Claude Julien insists he's cool as a cucumber.

The Montreal Canadiens head coach tried to assure reporters of his calm demeanor after earning a 3-1 victory Saturday over the Ottawa Senators:

The Canadiens played the Senators three times in eight days and won all three games, prevailing by a combined 7-2 margin in their final two regular-season matchups.

Montreal holds a three-point lead over Ottawa atop the Atlantic Division. The Senators have a game in hand, but three fewer regulation or overtime wins, which would be the tiebreaker at season's end.

The Canadiens are 11-5-1 since firing Michel Therrien and re-hiring Julien on Feb. 14, when they were six points up on the Senators.

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Through the remainder of the regular season, we'll take a look at how the night's action impacts the playoff race, highlighting which teams' postseason odds went up or down significantly.

The Boston Bruins bought themselves a little breathing room with a big win in Brooklyn.

Losers of four straight heading into Saturday's action, the Bruins eked out a narrow victory, greatly boosting their playoff chances in the process.

While the Toronto Maple Leafs continue to sit rather comfortably, a loss to the Sabres - and an injury to goalie Frederik Andersen - has opened the door for possible regression to a wild-card spot.

Meanwhile, wins for the Calgary Flames and Nashville Predators, as well as a point earned by the St. Louis Blues in an overtime loss, have put the Los Angeles Kings on the brink of being completely pushed out of the race.

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

To see percentages for the entire NHL, visit Sports Club Stats.

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Another year, another postseason appearance for the Minnesota Wild.

Despite a defeat at the hands of the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday afternoon, the Wild clinched a playoff spot early Sunday morning, thanks to the Los Angeles Kings' 3-0 loss to the New York Rangers.

Minnesota will play in the postseason for the fifth consecutive year, and for the first time under head coach Bruce Boudreau.

It's the eighth playoff berth in the Wild's 16-year history, but they haven't made it out of the second round since their very first postseason run, when they advanced to the Western Conference Final under Jacques Lemaire in 2003.

The Wild sit second in the Central Division, eight points behind the first-place Chicago Blackhawks and seven points clear of the Nashville Predators.

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EDMONTON, Alberta - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Drake Caggiula each had a goal and an assist and the Edmonton Oilers moved into a three-way tie atop the Pacific Division with a 4-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night.

Benoit Pouliot and Leon Draisaitl also scored for the Oilers, who have won six of their last seven games and are now tied with San Jose and Anaheim at 91 points.

Sven Andrighetto scored for the Avalanche, who have dropped five games in a row.

Edmonton took a 1-0 lead on its first shot 1:54 into the opening period when Pouliot tipped Matt Benning's point shot past goalie Calvin Pickard.

Andrighetto scored 45 seconds later by fighting off Adam Larsson and tucked the puck past goalie Laurent Brossoit, who had 24 saves.

The Oilers retook the lead midway through the first on a goal from Draisaitl - his 27th goal and 70th point.

After a scoreless second period, the Oilers made it 3-1 with 11:14 remaining in the third when Caggiula redirected Nugent-Hopkins' pass past Pickard on the power play.

Nugent-Hopkins put the game away with another power-play goal with 4 1/2 minutes to play, his 16th of the season.

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San Jose Sharks forward Logan Couture was taken to hospital Saturday after being struck in the mouth by a deflected shot from Brent Burns, CSN's Kevin Kurz confirmed.

Couture appeared to have lost a tooth in the ordeal, but Sharks fans will be hoping his admission to hospital doesn't signify more serious injuries.

It comes as more terrible news from the suddenly reeling Sharks, losers of six straight games. Couture ranks third on the team with 25 goals and 52 points.

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Colton Sissons and James Neal both scored twice to lead the Nashville Predators over the staggering San Jose Sharks 7-2 on Saturday night.

Cody McLeod, P.K. Subban, and Viktor Arvidsson also scored for Nashville, which has won three straight and six of seven. Craig Smith and Colin Wilson had three assists apiece to help the Predators move a point ahead of St. Louis for third place in the Central Division.

Pekka Rinne made 26 saves in winning his fifth consecutive start.

Patrick Marleau and Justin Braun scored for the Sharks, losers of six straight. They remained tied with Anaheim atop the Pacific Division.

San Jose allowed six goals in Friday night's loss at Dallas.

Sissons scored the game's first goal at 4:14 of the opening period.

Behind the San Jose net, Smith battled with Tomas Hertl and passed the puck off the back of the cage to Wilson on the left side. He made a spinning backhand pass to Sissons just outside the slot, and he beat Sharks goaltender Martin Jones with a backhand to the stick side.

McLeod made it 2-0 at 15:19 of the first.

Roman Josi carried the puck up the left side. Inside the San Jose blue line, he went past Sharks defenseman Brent Burns near the left wall. From the left faceoff dot, Josi's wrist shot deflected off Jones' jersey and then the crossbar before landing on the goal line, where McLeod was there to tap it in for his fifth goal of the season.

Marleau cut the Nashville lead in half at 4:24 of the second with a power-play goal when he deflected Burns' slap shot from the high slot by Rinne for his 26th of the season.

Nashville regained its two-goal lead 24 seconds later when Neal scored on the power play with a wrist shot from the left circle.

Subban's slap shot from the right wall made it 4-1 at 14:39. Braun concluded the second-period scoring at 16:19 when he beat Rinne from the left circle with a wrist shot on the stick side.

Sissons got his second of the game at 5:27 of the third on a deflection of Smith's shot.

Smith has six assists over his last three games. Sissons has three goals in his last two games.

Neal added a power-play goal at 17:01 of the third, and Viktor Arvidsson scored a short-handed goal with 37 seconds remaining.

Jones finished with 27 saves.

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Viktor Arvidsson delivered a historic dagger to the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night.

The Nashville Predators forward scored the club's seventh goal of the game, and, more importantly, his fifth short-handed goal of the season, breaking the franchise record for short-handed markers.

The goal also gave Arvidsson the league lead in that category. Meanwhile, with an assist earlier in the game, he now shares the team lead in points (55) with Ryan Johansen.

(Video courtesy: NHL.com)

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Desperate for retribution after being slammed from behind by Calle Jarnkrok on Saturday in Nashville, San Jose Sharks tough guy Micheal Haley carried out a brutally accurate one-punch attack on an unwilling participant.

For his act of war, Haley received a match penalty for intent to injure. Jarnkrok was called for boarding.

Though Haley should probably expect a ring from Player Safety, Sharks coach Pete DeBoer believes his enforcer's actions were just.

"When you run someone from behind in a game like that, you probably deserve to get a punch in the mouth," DeBoer said, according to CSN's Kevin Kurz.

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Calgary Flames pivot Sean Monahan continued his strong 2016-17 campaign by playing the hero Saturday night, clinching a 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues with a cheeky overtime winner.

The goal marked the seventh time in Monahan's career that he's closed out a regular-season tilt with an overtime winner, moving him past former Flames captain Jarome Iginla for most in franchise history.

Teammate Mikael Backlund sits tied with Iginla for second in Flames history with six to his name, while captain Mark Giordano has five overtime winners on his career.

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