STARS, BLUES KEEP PACE IN BID FOR DIVISION, CONFERENCE CROWNS . . .
The Stars and Blues both picked up wins to keep pace in quest of the Central Division and Western Conference titles.

* The Stars raced to a 3-0 lead en route to their eighth victory in their past 10 games, including five straight wins at American Airlines Center. At 27-11-2 (56 points), Dallas ranks second in the NHL in home wins and tied for second in the League in home points.Kari Lehtonen (17 SV) improved to 9-2-1 in his last 12 outings dating to March 4, including three consecutive victories.

* Vladimir Tarasenko (2-0—2) tied the game with 1:16 remaining in regulation and added the winner with 1:23 left in overtime to help the Blues clinch home-ice advantage in the opening round of the playoffs. Tarasenko, who extended his point streak to seven games (5-5—10), set a career high with his 38th and 39th goals of the season – good for fourth place in the NHL.

. . . KINGS MOVE AHEAD IN PACIFIC DIVISION RACE
Jonathan Quick turned aside 19 of 20 shots to lead the Kings past the Ducks and back into first place in the Pacific Division.

* Quick set a franchise record with his 40th victory of the season, second in the NHL behind Washington’s Braden Holtby (47).

* Quick (Milford, Conn.) became the fifth U.S.-born goaltender in NHL history to reach the 40-win milestone in one season. The others: Tom Barrasso (Boston, Mass.; 1992-93 w/ PIT), Mike Richter (Abington, Pa.; 1993-94 w/ NYR), Ryan Miller (East Lansing, Mich.; 2006-07 and 2009-10 w/ BUF) and Ben Bishop (Denver, Colo.; 2014-15 w/ TBL).

PENGUINS, LIGHTNING LOCK UP HOME-ICE ADVANTAGE
The Penguins and Lightning earned victories to lock up the No. 2 seeds in the Metropolitan and Atlantic Divisions, respectively.

* The Capitals overcame a 3-0 deficit, but Sidney Crosby scored with 1:00 left in overtime to power the Penguins to their 14th win in their past 15 games, including eight straight victories overall and on the road. Crosby, who has collected at least one point in 20 of his last 21 outings (11-18—29), extended his point streak to eight games (5-4—9).

* Playing his first NHL game since Dec. 30, Jonathan Drouin scored what stood as the winning goal to lift the Lightning to their sixth victory in their last 10 contests. At 21-17-2 (44 points), Tampa Bay moved within one win of matching its franchise record for road victories in one season (22 in 2003-04 and 2006-07).

LATE HEROICS
Late heroics guided the Predators, Maple Leafs and Jets to Thursday wins:

* Filip Forsberg (1-1—2) tied the game with 18.3 seconds remaining in regulation andRoman Josi (1-1—2) scored 20 seconds into overtime to help the Predators go 9-1-4 in their final 14 home games of the season. Forsberg equaled a franchise record with his 33rd goal of the campaign, a mark set by Jason Arnott in 2008-09.

* The Maple Leafs yielded the tying goal with 57.4 seconds left in the third period, butJake Gardiner scored at 2:51 of overtime to put a dent in the Flyers’ playoff hopes.William Nylander added 1-2—3, his second three-point performance in his first 21 NHL appearances (also March 21 vs. CGY: 1-2—3).

* Dustin Byfuglien registered 1-3—4, including the tiebreaking goal with 9.9 seconds remaining in regulation, to help the Jets end the Sharks’ hopes of securing home-ice advantage in the opening round of the playoffs. Byfuglien posted his fourth career four-point game and first since Nov. 28, 2010 vs. BOS (1-3—4).

AROUND THE RINKS
* Thomas Greiss made 36 saves to lift the Islanders into third place in the Metropolitan Division and to a sweep of their season series with the Rangers for the first time in franchise history (NYI: 4-0-0, NYR: 0-3-1).

* Mikael Backlund registered his first career hat trick to reach the 20-goal milestone for the first time (21-25—46) and power the Flames to a 2-0-1 record in their past three outings.

* Erik Karlsson (0-1—1) picked up his 81st point of the season (16-65—81), the most by a defenseman since 1995-96, to guide the Senators to their third win in their last five games.

* Charlie Lindgren, who signed with Montreal as a free agent out of St. Cloud State, made 26 saves to backstop the Canadiens to a victory in his NHL debut.

MILESTONES & BENCHMARKS
* Sharks forward Joe Thornton (377-963—1,340) collected his 1,339th and 1,340th career points to move past Denis Savard (473-865—1,338) and Dave Andreychuk(640-698—1,338) for sole possession of 28th place in NHL history.

* Stars forward Jason Dickinson scored his first career goal while making his NHL debut. Canadiens defenseman Darren Dietz (12 GP), Senators forward Buddy Robinson (2 GP) and Canucks defenseman Nikita Tryamkin (12 GP) also recorded their first career goals.

STILL STREAKING
* Jets forward Blake Wheeler (1-1—2) extended his point streak to a career-high 10 games (7-7—14), one shy of the franchise record held by Marian Hossa (Feb. 17 – March 12, 2007: 7-11—18 in 11 GP).

* Jets forward Mark Scheifele (2-1—3) extended his point streak to a career-high nine games (6-8—14). He paces the NHL with 17 goals and 33 points in 25 contests dating to Feb. 18.

* Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov (5-7—12) and Penguins defenseman Kris Letang (2-10—12) both extended their point streaks to a career-high eight games.

* Sharks forward Joe Thornton (2-7—9) and Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews (3-5—8) both extended their point streaks to six games.

* Rangers forward Derek Stepan (4-5—9), Predators forward Ryan Johansen (1-7—8), Canucks forward Bo Horvat (4-3—7), Predators forward James Neal (1-5—6) and Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk (1-4—5) all extended their point streaks to five games.

LOOSE PUCKS
Blues goaltender Brian Elliott (24 SV) improved to 12-0-1 in his last 15 appearances, including wins in 11 straight decisions. He leads the League with a 2.00 goals-against average and .932 save percentage this season . . . Bruins forward Brad Marchand (1-1—2) and Sharks captain Joe Pavelski both scored their 37th goals of the season, tied for fifth place in the NHL . . . Penguins forward Matt Cullen (2-0—2) notched his 17th career multi-goal game and first since March 25, 2014 vs. COL (2-0—2 w/ NSH) . . . Capitals forward Marcus Johansson (2-0—2) recorded his sixth career multi-goal game and first since Jan. 7, 2015 at TOR (2-0—2) . . . Devils forward Sergey Kalinin (2-0—2) posted his first career multi-goal game . . . Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds reached the 30-goal milestone for the first time in his career . . . Kings forward Milan Lucic, Islanders forward Frans Nielsen, Predators captain Shea Weber and Senators forward Mika Zibanejad all reached the 20-goal milestone . . . Flames teammates Joe Colborne (1-2—3) and Matt Stajan (0-3—3) both collected three points . . . Islanders captain John Tavares (1-1—2) registered his third consecutive multi-point game and fourth in his past five outings (5-5—10) . . . ICYMI: The NHL and Thurgood Marshall College Fund announced four recipients of the NHL/Thurgood Marshall College Fund academic scholarship.

SNEAK PEEK AT FRIDAY’S ACTION
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PLAYOFF PICTURE CONTINUES TO TAKE SHAPE
Four more teams locked in their playoff positions via Thursday’s games: the Penguins (No. 2 in Metropolitan), Lightning (No. 2 in Atlantic), Blackhawks (No. 3 in Central) and Sharks (No. 3 in Pacific).

Two postseason berths, two division crowns, one conference title, eight playoff positions and all eight First Round matchups remain to be decided entering the final weekend of the 2015-16 regular season:

the above information was provided by the NHL PR department