Chris Kreider had a third-period hat trick to help the New York Rangers erase a two-goal deficit and beat the Carolina Hurricanes 5-3 in Game 6 on Thursday night to advance to the Eastern Conference final.

Jeremy Swayman said the series would return to Boston. And he backed up that claim in a big way.

Swayman made 28 saves, Charlie McAvoy added to the list of disputed goals in this matchup with the go-ahead score and the Boston Bruins staved off elimination by beating the Florida Panthers 2-1 in Game 5 of their Stanley Cup playoff series Tuesday night.

Connor Bedard scored twice again and added an assist as Canada eased past Denmark 5-1 on Sunday for its second straight victory at the ice hockey world championship.

Dylan Cozens, Dawson Mercer and Pierre-Luc Dubois also scored for Canada, whose goaltender Jordan Binnington stopped 19 shots in the Group A game in Prague.

The Boston Bruins disagreed with the officials' decision on a failed coach's challenge for goalie interference, one that let the game-tying goal stand in their Game 4 loss to the Florida Panthers on Sunday night.

The Panthers, down 2-0 in the opening period, went on to win the game 3-2, scoring twice in the third to take a 3-1 series lead.

Mikhail Sergachev's return sparked the host Tampa Bay Lightning, who avoided elimination with a 6-3 victory over the Florida Panthers in Game 4 of their first-round series on Saturday.

One of the Lightning's top defenseman had been out since fracturing the tibia and fibula in his left leg on Feb. 7. Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper had predicted the Lightning would need to "go far" in the playoffs to see Sergachev dress for another game. 

Star center Auston Matthews did not finish Saturday's Game 4 because of an illness, as the Toronto Maple Leafs fell 3-1 to the Boston Bruins.

Toronto now finds itself on the brink of elimination in its first-round playoff series, with a must-win Game 5 on Tuesday in Boston.

Valeri Nichushkin scored twice, Nathan MacKinnon added two assists to break the franchise's single-season points mark and the Colorado Avalanche cruised into the playoffs behind a 5-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night.

MacKinnon wrapped up the regular season with 140 points (51 goals, 89 assists) to top Peter Stastny's franchise record of 139 set in 1981-82 when the club was in Quebec.

Jaromir Jagr returned to action Thursday for the first time since turning 52 and immediately scored as he surpassed legend Gordie Howe to become the oldest player taking regular shifts in professional ice hockey.

Howe, known as "Mr. Hockey," was 52 years, 11 days old when played his final NHL game in 1980. The Canadian later played a single shift with the Detroit Vipers in the International Hockey League in 1997 at the age of 69. Howe died in 2016.

Auston Matthews came up empty in his bid to become the ninth player in NHL history to score 70 goals in a season Wednesday night in the Toronto Maple Leafs' 6-4 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the regular-season finale.

Matthews was denied on all seven first-period shots by 29-year-old rookie goalie Matt Tomkins, then rocketed a shot off the post midway through the second period. Tomkins finished with 34 saves, including 12 on Matthews, in his sixth NHL start.

Matthews' 12 shots on goal were tied for his second-most in a game this season.

Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov became the fifth player to have a 100-assist season as the Lightning beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-4 on Wednesday night.

Kucherov, the NHL's scoring leader with 144 points, scored a first-period goal, then set up Brayden Point's power-play tally with 2:55 left in the second for the historic assist.

"It's a special moment," Kucherov said. "Thanks to my teammates and coaching staff for putting me in position to have success. I'm fortunate to play with great players."