After 64 games played, Boston can now, if they wish, sit back for the last 18. The club is ready for the playoffs. Boston has been dominant throughout the season, and it was only a matter of when the club could traditionally put an X in front of the title in tables and on Twitter accounts.
Boston won its 50th game already on Saturday night, Swedish time, which is the best mark in NHL history. But it also required the Islanders or Ottawa to lose their game on Sunday night to secure a playoff spot, and when Washington swept the New York team 5-1 on Sunday night, the Boston players had reason to celebrate.
New three-pointer
Only two teams have made the playoffs faster in an 82-game season, namely Dallas in 1999 in 63 games and Detroit in 1996 in 59 games.
In the Islanders game, Pierre Engvall scored the game’s first goal, his first point since moving from Toronto to New York. But then it was Washington for the whole penny, where Rasmus Sandin made three assists, one of which was for a goal by Nicklas Bäckström, which determined the final result.
For Rasmus Sandin, it was the second three-pointer since he moved to Washington, also from Toronto a couple of weeks ago.
— We just have a lot of fun out there. Me and Trevor (van Riemsdyk) are getting to know each other, both on and off the ice. I think the fact that we got to know each other off the ice helps on the ice as well. He has helped me from the first training and the first match.
Matthews one in ten
In Toronto, the home team overturned a two-goal deficit against Edmonton and won 7–4. Mattias Ekholm scored his first goal in an Edmonton shirt, when he tied the score at 1-1 in the first period. William Nylander scored the 3-3 goal for Toronto, and teammate Auston Matthews reached 30 goals for the season, a feat accomplished in all seven years of his NHL pro career, a feat accomplished by only nine other players.