Nashville Predators goalie Pekka Rinne (right) saves a shot from Washington Capitals’ Curtis Glencross during the first period at the Verizon Center in Washington. (UPI)

Reuters/Washington

Nashville Predators clinched a berth in the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since 2012 and a couple of former Washington Capitals players helped them do it.
Rookie center Filip Forsberg, taken by the Capitals with the 11th pick of the 2012 NHL draft, scored one goal and assisted on two others, and center Mike Ribeiro, who played for the Capitals two seasons ago, recorded a goal and an assist in the Saturday’s National Hockey League.
Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne turned aside 25 shots to improve his record to 41-15-4, while Washington goalie Braden Holtby was pulled after allowing three goals on 13 shots.
The Predators also received goals from defenseman Mattias Ekholm and center Mike Fisher in winning their fourth straight game. The Capitals collected two goals from right winger Troy Brouwer and one from defenseman Mike Green.

Ducks 3, Islanders 2
Centers Kyle Palmieri and Andrew Cogliano scored in the second period and Anaheim clinched a playoff berth. The Ducks (48-22-7) have won two straight and six of eight to move into first place overall in the NHL with 103 points.
Right winger Richard Rakell was credited with a goal in the first period for the Ducks while goalie Frederik Andersen made 29 saves.  The Islanders (44-27-5) continued their freefall by losing for the ninth time in 12 games this month (3-6-3).

Penguins 3, Coyotes 2
Center Sidney Crosby had a goal and two assists, all in the third period, to boost his league-leading points total to 78 as Pittsburgh beat Arizona.
Right wingers Daniel Winnik and Steve Downie also scored for Pittsburgh. Left winger Tye McGinn and center Tobias Rieder scored for Arizona.
Pittsburgh defenseman Kris Letang, widely considered a candidate for the Norris Trophy, left the game in the second period. After Letang released a long outlet pass, Arizona right winger Shane Doan hit him. Letang fell backward into the end boards and needed assistance as he left the ice.

Bruins 4, Rangers 2
Boston took advantage of a rusty Henrik Lundqvist in his return, scoring three times in the first period on the New York Rangers’ veteran goaltender.
Lundqvist, who missed 25 games because of a sprained blood vessel in his neck, gave up four goals in the first 26 minutes  for New York (47-20-7). He finished with 26 saves.  

Sharks 3, Flyers 2 (shootout)
San Jose center Melker Karlsson and defenseman Brent Burns each scored shootout goals, and goaltender Alex Stalock stopped 16 of 18 shots to beat Philadelphia. By winning, the Sharks kept themselves in the conversation for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
San Jose center Joe Pavelski scored his 36th goal of the season and defenseman Matt Irwin added his eighth. Flyers center Claude Giroux scored his 28th goal of the season, and Flyers left winger Michael Raffl notched his 20th for Philadelphia.

Red Wings 4, Lightning 0
Goaltender Petr Mrazek made 23 saves for his second shutout of the season and fourth of his career to lead Detroit over Tampa Bay.
Right winger Gusav Nyquist had a goal and an assist and center Joakim Andersson, left winger Justin Abdelkader and center Luke Glendening also scored for Detroit. Tampa Bay goalie Ben Bishop stopped 19 shots.