nhl roundup | Friday’s games

Blue Jackets 3, Rangers 2, SO

NEW YORK

Artemi Panarin scored in the shootout and Columbus clinched the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with a victory over the New York Rangers. Ryan Dzingel and Panarin scored in the third period for Columbus and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 25 shots through overtime and all three Rangers attempts in the tiebreaker. The Blue Jackets, 8-2-2 in their past 12 games, secured their third straight playoff berth and hold the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. Columbus pulled within one point of Carolina for the first wild card heading into the final day of the regular season. The Blue Jackets close the season at Ottawa, while the Hurricanes play at Philadelphia. Chris Kreider scored early in the second period and Pavel Buchnevich tied it in the closing seconds of regulation for the Rangers. Alexandar Georgiev finished with 39 saves in New York’s third straight loss and 16th in the past 20 (4-10-6) heading into the finale at Pittsburgh tonight.

Blackhawks 6, Stars 1

CHICAGO

Patrick Kane scored twice and Cam Ward made 25 saves in his 700th NHL game, helping Chicago pound short-handed Dallas. Dylan Strome, Chris Kunitz and Dominik Kahun also scored for Chicago, which earned its second straight win and improved to 3-0-2 in its past five. Slater Koekkoek added his second of the season, and Brent Seabrook had two assists. Dallas (42-32-7) clinched a playoff spot with Tuesday night’s 6-2 victory over Philadelphia, but it needs at least one more point to secure the Western Conference’s top wild card.

Associated Press