BOSTON - Tuukka Rask made 24 saves in his return from a one-game absence and the Boston Bruins beat the Nashville Predators 4-1 on Tuesday night, boosting their playoff chances.

Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Noel Acciari and David Backes scored for the Bruins, who moved three points ahead of idle Tampa Bay for the second Eastern Conference wild card with six games remaining. Boston began the night a point behind Toronto for third place in the Atlantic Division.

Rask was sidelined with a lower-body injury for Boston's 2-1 road win against the New York Islanders on Saturday.

Bergeron's goal was his 18th of the season, and Krejci got his 22nd. Acciari scored his first career goal in 43 NHL games, Backes netted his 17th of the season and Zdeno Chara earned his 600th NHL point with an assist on Boston's first goal.

Craig Smith scored his 10th goal for the Predators, who had their four-game winning streak snapped. Pekka Rinne made 27 saves but took his first loss in six starts.

Nashville remained one point ahead of idle St. Louis for third in the Central Division.

The Predators had won three straight meetings with the Bruins, including a 2-1 victory Jan. 12 in Nashville.

Bergeron opened the scoring 2:28 into the first period, slamming home a rebound after Chara's shot from the blue line bounced off Rinne's leg.

Krejci's wrister trickled through Rinne's legs to double the Bruins' lead at 13:52 of the first.

Smith redirected Roman Josi's shot past Rask to cut the Nashville's deficit in half with 8:44 remaining in the third.

Acciari tapped in a shot-pass from Riley Nash as the Bruins converted on a 3-on-1 chance with 4:13 to play. Backes scored an empty-netter with 1:31 left to seal it.

NOTES: Nashville C Mike Fisher (lower body) missed his fourth straight game. Predators general manager David Poile told 102.5 The Game radio Tuesday he is hopeful Fisher can return ''as soon as Thursday.'' ... Predators D Yannick Weber (upper body) sat out for the second consecutive night. ... Boston C Tim Schaller (lower body) missed his ninth game in a row. ... Chara was named the Bruins' nominee for the Masterson Trophy, which honors dedication to hockey. ''It's a game that gives you so much delight and makes you a better person,'' the 40-year-old defenseman said. ... Boston recalled G Zane McIntyre from Providence of the AHL on an emergency basis two hours before the game, but was returned during the first-period intermission.

UP NEXT

Predators: Open a two-game homestand Thursday against Toronto.

Bruins: Continue a three-game homestand Thursday against Dallas.

Copyright © 2017 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Everything ends. Badly, for the most part.

The Detroit Red Wings were officially eliminated from playoff contention Tuesday night, ending the club's remarkable 25-year postseason streak.

It was the longest active playoff streak in pro sports, and ends tied for the third-longest in NHL history.

It was a most productive generation. Detroit won six Presidents' trophies, made six trips to the Stanley Cup Final since 1991, and ended up hosting four Stanley Cup parades. It was the kind of streak all sports franchises aspire to, containing greatness both on the team and player levels.

"Right now it's hard to talk about, because you're a big reason why it's not continuing," captain Henrik Zetterberg said, writes NHL.com's Nicholas J. Cotsonika.

It's hard to fathom springtime in Detroit without hockey, but that's the reality. The Detroit Tigers will undoubtedly have a lot more eyes on them as the MLB season gets going.

"We've given the fans wonderful hockey for a quarter of a century," Jimmy Devellano, the Red Wings' senior vice president, said. "It had to happen. It had to happen."

The club won more than 1,100 regular-season games during the streak, and enjoyed its best season in club history in 1995-96, when Detroit finished a remarkable 62-13-7. While that campaign ended in a third-round playoff defeat, two Stanley Cups would follow in 1997 and 1998.

Steve Yzerman. Sergei Fedorov. Ken Holland. Scotty Bowman. Nicklas Lidstrom. Pavel Datsyuk. Tomas Holmstrom. Brendan Shanahan. What a run.

Copyright © 2017 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

With an assist on Artturi Lehkonen's 14th goal of the season, defenseman Andrei Markov collected career point No. 572 to tie Guy Lapointe for the second-most points by a Montreal Canadiens defenseman on Tuesday night.

Markov hit the milestone feeding Lehkonen who buried a fluky one-timer past Dallas Stars netminder Kari Lehtonen late in the third period. Consequently Markov was then serenaded with a standing ovation by the Montreal faithful.

While the 38-year-old now needs just a single point to move into sole possession of second place, it will take an extra 311 points if Markov is to catch Larry Robinson who sits atop the list with 883 points.

Meanwhile Markov still sits third among franchise defensemen with 119 goals and will once again match Lapointe for second all-time with 47 more goals.

Copyright © 2017 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The Philadelphia Flyers went into play Tuesday with a 0.2 percent chance to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs, according to Sports Club Stats. And they'll live another day thanks to Ottawa Senators goaltender Craig Anderson.

With Philly trailing 2-1 with six minutes left in the third period, Anderson put the puck perfectly on Jordan Weal's stick. Only problem: Weal's a Flyer.

Making matters worse, Anderson was behind his net, making Weal's gift even better.

The forward made no mistake, the game eventually went to a shootout, where the Flyers prevailed.

Copyright © 2017 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

RALEIGH, N.C. - Lee Stempniak and Joakim Nordstrom scored about five minutes apart in the first period, and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 Tuesday night in the teams' second meeting in two nights.

Jordan Staal and Elias Lindholm also scored for Carolina and Cam Ward stopped 21 shots. The Hurricanes have earned a point in 12 straight games (8-0-4) to move four points out of the Eastern Conference's final playoff spot.

The Red Wings beat the Hurricanes on Monday in a makeup game rescheduled from Dec. 19 when a Freon leak at PNC Arena made for unplayable ice. Tuesday's contest was regularly scheduled.

The postponement resulted in three games in the three days for the Red Wings. They won the first two but visibly struggled with their energy in the finale to snap a four-game point streak.

Tomas Nosek scored his first NHL goal and Jimmy Howard made 29 saves for Detroit.

Copyright © 2017 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Shoot all you want, Sergei Bobrovsky is not about to let you pile up goals.

The Columbus Blue Jackets netminder made that abundantly clear during his club's 3-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night, turning aside 41 shots to earn the victory.

Columbus' win marked the fourth straight game in which Bobrovsky has registered 35 or more saves. He's allowed no more than one goal in any of those appearances:

Bobrovsky entered the Tuesday night tilt as the league leader in save percentage, goals against average, and wins, while ranking second in shutouts - his seven blank sheets are just one fewer than Braden Holtby's eight.

The Russian backstopper has now won nine of his past 10 appearances, further increasing his already strong chances at a second career Vezina Trophy win.

Copyright © 2017 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

This one's going on Joel Armia's fridge.

The Winnipeg Jets forward scored a brilliant goal Tuesday, going end to end, fighting off one Devils forward, dangling past another two New Jersey players, before roofing the puck past Cory Schneider.

Oh, and it was a shorthanded marker, if it wasn't already ridiculous enough. There's more: The goal tied the game at 3-3, and the Jets took the extra point in the shootout.

No. 9 on the season for Armia, but definitely No. 1 in his heart.

Copyright © 2017 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Jimmy Howard isn't a fan of freebies, refusing to give Victor Rask one Tuesday night when the Carolina Hurricanes forward had him dead to rights in front of the net.

The Detroit Red Wings netminder sprawled to make a dazzling glove stop, keeping the score at 3-0 for Carolina and leaving Rask searching for his first goal in two weeks.

Copyright © 2017 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Florida Panthers goaltender James Reimer was hoping to stick it to his former team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, on Tuesday night, but he was forced from the game in the second period after a collision with forward Brian Boyle.

Reimer covered up a loose puck at the side of the net, and Boyle caught him on the head - accidentally, by the looks of it - as he skated around the cage.

The netminder was ruled out of the remainder of the game with an upper-body injury. He's had issue with concussions in the past. Reto Berra replaced him.

Reimer was actually unable to finish Monday's game in Buffalo, after he was collided with, again taking a shot to the head.

The Panthers are still alive in the Eastern Conference playoff race, but need every win they can get their hands on - and some help.

Copyright © 2017 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

No Frederik Andersen, no problem.

Curtis McElhinney did his best imitation of his goaltending partner Tuesday night, robbing Florida Panthers forward Reilly Smith with a desperation paddle save.

As fate would have it, Smith scored later in the period to cut the Maple Leafs' lead to 2-1.

Copyright © 2017 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.