News » Kucherov has eight goals and 14 points

CHICAGO (AP) The playoff field for the Western Conference is almost set.Patrik Berglund and St. Louis are going to Colorado to try for the final spot.Berglund scored three times to help the Blues beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-1 on Friday night Dallas Stars T-Shirts Womens , setting up a showdown with the Avalanche for the conference’s last wild card.”When you have to win your last game, it’s intense,” Blues coach Mike Yeo said. ”Obviously there’s lot of pressure. I hope our guys embrace that because it’s going to be a fun game.”Carter Hutton made 19 saves as St. Louis stopped a three-game slide that included a 4-3 home loss to Chicago on Wednesday night on Duncan Keith’s power-play goal with 8.5 seconds left. Jaden Schwartz also scored in the third after an ugly turnover by the Blackhawks.St. Louis (44-31-6) moved one point ahead of idle Colorado (42-30-9) heading into their finale Saturday night. The Blues have won three of four against the Avalanche this season.Colorado needs a regulation win to make it to the postseason, while St. Louis takes the spot if it goes to overtime.”Final game, 82 all on the line at Denver,” Hutton said.Erik Gustafsson scored for Chicago, and Jean-Francois Berube made 31 saves. The last-place Blackhawks (33-38-10) finished with an 18-18-5 record at home.Veteran forward Patrick Sharp got the start in what was likely his final game at the United Center. The 36-year-old Sharp, who has 10 goals and 11 assists in his 15th NHL season, said he probably will retire after the finale Saturday night in his native Winnipeg.”It’s never easy Dallas Stars Hoodies Womens , but I’m just ready to take that next step in my life, and I’m looking forward to it,” Sharp said.The team honored Sharp with a highlight video in the third period, and he waved his stick and tapped his heart to acknowledge the sustained roar from what was left of the announced crowd of 22,218. With his parents, wife and children watching from the stands, he took another spin around the rink after the game was over and waved as the crowd cheered again.”It was a tough game out there, tough to concentrate with what was going on inside my head,” said Sharp Dallas Stars Hats Womens , a key part of three Stanley Cup-winning teams in Chicago. ”But thankful that I was able to do that. The Hawks put that video on for me in the third which was really special. The guys staying on the ice and making me do a lap was something I’ll always remember. So, special night.”Berglund redirected a shot by Joel Edmundson past Berube with 1:43 left in the first period. The Blues carried the 1-0 lead into the third, but Gustafsson whipped a wrist shot by Hutton on the stick side at 8:08.Just 16 seconds later, Berglund swept in from the side and poked home a rebound for his 16th of the season. After Brayden Schenn set up Schwartz’s one-timer at 12:40, Berglund added an empty-netter to complete his second career hat trick.”I think we all played a pretty good game today,” Berglund said. ”It’s good for everybody’s confidence and now we know what we have to do tomorrow.”NOTES: The Blackhawks honored Hall of Fame forward Stan Mikita with ”One More Shift” before the game. The 77-year-old Mikita, who is the franchise’s career leader in games played, points and assists and is second in goals to Bobby Hull, has a brain disorder called Lewy body dementia Custom Dallas Stars Jerseys , so his three grandsons represented him on the ice for the national anthem. … Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews missed his seventh straight game with an upper-body injury. Anthony Duclair (lower body), John Hayden (upper body) and Tomas Jurco (illness) also were scratched, and Chicago went with seven defensemen. … The Blues scratched G Jake Allen, and G Ville Husso was the backup for Hutton. Allen is expected to start against the Avalanche in the finale.UP NEXTBlues: Visit Colorado on Saturday night.Blackhawks: Visit Winnipeg on Saturday night.—Jay Cohen can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jcohenap— TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Edmonton Oilers coach Todd McLellan had high praise for the Tampa Bay Lightning.Nikita Kucherov had two goals and an assist, Andrei Vasilevskiy made 33 saves and the Lightning beat the Oilers 5-2 on Tuesday night.“They’ve got a fun team to watch,” McLellan said. “We’re all chasing them right now, but I think we can get there.”Steven Stamkos had a goal and two assists, and Brayden Point and Yanni Gourde also scored for the Lightning www.redwingsshoponline.com , who have the best record in the NHL at 11-3-1.Edmonton got goals from Ryan Strome and Leon Draisaitl, and Mikko Koskinen stopped 30 shots. Connor McDavid was kept off the scoresheet for just the second time this season as his eight-game point streak ended (six goals, five assists).Kucherov has eight goals and 14 points in nine games against Edmonton.Vasilevskiy made a diving stop on Ty Rattie, who got his scoring chance in the first period off a nifty pass from McDavid. Vasilevskiy also had an in-close save on McDavid shortly after Edmonton kept the puck in the offensive zone for all two minutes of a second-period power play.Vasilevskiy has allowed two or fewer goals in eight of 11 games.“He’s undoubtedly the reason why we win a lot of hockey games,” Stamkos said. “He was outstanding again tonight.”Stamkos opened the scoring 4:40 into the game before Point got his ninth goal on a rebound to make it 2-0 with 25.1 seconds left in the period.After Strome got his first goal in 24 games at 12:32 of the second, the Lightning went back up 3-1 just 47 seconds later on Gourde’s redirection.“Get that out of the way,” Strome said. “Get on a roll.”Kucherov put Tampa Bay ahead 4-1 off a pass through the slot by Stamkos with 1:01 to go in the second.“We look for each other, we get open for each other,” Kucherov said. “That’s the point of this game and that’s what we’re doing.”Draisaitl scored a power-play goal 40 seconds into the third off a nifty backhand pass by Rattie.Kucherov had a power-play goal midway through the third.Edmonton’s Milan Lucic got minor penalties for interference and roughing Detroit Red Wings T-Shirts Womens , and a 10-minute misconduct following a hit on Mathieu Joseph at 9:31 of the third.“He felt that a player took a liberty with (defenseman) Kris Russell, and I agree with the liberty part of it,” McLellan said. “Part of the reason we have Luc here is to take care of teammates and he did that.”NOTES: The Lightning have won seven in a row at home against Edmonton. … Former Tampa Bay forward John Cullen dropped a ceremonial first puck on Hockey Fights Cancer Night. Cullen was able to play again after missing the 1997-98 season for treatment of Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. … Lightning D Victor Hedman (shoulder) and LW Ondrej Palat (foot) both missed a sixth consecutive game. Neither is skating with the team in practice. … Rattie (upper body) returned after missing eight games. . Russell was a minus-4.UP NEXTOilers: Complete a four-game trip Thursday night at Florida.Lightning: Host the New York Islanders on Thursday night.