byfuglien scored 1:10 apart in the second period as Winnipeg beat Toronto in a matchup of the only two Canadian teams headed to the playoffs.Andrew Copp had the other goal for Winnipeg, while Connor Hellebuyck stopped 28 shots.Patrick Marleau scored for Toronto, and Curtis McElhinney had 26 saves.The Maple Leafs, who won 7-2 in Winnipeg to open the season on Oct. 4, are all but assured of finishing third in the Atlantic Division. The Jets, meanwhile, look just as certain to wind up second in the Central.Toronto’s only blemish at home in more than two months coming into this game was Monday’s 3-2 loss to last-place Buffalo that snapped a 13-game winning streak at Air Canada Centre.SABRES 7, PREDATORS 4NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Sam Reinhart had a hat trick with Jack Eichel adding a career-high five assists as NHL-worst Buffalo stunned league-leading Nashville.The Sabres outshot Nashville from the start and chased goalie Pekka Rinne after he gave up six goals on 29 shots through two periods.Kyle Okposo had two goals, and Jason Pominville and Ryan O’Reilly also scored for Buffalo, and Eichel tied a franchise single-game record with his assists.P.K. Subban, Austin Watson, Kyle Turris and Nick Bonino scored for Nashville.The Sabres took control by scoring three power-play goals – two by Reinhart – on a 5-minute major after defenseman Victor Antipin was boarded by Nashville forward Scott Hartnell behind the Buffalo net at 14:09 of the second. Antipin was strapped to a backboard and taken off the ice on a stretcher.RANGERS 2, HURRICANES 1RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – Ryan Sproul scored and Kevin Hayes added a short-handed goal to help New York eliminate Carolina from the playoff race.Henrik Lundqvist made 40 saves for the Rangers Authentic Nick Bjugstad Jersey , who entered having lost three straight and six of seven – going 1-4-2 in that stretch – and were formally knocked out of the postseason chase earlier in the week.Jeff Skinner scored and Cam Ward made 18 saves for the Hurricanes, whose longshot playoff hopes were snuffed out and will miss out for the ninth straight year – the longest active postseason drought in the NHL. For the third consecutive season, their official elimination came in their 79th game.Lundqvist’s third victory against Carolina this season helped the Rangers finish off a sweep in the series. New York won the first three games by a combined 17-5 margin.DEVILS 4, ISLANDERS 3NEWARK, N.J. (AP) – Taylor Hall scored twice and New Jersey took a major step toward its first playoff berth since 2012.Coupled with Florida’s 5-1 loss to Boston earlier in the day, the Devils opened a five-point lead over the Panthers for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference and moved within a point of idle Philadelphia for the top wild card. Both teams have four games left in the regular season, one fewer than Florida.Stefan Noesen and Blake Coleman each had a goal and assist as the Devils won for the seventh time in 10 games (7-2-1). Keith Kinkaid, who has started nine of 10 games and been the mainstay in net since late January, had 27 saves, including a stop on a one-timer by Ryan Pulock with 14 seconds to play.Tanner Fritz, Anthony Beauvillier and Chris Wagner scored for the Islanders, who have lost 16 of their last 19 (3-12-4). Thomas Greiss made 31 saves in his first game since Feb. 16, when he sustained an ankle injury and went on injured reserve.COYOTES 6, BLUES 0GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) – Antti Raanta stopped 34 shots for his third shutout of the season and Arizona scored three goals in the second period to beat playoff-chasing St. Louis.Four of the Coyotes‘ goals came from defensemen, including Luke Schenn, who scored his first goal in his 61st game of the season. Schenn also energized a large crowd and his teammates with a powerful check of Blues forward Scottie Upshall early in the second period.Richard Panik added a goal just before the hit, and 28-win Arizona won its 10th this month.Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored a power-play goal and assisted on another second-period goal, Jakob Chychrun, Alex Goligoski and Zac Rinaldo scored, and Max Domi and Dylan Strome had three assists each for the Coyotes. Panik had an assist and Derek Stepan had two.The Blues entered 8-1-1 in their last 10 games, but ended the night tied with Colorado for the second wild-card spot in the West at 92 points through 78 games.RED WINGS 2, SENATORS 0DETROIT (AP) – Jimmy Howard stopped 31 shots for his first shutout of the season, leading Detroit to its third straight win.Dylan Larkin and Andreas Athanasiou scored to help the Red Wings get their longest winning streak since a season-high four-game stretch Dec. 29 to Jan. 5.It was Howard’s 24th career shutout and marked the ninth time Ottawa was blanked this season.Mike Condon finished with 25 saves for the Senators.FLAMES 3 Vincent Trocheck Jersey , OILERS 2CALGARY, Alberta (AP) – Mikael Backlund had a goal and an assist, helping Calgary snap a seven-game skid.Dougie Hamilton and Garnet Hathaway also scored during the Flames‘ three-goal first period. Michael Frolik added two assists, and Mike Smith stopped 34 shots.Hamilton’s goal was his 17th of the season, the most by a defenseman in the NHL.Anton Slepyshev and Mike Cammalleri scored for Edmonton. Cam Talbot gave up three goals on seven shots before he was pulled 15 1/2 minutes in. Vancouver Canucks forward, Elias Pettersson, was injured during Thursday night's match-up against the Montreal Canadiens, and now he will receive an MRI to reveal the severity of his injury.According to John Shannon of Sportsnet, the Canucks will have Pettersson undergo an MRI to reveal if he sustained any serious injury. Their currently in Toronto to take on the Maple Leafs this Saturday night.So Pettersson has traveled with the team and will receive an MRI in Toronto before their game. The rookie was tangled up with Canadiens' forward,聽Jesperi Kotkaniemi. Pettersson had his leg twisted when the two feel down onto the ice. Which caused the 20-year-old to leave the game, and not return.advertisingCanucks Elias Pettersson leaves game with injury.This is nottt the kind of way you want to see the leg bend of your leading point scorer 馃槼 pic.twitter.com/aODPdqxRVu— Hockey Night in Canada (@hockeynight) January 4, 2019The positive news is that Pettersson was able to leave the ice under is own power. He was also reportedly walking around the dressing room on his injured leg. Which means his injury doesn't sound too serious.But, the Canucks want to be very cautious with how they deal with their leading scorer's injury. He's currently listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury, but that could change after the tests of his MRI is revealed.If it's nothing serious, then Pettersson should only miss a few games due to it. Which would be a huge sigh of relief for the Canucks. Pettersson has been a big reason why this team has performed so well this season.advertising Getty ImagesPettersson leads the Canucks in goals, points and game-winning goals so far this season. He also leads the team in power play points as well. Which shows how important he is to this team, even though he's only a rookie.He's currently arguably the favorite to win the Calder trophy this season, because of how dominant he has been so far this season. He has helped this Canucks team fast track their rebuild, that was expected to continue through this season.But, because of the way he has performed this season, they have been able to position themselves in the race for an unexpected playoff spot. Which is why they will need Pettersson to return to their lineup so that he can continue to help them make this push towards the playoffs.advertisingPettersson has been one the best players in the NHL so far this season. Which seems crazy to say because he's only just a rookie. But, he has helped the Canucks get to where they are in the standings.So they should be thankful that his injury seems to be a minor one. Which will likely mean they will only be without him for a couple of games. Which should also help him continue to perform on a pace that would win him the Calder trophy.