Boston coach Bruce Cassidy

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WASHINGTON (AP) Alex Ovechkin heard the chants loud and clear.”We want 50! We want 50!”He didn’t need that extra encouragement. Ovechkin scored twice to finish with an NHL-leading 49 goals and played almost the final two minutes of the Washington Capitals‘ 5-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night in each team’s regular-season finale trying to reach 50 for the eighth time in his career.The Russian superstar will have to settle for his seventh Maurice ”Rocket” Richard Trophy as the league’s top goal-scorer and hopes his recent run continues in the playoffs www.ducksshoponline.com , where the Metropolitan Division-champion Capitals will open against the Columbus Blue Jackets.”Effort was there, and you can see I’m ready for playoffs in pretty good shape,” Ovechkin said after a playing 6:04 of the final 8:10. ”Still have a pretty good chance at the end. It is what it is. Whatever. The most important thing ahead of us, and second season right now starts in a couple days.”Washington won 12 of its final 15 games, and Ovechkin strengthened his Hart Trophy case with nine goals and six assists over that time. At 32, he’s the oldest player to lead the NHL in goals since Phil Esposito in 1974-75.Ovechkin became the 13th player and first since Mike Gartner in 1990-91 to score exactly 49 goals in a season. His teammates did their best trying to get him to 50, and Ovechkin attempted 18 shots and got eight on net in pursuit of the milestone.”We look for him a little bit more than usually, but I don’t know,” said center Evgeny Kuznetsov, who assisted on Ovechkin’s 48th goal to reach 56 for the season. ”I don’t think he’s sad about he didn’t get 50, but 49 is still a good number.”Losing in regulation sends New Jersey to the Atlantic bracket in the Eastern Conference to face the division champion: either the Boston Bruins or Tampa Bay Lightning. It’s the Bruins if they beat Florida on Sunday night Patrick Maroon Jersey Womens , and the Lightning if they don’t.”We like our matchup against anybody,” Devils center Brian Boyle said. ”I think we match up well against anyone. We believe in what we got going on here. We earned the right to be in. It’s been a good season. The fun starts now.”The Devils didn’t go all-out to try to move up in the standings, resting MVP front-runner Taylor Hall, first-line winger Kyle Palmieri, top-six center Travis Zajac, No. 1 defenseman Sami Vatanen and starting goaltender Keith Kinkaid with an eye toward the playoffs. Trade-deadline pickup Patrick Maroon had a goal and two assists, and rookie Nico Hischier and Miles Wood each scored for New Jersey.”There’s a reason that you got here,” coach John Hynes said. ”You have to have a strong identity, which we do. You have to be able to play to that.”The Capitals’ identity is coming into focus as they go into the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season feeling good about their game. Nicklas Backstrom, Michal Kempny and Andre Burakovsky also scored against New Jersey, and Braden Holtby stopped 23 of the 26 shots in his final chance to show he deserves to be Washington’s Game 1 starting goaltender over Philipp Grubauer.Holtby is 14-2-2 with a 2.62 goals-against average and .914 save percentage in his career against Columbus Tyler Bozak Jersey Womens , which lost to Nashville in its final game while resting stars Artemi Panarin, Seth Jones and Zach Werenski and two-time Vezina Trophy-winning goalie Sergei Bobrovsky.”They’re a good young team and they have a great goaltender, but for me it doesn’t matter against who you play,” Kuznetsov said. ”It’s just like a fun time. You prepare all year for this moments.”NOTES: The Capitals rested RW T.J. Oshie, who has been dealing with a lower-body injury. C Jay Beagle missed his third consecutive game with an upper-body injury. … With the primary assist on Kempny’s goal, Capitals F Shane Gersich picked up his first NHL point in his third game. … Ovechkin, Capitals D Dmitry Orlov and John Carlson and Hischier played all 82 games this season.UP NEXTDevils: Open at the Bruins or Lightning in their first playoff appearance since 2012.Capitals: Host the Blue Jackets to start the first round.— ST. LOUIS (AP) Jaden Schwartz and the St. Louis Blues waited most of the season for some late-game magic.They finally found it.Schwartz scored his second goal of the game 30 seconds into overtime to give St. Louis a 2-1 victory over the Boston Bruins on Wednesday night.It was the Blues’ third successive come-from-behind win in overtime. They beat Chicago 5-4 on Sunday after a 4-3 extra period win over the New York Rangers a day earlier.Going into Saturday’s game, St. Louis had a 2-23-1 record when trailing after the second period.”We knew we had it in us,” coach Mike Yeo said. ”Obviously, we’re finding it at the right time.”The Blues won for the fifth time in six games to move within two points of the final Western Conference wild-card spot.Jake Allen made 21 saves to improve to 24-21-2.Ryan Donato scored for Boston. The Bruins clinched a playoff spot and moved within four points of Tampa Bay for the Eastern lead.Schwartz scored his third game-winning goal of the season with a nifty coast-to-coast march in the extra period. He took a drop pass from Colton Parayko and skated behind his own net to gain momentum.Schwartz weaved through a pair of defenders and drilled a hard shot from the slot past goalie Anton Khudobin, who made 18 saves.”I had some space and I just tried to pick up some speed Chad Johnson Jersey Womens ,” Schwartz said. ”I wanted to see what was going to develop. I got a little one-on-one and just tried to change the angle.”Schwartz, who got his 15th career game-winner, missed 20 games earlier in the season with a broken ankle.”He’s a heck of a player, he’s fun to watch,” St. Louis defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said. ”He’s been so good for us this year in all aspects of the game.”Schwartz is having the time of his life during the Blues’ recent come-from-behind win streak.”We’re back to believing in ourselves,” Schwartz said. ”We’re doing a good job of playing the full 60 minutes and not giving up. We’re not panicking.”Schwartz tied it midway through the third period with a wrist shot from the top of the circle.Donato scored his second goal in his second NHL game. He had a goal and two assists in a 5-4 loss to Columbus on Monday night.Donato, still a student at Harvard University, returned to Massachusetts on Tuesday to attend class before flying back to St. Louis to rejoin the Bruins. His father, Ted, played 528 games in two stints with the Bruins (1992-99, 2003-04).Donato Brian Flynn Jersey Womens , who played for the U.S. Olympic team last month, drilled a shot past Allen in the first period. Pietrangelo’s clearing attempt hit referee Brad Watson and the puck bounced right to Donato.”That’s the goal, getting that playoff point is huge for us and being able to clinch that spot,” Donato said. ”But obviously we would have been a lot happier if we got the win as well.”Boston, which has a game in hand on Tampa Bay, joined Nashville and Tampa Bay as only teams to have clinched playoff spots.”Going into the season, we wanted to make the playoffs, be a Stanley Cup contender,” Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said. ”Going forward, we want to be in the best position possible, playing the best hockey going in.”SHORT-HANDEDBoston was without seven key players:- C Patrice Bergeron (fractured left foot) Carolina Hurricanes T-Shirts Womens , D Charlie McAvoy (left knee), D Zdeno Chara (upper body), LW Jake DeBrusk (upper body), RW David Backes (right leg laceration), D Torey Krug (upper body) and LW Rick Nash (upper body). They have combined for 101 goals and 161 assists.NOTES: St. Louis RW Vladimir Tarasenko missed his second successive game after taking an elbow to the face against the New York Rangers on Saturday. … The Bruins have least one point in 12 of their last 15 games against St. Louis. … Only three Boston players – RW David Pastrnak, C Tim Schaller and C Sean Kuraly – have played in every game this season.UP NEXTBruins: At Dallas on Friday night in the second game of a four-game trip.Blues: Host Vancouver on Friday night.