ZACH PARISE

Brock Nelson scored twice, Cal Clutterbuck had a goal and an assist and the New York Islanders beat New Jersey 6-4, handing the first-place Devils just their second regulation loss in 21 games.

Vladimir Tarasenko had three goals in the third period to break open a tied game and series, and the St. Louis Blues pushed the Minnesota Wild to the edge of elimination with a 5-2 victory in Game 5.

Jake Guentzel scored twice, Sidney Crosby also had a goal and the Pittsburgh Penguins earned a playoff berth for the 16th straight season with a 6-3 victory over the New York Islanders on Thursday night. Guentzel scored his 36th and 37th goals and Crosby his 29th as the Penguins extended the longest active postseason streak among teams in major North American professional sports. Danton Heinen equaled a career high with his 16th goal, while Kris Letang and Brock McGinn also scored for Pittsburgh, which tied Calgary for the seventh-longest playoff streak in the NHL since 1967.

Zdeno Chara is returning to the team where he started his career after agreeing to terms on a one-year deal with the New York Islanders.

Dallas Stars goaltender Ben Bishop has waived his no-movement clause to be exposed in the Seattle expansion draft after approaching the team with the idea.

Moving on from the past is the early theme of the NHL offseason.

The Detroit Red Wings were major players in the free-agent market nine years ago when they made a huge pitch for defenseman Ryan Suter and left wing Zach Parise. They lost out to the Minnesota Wild, who signed the close friends to matching 13-year, $98 million contracts on July 4, 2012. On Tuesday, Wild general manager Bill Guerin announced that Suter and Parise, both 36, are being bought out of the final four years of their contracts. The Red Wings weren’t as interested in Parise as they were in Suter, the mobile, puck-mover they envisioned plugging the hole left by Nicklas Lidstrom, who retired two months earlier. We were told a couple of times that we were on a short list of teams he was considering.’'The Red Wings believed both players wanted to play closer to home.

The Minnesota Wild are buying out the contracts of veteran stars Zach Parise and Ryan Suter.

Mattias Janmark notched his first career hat trick as the Vegas Golden Knights eliminated the Minnesota Wild with a 6-2 win in Game 7 of their opening-round series.

Cam Talbot made 37 saves and the Minnesota Wild beat the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2 despite having only 14 shots on goal to stave off elimination in their opening-round playoff series.

Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby and Washington winger Tom Wilson separately questioned the NHL on a lack of clarity between clean and dirty hits. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File)The Latest on the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on sports around the world:___The Boston Bruins are resuming practice since having two games postponed resulting from five players being placed in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol. The team announced it will practice Wednesday night, a day before the Bruins are still scheduled to host the New York Islanders. The total is down from 15 on Tuesday, which was the most since 18 players were in the protocol on Feb. 17. The conference allowed a limited number of fans to attend the Big Ten men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.

The NHL is embarking on a free agent period like never before in hockey history. A handful of the top free agents are still available, but NHL teams aren't waiting for those big fish to sign to make other moves. Koivu signed for $1.5 million for next season, and they need to re-up top center Pierre-Luc Dubois and other restricted free agents. Teams have to move money, and in order to move money, they might have to move some really good players.”Some good free agents found new homes Saturday. The Buffalo Sabres signed center Cody Eakin to a $4.5 million, two-year contract, according to a person with direct knowledge of the deal.