Maple Leafs clinch Atlantic Division title with win over Sabres

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Anthony Stolarz stopped 35 shots for his third consecutive shut out in Buffalo, and the Toronto Maple Leafs clinched their first Atlantic Division title with a 4-0 win over the Sabres on Tuesday night.

Steven Lorentz scored the go-ahead goal on a one-timer with 5:45 left in the second period. Mitch Marner set a career-high with 100 points by scoring with 4:21 left in regulation, Auston Matthews’ empty-net goal was the 400th in his career and Nicholas Robertson also scored.

The Leafs secured the Eastern Conference’s second seed, and will open the playoffs against Ontario provincial rival Ottawa.

DEVILS 5, BRUINS 4, OT

BOSTON (AP) — Brian Dumoulin scored 90 seconds into overtime to lead New Jersey past Bostont and end the Bruins’ first season without a playoff berth since 2016.

Timo Meier had a goal and two assists, and Jake Allen made 20 saves for the Devils, who had already clinched a postseason matchup with the Carolina Hurricanes. Dawson Mercer had a goal and an assist for New Jersey.

David Pastrnak had a goal and an assist for Boston and led the team with 106 points — his third straight 100-point season. Jeremy Swayman stopped 21 shots for the Bruins, who finished with the worst record in the Atlantic Division — and perhaps the Eastern Conference

BLUE JACKETS 3, FLYERS 0

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jet Greaves made 29 saves for his second shutout in his past three games, Dante Fabbro, Kent Johnson and Adam Fantilli each scored a goal and Columbus beat Philadelphia.

Greaves continued to backstop the Blue Jackets to their fifth straight win and an unexpected late-season push for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Fabbro broke a scoreless tie with a one-timer from the top of the right circle, 2:32 into the second period.

Johnson scored his 24th goal of the season on the power play later in the second period and Fantilli scored his fifth goal in the past three games in the third period for his first career 30-goal season.

Zach Werenski and Sean Monahan each had a pair of assists for the Blue Jackets. With those assists, Werenski reached 80 points in a season for the first time in his career.

Sam Ersson made 31 saves for the Flyers.

BLACKHAWKS 4, SENATORS 3, OT

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Frank Nazar scored 48 seconds into overtime to give Chicago a victory over Ottawa in their season finale.

The Blackhawks (25-46-11) missed the playoffs for the fifth straight year.

With an eye toward the playoffs, the Senators (44-30-7) rested players for the second straight game. Claude Giroux, Nick Jensen and Jake Sanderson got the night off. Brady Tkachuk missed his eighth straight game with an upper-body injury.

Thomas Chabot made it 2-all with a power-play goal at 1:19 of the second. Connor Bedard put Chicago back in front with his second goal of the game and 23rd of the season on the power play. The Blackhawks had three goals on five shots against Anton Forsberg, who made 12 saves.

LIGHTNING 5, PANTHERS 1

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Brayden Point had a goal and two assists to lead Tampa Bay to a victory against Florida.

Nikita Kucherov had a goal and an assists and Yanni Gourde added two assists. Conor Geekie, Jake Guentzel and Darren Raddysh also scored for Tampa Bay. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 23 shots.

Brad Marchand scored for Florida, which finished its regular season schedule. Vitek Vanecek finished with 26 saves.

The teams will meet in the opening round of the playoffs starting this weekend.

CAPITALS 3, ISLANDERS 1

NEW YORK (AP) — Dylan Strome scored three times, and Washington beat New York.

It was Strome’s third career hat trick. Charlie Lindgren made 33 saves for Washington, which had dropped two in a row.

Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored for New York in the third period, and Ilya Sorokin stopped 33 shots.

The Islanders have dropped four of five going into their season finale at Columbus on Thursday night. They will miss the playoffs for the second time in four seasons.

BLUES 6, UTAH 1

ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis secured the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference playoffs with a victory over Utah.

Pavel Buchnevich had a goal and two assists, Jordan Kyrou scored twice and Jimmy Snuggerud, Brayden Schenn and Zack Bolduc each added a goal and an assist for the Blues. Robert Thomas contributed a pair of assists and Jordan Binnington made 22 saves for St. Louis, which will face the conference-leading Winnipeg Jets in the opening round of the playoffs.

The Blues were eight points out of a playoff spot at the break for the 4 Nations Tournament and used a 19-4-3 run to qualify for the postseason for the first time 2022.

Clayton Keller scored his 30th goal of the season and Karel Vejmelka made 23 saves for Utah.

WILD 3, DUCKS 2 (OT)

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota clinched a spot in the playoffs in dramatic fashion when Joel Eriksson Ek scored the tying goal with 20.9 seconds left in regulation, and Matt Boldy got the winner with 17.9 seconds remaining in overtime to beat Anaheim.

The crowd erupted again when the Wild sent retiring goalie Marc-Andre Fleury out for overtime. Fleury made five saves, fending off a 4-on-3 power play.

With an empty net for the extra attacker, Boldy’s pass across the slot set up Eriksson Ek at the edge of the crease. Ducks goalie Lukas Dostal stopped his first try with his stick, but a second whack at the puck got it across the line for his 14th goal of the season.

Rookie Sam Colangelo had the go-ahead goal midway through the third period, Alex Killorn scored and Dostal stopped 37 shots for the Ducks (35-37-9), who were eliminated 11 days ago from postseason contention.

FLAMES 5, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 4, SO

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Morgan Frost scored in regulation and the shootout, helping Calgary beat Vegas after the Flames were eliminated from the playoff race.

Nazem Kadri, Mikael Backlund and Adam Klapka also scored as Calgary extended its point streak to seven games. Rookie Dustin Wolf made 38 saves in regulation and overtime in his eighth straight start.

The Flames (40-27-14) were in the mix for a Western Conference wild card coming into the day. But they were eliminated when both the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues won. They missed out on the postseason for a third consecutive year.

Vegas is going to the Stanley Cup playoffs for the seventh time in eight seasons. It will play Minnesota in the first round.

Ilya Samsonov stopped 24 shots for Vegas through overtime.

KINGS 6, KRAKEN 5

SEATTLE (AP) — Samuel Helenius scored twice, David Rittich made 28 saves, and Los Angeles spoiled Seattle’s home finale with a victory.

The Kings head into their regular-season finale locked into a first-round playoff series against the Edmonton Oilers. After the Kings blew a 2-0 first-period cushion, they responded with four unanswered goals over a five-plus minute stretch of game time between the second and third periods.

Warren Foegele gave the lead back to Los Angeles with 3:55 to play in the second and Alex Laferriere made it 4-2 just 72 seconds later. Adrian Kempe and Helenius added third-period goals to make it 6-2.

Seattle nearly came back in the third period with three straight goals from Jaden Schwartz, Matty Beniers and Eeli Tolvanen, but the deficit was too much.

Seattle goalie Joey Daccord had 18 saves.

Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz (41) makes a blocker save during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Buffalo Sabres, Tuesday, April 15, 2025, in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)

ROME (AP) — Top-flight soccer matches in Italy and Argentina were postponed after the death of Pope Francis on Monday.

The Buenos Aires club that the Argentine pontiff supported throughout his life was also mourning its most famous fan.

The wider soccer and sports world paid homage after Francis died at 88.

All sports events scheduled for Easter Monday in Italy were postponed, including four Serie A games: Torino vs. Udinese, Cagliari vs. Fiorentina, Genoa vs. Lazio and Parma vs. Juventus. The games will now be played on Wednesday.

Likewise, three top-flight games in Argentina were postponed from Monday to Tuesday: Tigre vs. Belgrano, Argentinos Juniors vs. Barracas Central and Independiente Rivadavia vs. Aldosivi. The games will be preceded by a minute of silence to mourn Francis, who was the Archbishop of Buenos Aires before being elected pope.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino said he was “deeply saddened” over the pope’s death.

“I was privileged enough to spend some time with him on a couple of occasions, and he always shared his enthusiasm for football and stressed the important role our sport plays in society,” Infantino said on Instagram. “All the prayers of the whole football world are with him.”

Tennis great Rafael Nadal expressed his “sincere condolences” for Francis in a post on X in Spanish.

Francis’ passion for soccer became known almost immediately after he was elected as the first pope from Latin America in 2013 when the Argentine club San Lorenzo tweeted a photo of him holding up the team’s crest. He was even a card-carrying member of the club, with San Lorenzo ID No. 88,235.

San Lorenzo is nicknamed “the Saints.”

“He was always one of us,” San Lorenzo said in tribute on Instagram, remembering how Francis watched its 1946 championship team as a boy.

San Lorenzo performed well after Francis was elected as the 266th pope in March 2013. The team won a national title in 2013 and claimed the Copa Libertadores for the first time a year later. Club officials traveled twice to the Vatican carrying trophies to thank Francis for his support.

A planned new San Lorenzo stadium is to be named for Francis.

In Italy, there were also suggestions that Francis supported Juventus since his family came from the Piedmont region where the Turin club is based. Francis’ father, Mario Bergoglio, was a basketball player.

Francis met countryman Diego Maradona twice as pope. There was a special audience in connection with a charity soccer match in 2014 when Maradona presented the pontiff with a soccer jersey, emblazoned with the name “Francisco” — Spanish for Francis — and Maradona’s No. 10.

“We all now realize he’s a (star),” Maradona said after another meeting in 2015. “I’m Francis’ top fan.”

When Maradona died in 2020, Francis remembered the soccer great in his prayers.

“A different, approachable, Argentine pope,” Lionel Messi, another Argentina soccer great, said on Instagram. “Thank you for making the world a better place. We will miss you.”

Record 15-time European soccer champion Real Madrid also mourned Francis in a message on Instagram.

During a meeting with the Argentina and Italy national teams shortly after he was elected, Francis noted the influence of athletes, especially on youth, and told the players to remember that, “for better or worse” they were role models. “Dear players, you are very popular. People follow you, and not just on the field but also off it,” he said. “That’s a social responsibility.”

Francis often hailed sports as a way to promote solidarity and inclusion, especially for young people.

At a global conference on faith and sport in 2016, Francis implored leaders to do a better job of keeping corruption off the playing field and said sports must be protected from manipulations and commercial abuse.

“Francis was a special pope, able to illuminate in his time like only the greatest can,” Gianluigi Buffon, the former Italy captain who met the pope many times, said on Instagram. “He showed us the way with great courage and moved our souls. I will carry his example forever in my heart.”

AP Sports Writer Mauricio Savarese in Sao Paulo contributed.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

The late Pope Francis is depicted on a mural alongside soccer player Lionel Messi at the Carlos Mugica neighborhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Monday, April 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

FILE - Diego Armando Maradona presents Pope Francis with an Argentine national soccer team jersey bearing the name Francisco on it, in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Monday, Sept. 1, 2014 ahead of an interreligious match for peace. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)

Pope Francis and Scholas Occurrentes' President Jose Maria Del Corral, left, look at Newell's Old Boys captain, Argentine midfielder Maxi Rodriguez juggling a soccer ball at the launch of the 'Scholas Occurrentes' (Latin for, schools of meeting) international educational movement at the pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome, Thursday, May 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

A rosary, messages, and emblems of the San Lorenzo soccer club, of which the late Pope Francis was a fan, are attached to a column of the Cathedral in Buenos Aires, Argentina, following his passing on Monday, April 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

FILE - Pope Francis holds a San Lorenzo's jersey, the Buenos Aires soccer team, handed to him by a faithful at the end of the Easter mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, March 31, 2013. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)

FILE - Pope Francis blesses faithfuls as he arrives to celebrate the Mass of Assumption of Mary at Daejeon World Cup stadium in Daejeon, South Korea, Friday, Aug. 15, 2014. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, file)

FILE - Pope Francis twirls a soccer ball he was presented by a member of the Circus of Cuba, during his weekly general audience in the Pope Paul VI hall, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file)

FILE - Argentine soccer legend Diego Armando Maradona, left, greets Pope Francis in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Monday, Sept. 1, 2014. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)