New Colorado goalie Mackenzie Blackwood is already having a big impact on the Avalanche in their eighth consecutive postseason.

Nathan MacKinnon had a part in both of Colorado’s strange goals in the second period before adding an empty-netter late as the Avalanche beat the Dallas Stars 5-1 in the opener of their first-round Western Conference playoff series.

The race for the two wild-card playoff spots in the NHL’s Eastern Conference is full of surprises.

Aleksander Barkov had two goals and two assists, Sam Reinhart added four assists and the Florida Panthers beat the Boston Bruins 6-1 on Wednesday night to tie the second-round series at a game apiece.

Brad Marchand and Danton Heinen scored short-handed in the first period, and the Boston Bruins beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-0 in a matchup of the NHL’s top two teams.

Jimmy Vesey’s goal put the Rangers ahead late in the second period, Chris Kreider scored twice and Jonathan Quick made 27 saves as New York beat the Boston Bruins 7-4 in a matchup of the top teams in the Eastern Conference.

The Boston Bruins have broken the NHL record for wins in a season after beating the Philadelphia Flyers 5-3 behind David Pastrnak’s hat trick that got him to 60 goals for the first time in his career.

Patrice Bergeron got his 1,000th career point with a second-period assist and the Boston Bruins beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3 for their seventh straight win.

Linus Ullmark made 30 saves for his fifth career shutout, Charlie Coyle scored short-handed and the NHL-leading Boston Bruins beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-0 on Friday for their fifth straight victory.

Brad Marchand scored one goal and assisted on another to lead the Boston Bruins past the Carolina Hurricanes 5-2 and send their first-round playoff series to a decisive seventh game.

Brad Marchand had a goal and two assists to help the Boston Bruins take their first lead against the Hurricanes all season and hold onto it for a 4-2 victory over Carolina in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series.

Seth Jarvis and Nino Niederreiter scored second-period goals while Antti Raanta was strong in net to help the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Boston Bruins 5-1 in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.

Gabriel Landeskog tied the game with 36.5 seconds left in regulation and Cale Makar scored a power-play goal 3:01 into overtime as the Colorado Avalanche rallied past the Boston Bruins 4-3 for their 17th straight home victory.

David Pastrnak scored a hat trick, Tuukka Rask made 24 saves in his return from hip surgery and the Boston Bruins beat the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2.

Charlie Coyle scored on a wrist shot from the slot 34 seconds into overtime and Boston completed a 4-3 comeback victory over the Buffalo Sabres in the Bruins’ first game in 16 days.

Charlie Coyle had the only score in the shootout and the Boston Bruins beat Florida 3-2 Saturday night, ending the Panthers’ season-opening winning streak at eight games.

Brock Nelson scored twice in another big second period by New York, Semyon Varlamov stopped 23 shots and the Islanders beat the Boston Bruins 6-2 in Game 6 on Wednesday night to advance to the Stanley Cup semifinals for the second straight year.

Brad Marchand scored 3:36 into overtime and the Boston Bruins beat the New York Islanders 2-1 in Game 3 to take the lead in the second-round playoff series.

Casey Cizikas scored on a breakaway with 14:48 gone in overtime and Semyon Varlamov returned to the net to make 39 saves to lead the New York Islanders to a 4-3 victory over the Boston Bruins and knotting their second-round playoff series at one game apiece.

David Pastrnak and Charlie Coyle scored 34 seconds apart to break the game open early in the third period and give Boston to a 4-1 victory over the Washington Capitals.

Michael Raffl scored from a tight angle with 1.8 seconds remaining and the Washington Capitals beat the short-handed Boston Bruins 2-1 in the teams’ regular season finale.

Coyle becomes just the second Bruins’ player added to the protocol, and first since Karson Kuhlman spent the first two days of the season on the list in January. Each person attending the games will be required to comply with all state public health regulations and arena policies. ___The Atlantic Coast Conference announced Wednesday that Virginia Tech's men's basketball game at North Carolina State on Saturday has been canceled. The cancellation follows quarantining and a contract tracing review within the Virginia Tech men’s program. NC State says it would like to find another league game to replace it if they can.

The Bruins' high level of play matched the picturesque setting with the lake and snow-covered mountains in the background. Joel Farabee, Sean Couturier and James van Riemsdyk scored for the short-handed Flyers, who have six players on the COVID-19 list. AdThere were plenty of goals as well, starting with Pastrnak’s 34 seconds into the game. The Flyers responded with two goals and took the lead when Couturier came out of the penalty box and took advantage of McAvoy’s broken stick. There were even more on Sunday, including some waving Flyers flags and others with Bruins paraphernalia.

(AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker, File)The Minnesota Wild traded goalie Devan Dubnyk and forward Ryan Donato to the San Jose Sharks in two separate deals on Monday, continuing their makeover under general manager Bill Guerin. For Donato, the Wild received a third-round pick in the 2021 draft. The Sharks sent their fifth-round pick in the 2022 draft for Dubnyk and also received Minnesota's 2022 seventh-rounder in return. The Wild now own two 2021 picks from the Penguins, who traded next year's first-rounder to Minnesota for forward Jason Zucker. Donato, who is the son of former Bruins stalwart Ted Donato, has 29 goals and 28 assists in 130 career NHL games.