PANTHERS ERASE THREE-GOAL DEFICIT TO SET FRANCHISE WINS RECORD
Aleksander Barkov (2-2—4) factored on four unanswered goals – highlighted by his tiebreaking goal with 28.1 seconds remaining in regulation – to help the Panthers overcome a 3-0 deficit to maintain first place in the Atlantic Division, two points ahead of the Lightning.

* At 44-25-9 (97 points), the Panthers established a franchise record for wins in a season, eclipsing the previous total of 43 from 1999-00 (43-27-12, 98 points). It also marked the 699th victory in franchise history.

* Via Elias, the Panthers overcame a three-goal deficit to win for the first time since Nov. 21, 2011 vs. NJD, when Kris Versteeg (2-1—3) and Stephen Weiss (1-2—3) rallied the club to a 4-3 regulation victory.

PLAYOFF-BOUND STARS, SHARKS RALLY FOR ROAD WINS
With a playoff spot wrapped up, the Stars and Sharks both earned comeback wins on the road in their push for home ice in the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs:

* Down 2-1, the Stars (48-22-9, 105 points) scored twice in the third period to pick up their fourth straight win, improve to10-2-2 in their past 14 contests and move four points in front of the idle Blues (46-23-9, 101 points) for top spot in the Central Division and Western Conference. Captain JamieBenn, who ranks second in the League in both goals and points, established a career high with his 88th point of the season (41-47—88), one more than he totaled in 2014-15 en route to winning the Art Ross Trophy.

* Down 2-0, Tomas Hertl (2-0—2) scored twice in the third period to tie the game and LoganCouture tallied the lone shootout marker to lead the Sharks to their third win in their last four outings. Hertl notched his sixth career multi-goal game (third this season) to eclipse 20 goals for the first time (21-24—45 in 78 GP). At 44-29-6 (94 points), the Sharks sit in third place in the Pacific Division standings, behind the Kings (46-27-5, 97 points) and Ducks (43-24-10, 96 points).

DID YOU KNOW?
At 27-10-3 (57 points), the Sharks lead the NHL in both road wins and road points, just ahead of the Capitals (26-10-4, 56 points). Via Elias, only two teams have totaled more wins as visitors in a season: the 2005-06 Red Wings (31-7-3) and 2014-15 Rangers (28-11-2). San Jose (Tuesday at MIN) and Washington (Saturday at STL) each play once more as visitors this season.

ATLANTIC DIVISION RIVALS KEEP PACE WITH VICTORIES . . .
The Lightning (45-28-5, 95 points) and Red Wings (40-28-11, 91 points) also earned victories to keep pace in the Atlantic Division. Detroit, who sat just outside the playoff picture before Saturday's slate of games, leapfrogged idle Boston (41-29-8, 90 points) with their victory and also prevented Florida and Tampa Bay from clinching a postseason berth.

* Nikita Kucherov (1-2—3) matched a career high for points in a game to help the Lightning pick up their fifth win in their last six contests overall and close their regular-season home schedule with a victory (25-13-3, 53 points). Kucherov also established a career high with his 30th goal of the season (74 GP), one more than he totaled in 2014-15 (82 GP).

* Brad Richards posted 1-1—2, including an assist on the eventual game-winning goal by KyleQuincey, to help the Red Wings pick up their sixth win in their past nine outings. Richards, who scored his 298th career goal, notched his fourth multi-point outing of the season and now has 10-17—27 in his first campaign with Detroit (65 GP).

. . . FLYERS GAIN GROUND IN EASTERN CONFERENCE PLAYOFF RACE
Wayne Simmonds (2-1—3) factored on all three goals for the Flyers (39-25-13, 91 points) to lift the club to a 13-3-2 record in its past 18 games and within two points of the Islanders (42-26-9, 93 points) – who lost in regulation – for the first Wild Card spot.

* Simmonds, who posted his seventh multi-goal game of 2015-16 (77 GP), scored his 27th and 28th goals to move within one of tying his career high set in 2013-14 (82 GP). Steve Mason made 33 saves to improve to 9-2-2 in his last 13 appearances (1.88 GAA, 0.934 SV%, 1 SO).

* The Flyers have five games remaining this season, including one each against the Red Wings (Wednesday, April 6, at Joe Louis Arena) and Islanders (Sunday, April 10, at Barclays Center). Philadelphia leads the season series against both clubs: 2-0-0 vs. Detroit (DET: 0-1-1) and 2-1-1 vs. New York (NYI: 2-2-0).

AROUND THE RINKS
* The Sabres raced to a 3-0 lead – powered by Ryan O’Reilly (2-0—2) – and weathered a Rangers rally to prevent New York from clinching a playoff spot. O’Reilly posted his sixth career multi-goal game to reach the 20-goal milestone for the second time (also 2013-14: 28 G w/ COL).

* The Blue Jackets scored five unanswered goals – powered by a natural hat trick by BrandonSaad (3-0—3) – to snap a six-game road losing streak. Via Elias, Saad posted his first career hat trick (282 GP) to become the first Blue Jackets player to register a natural hat trick since Feb. 25, 2011 vs. PHX (Matt Calvert: 3-1—4). Boone Jenner tallied with 0.1 seconds remaining in the second period to reach the 30-goal mark for the first time.

* Mikael Backlund (2-1—3) and Johnny Gaudreau (2-0—2) each scored twice to power the Flames past the Oilers in their final visit to Rexall Place. Gaudreau reached the 30-goal milestone for the first time in his career. Joni Ortio made 28 saves to record his second career shutout (also Jan. 10, 2015 at VAN: 36 SV).

* The Coyotes scored three times in the third period – including goals 27 seconds apart by Shane Doan (1-0—1) and Oliver Ekman-Larsson (1-0—1) – to defeat the League-leading Capitals and close their home schedule with a victory. Mike Smith made 31 saves to post his 30th career shutout (third this season).

MILESTONES & BENCHMARKS
* Forward Sidney Crosby (0-1—1), who has spent his entire career with the Penguins, became the third player in franchise history to record 600 career assists (Mario Lemieux: 1,033 and Jaromir Jagr: 640). Crosby also became the eighth active player to reach the milestone doing so in his 704th career game. According to Elias, the only other NHL player over the last 20 seasons to rack up his first 600 assists in fewer games than Crosby isPeter Forsberg (670th game). Among the seven other active players with at least 600 assists, only JaromirJagr (769th game) and Joe Thornton (860th game) did so in fewer than 900 games.

* Penguins forward Oskar Sundqvist, a third round selection (81st overall) in the 2012 NHL Draft, scored his first career goal (14 GP).

* Canadiens defenseman Brett Lernout, a third-round selection (73rd overall) in the 2014 NHL Draft, made his League debut.

* Lindy Ruff (DAL) became the fifth head coach in NHL history – and third active – to reach 700 career wins (700-516-192). The others: Scotty Bowman: (1,244), Joel Quenneville (799), AlArbour (782) and Ken Hitchcock(754).

LOOSE PUCKS
Via Elias, Sharks forward Joe Thornton (0-2—2) reached 60 assists for the eighth time in his career, tied with Jaromir Jagr for the most such campaigns among active players. Only eight others have as many such seasons in NHL history, led by Wayne Gretzky with 17 . . . Panthers goaltender Roberto Luongo (25 SV) recorded his 33rd win of 2015-16 (and 434th of his career) to move within two of matching his own single-season franchise record (35-30-9 in 2005-06) and three of tying Jacques Plante (437) for sixth place in NHL history . . . Panthers forward Jaromir Jagr (1-0—1) has picked up at least one point in 16 of 21 games since celebrating his 44th birthday on Feb. 15 (9-13—22) . . . Forward Max Domi (18-33—51 in 77 GP) notched two assists to become the second Coyotes rookie to eclipse 50 points in a season since the club relocated to Arizona (Peter Mueller in 2007-08: 22-32—54 in 81 GP) . . . Senators captain Erik Karlsson (0-1—1) established a career high with his 79th point of the season (15-64—79), tops among NHL defensemen . . . Despite their shootout loss, the Predators picked up at least one point for the 11th time in their past 12 games at Bridgestone Arena (7-1-4) . . . The Penguins improved to 37-0-0 when leading after two periods this season, the only team without a loss of any kind in that situation . . . Penguins teammates Kris Letang (2-5—7) and Sidney Crosby (1-4—5) both notched an assist to extend their point streaks to five games . . . Commissioner Gary Bettman announced Lumby, B.C., as the winner of Kraft Hockeyville in Canada for 2016. The community will host a 2016-17 preseason game between the Kings and Oilers on Oct. 2 . . . Referee Greg Kimmerly officiated his 1,138th and final NHL regular-season game (DET/TOR) in his hometown of Toronto.

SNEAK PEEK AT SUNDAY’S ACTION
All Times Eastern
Boston @ Chicago, 12:30 p.m., NBC, TVAS, SN
Philadelphia @ Pittsburgh, 5:00 p.m., CSN-PH, ROOT
St. Louis @ Colorado, 8:00 p.m., NBCSN
Minnesota @ Winnipeg, 8:00 p.m., FS-N, SN
Dallas @ Anaheim, 9:00 p.m., FS-SW, PRIME, FS-SD
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TODAY’S CLINCHING SCENARIOS
* The Panthers (idle) will clinch a playoff berth if the Bruins lose to the Blackhawks in any fashion.

* The Stars will clinch the Central Division title and the no. 1 playoff seed in the Western Conference if they defeat the Ducks in any fashion AND the Blues lose to the Avalanche in regulation.

* The Wild will clinch a playoff berth if they defeat the Jets in any fashion AND the Avalanche lose to the Blues in regulation.

the information above was provided by the NHL PR department