McDavid scores winner for Oilers over Canadiens

Connor McDavid scored on a breakaway 2:42 into overtime as the Edmonton Oilers beat the host Montreal Canadiens 4-3 on Monday night.
McDavid took a feed from Leon Draisaitl and roofed the game winner over Montreal goalie Jake Allen for McDavid’s 33rd goal and a two-point game.
However, by earning a point the Canadiens (24-21-10, 58 points) locked up the NHL’s final Stanley Cup playoff berth – fourth place in the North Division – and will make their third postseason appearance in the past five seasons.
James Neal, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Dominik Kahun potted goals for the Oilers (34-18-2, 70 points), who are 7-2-0 in their past nine games and own the division’s second playoff spot.
McDavid registered his NHL-best 69th assist and Leon Draisaitl had two - tying him for second at 51 with Chicago’s Patrick Kane.
After allowing four goals on the game’s first four shots Thursday night against Vancouver, Mikko Koskinen returned to the blue paint and made 25 saves on 28 shots.
The Canadiens’ third line of Paul Byron, Jake Evans and Artturi Lehkonen had a big night, primarily matched up against McDavid’s line.
Lehkonen (goal, two assists) and Evans (goal, two assists) notched three-point nights, and Byron posted a goal and an assist. Allen stopped 31 shots.
In the first period, Evans skated into the left circle with Edmonton defenseman Darnell Nurse on his shoulder, stopped on a dime and ripped his third tally of the season high over Koskinen on the glove side at 9:32.
The marker was Evans’ first in his last 41 games played. He last found the net in Vancouver on Jan. 21.
Neal matched it with his fifth from in close just 20 seconds later, with Ryan McLeod and Alex Chiasson providing noteworthy assists on the play.
McLeod’s helper represented his first NHL point, while Chiasson recorded career milestones in points (200) and assists (100) on the play.
Edmonton headed to the dressing room with a 2-1 lead after Nugent-Hopkins netted for the 15th time from the bottom of the left circle at 13:29.
Returning to the lineup after missing nine games, Byron backhanded home his fifth goal at 5:56 of the second, but Kahun regained the lead with his eighth after a pass from McDavid at 9:26.
In the third, Lehkonen’s sharp-angle snap shot tied the match 3-3 at 13:04 to force overtime. The clubs wrap up the regular season in Wednesday afternoon’s finale in Montreal.

Panthers seal home-ice edge with win over Lightning
The Florida Panthers will have the home-ice advantage in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs against Tampa Bay after beating the visiting Lightning 4-0 on Monday night in Sunrise, Fla.
Chris Driedger made 30 saves and registered his third shutout of the season and the fourth of his career, and MacKenzie Weegar, Juho Lammikko, Carter Varhaeghe and Alex Wennberg scored for Florida. Lammikko also had an assist. The Panthers (37-14-5, 79 points) needed just a point Monday to secure the second overall seed in the Central Division, but they got two points for the victory. Florida ends the regular season four points ahead of the Lightning (36-17-3, 75).
The Panthers will play host to Tampa Bay in Game 1 of the best-of-7 first-round postseason series at a time and date to be determined.
This will be the first playoff series between the two Florida teams. The Panthers go into the postseason winners of their past six games while the Lightning end the regular season on a three-game slide. The Panthers got the scoring going in the first period when Weegar one-timed a drop pass from Mason Marchment at 15:19.
Florida added to its lead at 8:23 of the second period as Lammikko beat Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy (26 saves) for a short-handed tally.
The Panthers scored twice in the third period, with Verhaeghe finding the net at 2:27 and Wennberg converting a deflection at 14:07.
Monday was the third consecutive win for the Panthers over the Lightning, and all three came against Vasilevskiy. Although home ice was on the line, both teams sat a number of players. Tampa Bay was without Pat Maroon due to suspension, and it also sat Ondrej Palat, Ryan McDonagh and Victor Hedman.
Florida’s list of healthy scratches included Sergei Bobrovsky, Jonathan Huberdeau, Sam Bennett, Brandon Montour and Patric Hornqvist.

Results
Oilers    4-3    Montreal
Avalanche    2-1    Golden Knights
Bruins    3-2    Islanders
Panthers    4-0    Lightning
Predators    5-0    Hurricanes
Flyers    4-2    Devils
Canucks    3-1    Jets
Stars    5-4    Blackhawks
Blues    2-1    Kings