The Boston Bruins ended their historic season with another victory on Thursday while there was huge disappointment for the Pittsburgh Penguins who blew the opportunity to make the playoffs for a 17th straight season.
The Carolina Hurricanes claimed the Metropolitan Division title while the Dallas Stars will have to wait to find out if they have done enough to win the Central Division.
Vegas were able to hold off the red-hot Oilers in the Pacific Division and, with the best season in their short history, claimed the first seed from the Western Conference.
In an emotional game, the Chicago Blackhawks said goodbye to long-time Captain Jonathan Toews as they hope to secure a new face of the franchise in a stacked NHL draft.
Boston's 5-4 victory over the Montreal Canadiens was their 65th of the season (65-12-5) and 135th point, each an NHL all-time record in a single regular season.
Boston are 9-1-0 over the last 10 and head into the Stanley Cup playoffs on an eight-game winning streak.
The top-seeded Bruins will face the Florida Panthers in the first round of the playoffs, which begin on Monday.
The Bruins are +175 To Win The Eastern Conference and +300 to end their magical season as Stanley Cup Champions.
NHL Tuesday review: Boston Bruins make even more history
The Islanders (42-31-9) ended the Penguins' record run of 16 consecutive seasons in the Stanley Cup playoffs with a 4-2 win over Montreal Canadiens.
Pittsburgh had qualification in their own hands with two games remaining, but they lost both to the lowly Columbus Blue Jackets and Chicago Blackhawks who finished the season 30th and 31st respectively.
With Florida losing 6-4 to Carolina Hurricanes, the Islanders claimed the first Wild Card from the Eastern Conference and with will meet Carolina in the first round of the playoffs.
With victory over the Panthers, the Hurricanes (52-21-9) claimed the Metropolitan Division title ahead of the New Jersey Devils (52-22-8) who also finished their excellent season with a 5-4 victory over Washington Capitals.
Carolina finished just one point ahead of the Devils who will compete in the playoffs for the first time in four seasons.
The Hurricanes are -200 to beat the Islanders and the Devils are -120 to be victorious in their best-of-seven series against New York Rangers who finished third in the Metro.
The Stars (47-21-14) beat St. Louis Blues twice at home to end their season on a run of six victories.
Dallas are one point ahead of Colorado Avalanche (50-24-7) who need a point from their final game against Nashville Predators to claim first place from the Stars.
As it stands, Dallas will face the first Wild Card holder from the Western Conference Seattle Kraken in the first round and the Avalanche will face-off against Minnesota Wild but that will swap round if Colorado win the division on the final day.
The Stars made the Stanley Cup Final in 2020 and they are +650 to Win the Western Conference and get back there again this season.
The Avalanche are the reigning Stanley Cup Champions and they are +275 to Win the West and +625 to retain their title.
With a 3-1 win over Kraken, the Golden Knights (51-22-9) were able to hold off the red-hot Oilers to win a third Pacific Division title and claim top seed for the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the Western Conference.
The Golden Knights will play Winnipeg Jets in the first round of the post-season after they clinched the second Wild Card from the West.
Vegas finished with a franchise record of 111 points and tied their record for wins in a season (51), set in their inaugural season of 2017/18 when they made the Stanley Cup Final.
They are +450 to Win the Western Conference again this season, and +1000 to make their Stanley Cup dream come true.
Despite not being able to overtake the Golden Knights, the Oilers (50-23-9) head into a first-round playoff match up with Los Angeles Kings high in confidence after winning a ninth game in a row, 5-2 against San Jose Sharks.
The Oilers were undefeated in their last 15 games of the regular season (14-0-1) and superstar Captain Connor McDavid has a 16-game point streak (29 points; 10 goals, 19 assists).
McDavid finished the season as the NHL's top point (153) and goal (64) scorer, which helped the Oilers record the best powerplay success rate in NHL history (32.4%).
The Oilers beat the Kings at the same stage of the playoffs last season before going to the Western Conference Final where they were swept by Colorado.
Edmonton are +300 to go a step further and Win the West this season and they are +650 to Win the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1990.
Jonathan Toews scored in his final game with the Chicago Blackhawks, a 5-4 overtime loss to the Philadelphia Flyers.
Blackhawks announced ahead of the game that the three-time Stanley Cup winning Captain wouldn't be re-signed after this season.
The 34-year-old played 1,067 regular season games with Chicago, scoring 883 points (372 goals, 511 assists).
In the playoffs he had 119 points (45 goals, 74 assists) and was saluted by fans in attendance at United Centre.
The rebuilding Blackhawks (26-49-7) finished second last in the NHL standings and they now have a 13.5% chance of winning the draft lottery to select generational talent Connor Bedard first overall in the NHL draft.
NHL
NHL Monday review: Boston Bruins set all-time wins record
The Boston Bruins have become the winningest team in NHL history, while a New York Islanders defeat boosted the Florida Panthers' and Pittsburgh Penguins' hopes of securing a playoff spot.
bet365 News Team
Apr 11 2023
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