Remember when Brian Elliott couldn't win a game? Times have changed.

The Calgary Flames goaltender added another victory to his 2016-17 resume Sunday night, a 5-2 decision over the Los Angeles Kings. Elliott also tied a Flames franchise record set by Mike Vernon almost 30 years ago by winning his 11th straight game.

Elliott made 19 saves Sunday and is a huge reason why Calgary improved to 13-1-1 over its last 15 games.

After recording only three wins through November (all came in October), he's making up for lost time. Elliott is 16-4-2 with a .925 save percentage since Jan. 1, and is an obscene 7-0 in March with a dazzling .952 save percentage.

With the Flames in Washington on Tuesday, Elliott's now got work to do in order to claim the club record for himself. Right now, though, betting against Calgary - and Elliott - is a fool's errand, regardless of the opposition.

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This is a recording: The Chicago Blackhawks are headed to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Chicago's 6-3 comeback win - combined with the Los Angeles Kings' 5-2 loss to the Calgary Flames - meant the Blackhawks officially clinched their postseason berth late Sunday night.

It's the ninth straight season that Chicago will compete for the Stanley Cup, all with Joel Quenneville behind the bench - the man can coach. And if recent odd-year history is any indication, the Blackhawks could be due for their fourth Cup in the Quenneville era this year, having won in 2015 and 2013. And, yes, we're just about into dynasty territory here.

Chicago's the top seed in the Western Conference, seven points up on Minnesota, thanks to a 24-9 run since Jan. 1.

For L.A., the loss was a massive one. Calgary's now 11 points clear of the Kings in the Pacific, and back into third place in the division. Los Angeles is 10 points back of Edmonton for the first wild-card spot, and remains six points back of Nashville for the second. Each team has played 71 games.

The Kings are running out of time, in other words.

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The waiver wire doesn't always produce a rich harvest, but Paul Byron is certainly proving to be a considerable exception.

The Montreal Canadiens center scored his 20th goal of the season in Sunday's win over Ottawa, making general manager Marc Bergevin look like a genius for scooping him off waivers and locking him up to a contract extension.

Byron was waived by the Calgary Flames prior to the 2015-16 regular season in order to carry three goalies on the roster, namely Jonas Hiller, Joni Ortio, and Karri Ramo, none of whom are still around.

Montreal was the only team to put in a claim, and were pleased enough with his contributions to sign him to a three-year extension last February.

Drafted 179th overall by Buffalo in 2007, Byron was used sparingly by the Flames during his time in Calgary, but his persistence - spurred by the advice of an AHL coach - is now paying dividends.

No one would have asked, "Where would the Canadiens be without Paul Byron?" back in the preseason, but his 20 goals rank second only to Max Pacioretty, and he has 17 assists to boot.

Deployed both on the power play and penalty kill, Byron is indeed proving to be an unsung hero in Montreal.

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Blake Wheeler's officially a member of the 500 club.

With two assists Sunday, the Jets captain now has 500 career points, joining Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, and David Krejci as players from the 2004 draft class who have hit the mark. (Andrew Ladd, whom Wheeler replaced as Jets captain, will soon join them; he's at 493 career points.)

Wheeler was selected fifth overall by the then-Phoenix Coyotes, but never played a game with the club. He signed with the Boston Bruins as a free agent in 2008, but it's in Winnipeg that his career blossomed. He was acquired by the then-Atlanta Thrashers in a February 2011 trade, along with Mark Stuart, in a deal that sent Rich Peverley and Boris Valabik to Boston.

And it's safe to say both teams are happy with how the trade worked out. Wheeler traveled north to Winnipeg when the Jets were reborn for the 2011-12 season, and the Bruins won the 2011 Stanley Cup. Peverley scored four goals - including two game-winners - and added eight assists in 25 playoff games, won 53 percent of his faceoffs, and played over 16 minutes a night on the run. He did his part and earned his ring.

Wheeler took off in his first full campaign in Winnipeg in his age 25 season, playing over 19 minutes a night and becoming a focal point of the Jets' offense. He's kept it up, and is today one of the more underrated stars in the NHL.

* 2016-17 stats don't include Sunday's statistics.

Wheeler's only become more consistent as he's aged. He's scored 20 or more goals in each of his last four seasons, and finished with 19 in 48 games in lockout-shortened 2012-13.

The only issue for Wheeler during his time in Winnipeg is the fact he's played just four postseason games with the club. He'll try to add to that total next year.

All in all, though, both teams certainly have no regrets with how things ended up. And that's nice, for a change, right?

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MONTREAL - Carey Price made 30 saves for his 33rd win of the season and the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Ottawa Senators 4-1 on Sunday night to sweep the home-and-home series.

Tomas Plekanec, Jordie Benn, Paul Byron and Nathan Beaulieu scored for the Canadiens, who lead the Atlantic Division by four points over the Senators, who still have one game in hand.

Tom Pyatt scored a first-period goal for the Senators. Craig Anderson stopped 33 shots.

The Canadiens also beat the Senators in Ottawa on Saturday, winning 4-3 in a shootout. Price made 28 saves in that game, while Anderson stopped 29 shots in defeat.

With Montreal leading 2-1 in the third period Sunday, Byron made it a two-goal lead for the Canadiens when he went five-hole on Anderson at 3:30, opting to shoot while on a 2-on-1 with Plekanec.

The goal was Byron's 20th of the season. He also added an assist on Montreal's first goal of the game.

Beaulieu made in 4-1, on the power play, scoring with a slap shot from the blue line with Anderson screened by Artturi Lehkonen at 5:08.

Montreal is now 8-4-2 in the second game of a back-to-back. The Senators are 6-4-1.

Sunday's game had big playoff implications, and the energy on the ice and atmosphere in the stands were definitely playoff-like. Montreal came out flying, only needing 28 seconds to get the sell-out crowd off its feet.

Plekanec scored his first goal since Jan. 24 when Andrei Markov's shot from the point bounced off Anderson's chest and fell right to the veteran center in the crease for his eighth of the season.

The lead was short-lived as Pyatt scored the equalizer at 4:36 of the first when his shot from close range deflected off Benn's stick and skipped over Price's outstretched pad.

Benn made up for the mistake later in the same period when his shot from the point deflected off Viktor Stalberg's stick to beat Anderson glove side at 17:45.

NOTES: Price only faced six shots in the second period, but needed to be at his best when Kyle Turris fired a one-timer. The Canadiens goalie sprang to his right and did the splits to get his toe on the puck. ... Montreal's Alexei Emelin was back in the lineup after he was a healthy scratch in Ottawa. ... The Canadiens are 10-4-0 under Claude Julien. ... Torrey Mitchell played his 600th NHL game.

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Johnny Hockey, indeed.

Calgary Flames winger Johnny Gaudreau wowed the home crowd Sunday with this breakaway move on Ben Bishop and the Los Angeles Kings.

The play was kick-started by a perfect pass from Sean Monahan, who frequently collaborates with Gaudreau.

The goal was Gaudreau's 16th of the season, and quite possibly the prettiest.

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Calgary Flames rookie forward Matthew Tkachuk may soon hear from the NHL after a blatant elbow to the head of Los Angeles' Drew Doughty.

No penalty was called for the elbow itself - which occurred late in the first period - although Tkachuk drew two minutes for roughing during the ensuing scrum.

Here's a closer, slowed-down look:

Doughty went to the locker room for observation, but was able to return for the second period.

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Things fell apart rather quickly for the Colorado Avalanche after amassing a 3-1 lead over the Blackhawks in Chicago on Sunday, and by quickly, we mean "blink and you missed it."

It all started with Jonathan Toews' 19th goal of the season, which was deemed good after a lengthy offside review. While Toews scored by deflecting the puck in front of the net, the zone entry did not appear to be on the level.

The NHL, however, saw it differently.

That opened the floodgates, as Richard Panik and Artemi Panarin each scored within the next 34 seconds to give Chicago the lead.

Toews added his 20th shortly thereafter to cap an offensive outburst of four goals in 3:02 en route to an eventual 6-3 win for the Blackhawks.

It's been that kind of season for the Avs.

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Nothing new to see here - just Carey Price being Carey Price.

The Montreal Canadiens' all-world netminder - starting his second game in as many nights - showed no signs of fatigue on this play, springing across the crease to make an incredible toe save on Ottawa's Kyle Turris.

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Bruce Boudreau's on a five-game regulation losing streak for the first time in his coaching career, and his postgame scrum Sunday perfectly summed up how he was feeling.

The Minnesota Wild erased a 4-0 deficit, scoring four in the second period to tie the game, but eventually fell 5-4. Boudreau wanted nothing of a question about his club's "resiliency" in almost pulling off a miracle comeback:

"That's all, I'm done."

And another career first for Boudreau:

Minnesota's 2-8 in March. Better now than in April, right?

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