UNIONDALE, N.Y. — Most of the late-season NHL drama was gone before the curtain closed Sunday on the regular season.
That didn’t make it any less special for the 16 teams that still have a whole lot more left on the line once the postseason kicks off Wednesday night.
All the playoff matchups in the Eastern Conference were locked into place after a busy Saturday. The only mystery that remained there Sunday — with four games on the league schedule — was which club would own home-ice advantage in the Battle of Pennsylvania between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers.
The Penguins, the defending East champions, could only watch as the Flyers wrapped up the season at home. But Pittsburgh got some good news when the New York Rangers rallied in the third period for a 4-3 win. So, the Penguins earned the No. 4 seed and will start the series against the Flyers at home.
Philadelphia needed to get only one point in the finale to claim the fourth seed and have at least that edge against the Penguins, who knocked the Flyers out in the conference finals last year, but failed.
The Rangers had nothing on the line as they already knew they were seeded No. 7 and would face the upstart Washington Capitals in the first round.
Boston (53-19-10), the No. 1 seed in the East, finished its season on the road with a solid 6-2 win against the New York Islanders (26-47-9), who had already clinched the NHL’s worst record.
While the Bruins tuned up for the playoffs with a victory, the Islanders played out the string. New York will find out in the draft lottery on Tuesday night whether it will own the first or second pick in the June draft.
“We were out of the playoffs in January, but we got better,” Islanders coach Scott Gordon said. “They didn’t just let the second half pass by. They went out and tried and got better.”
The Bruins will face the Montreal Canadiens in the first round, the 32nd postseason meeting between the Original Six clubs. Boston and Montreal also squared off last year in the first round in a 1 vs. 8 matchup, with the Canadiens winning in seven games, but the seedings were reversed from this season’s finish.
Out West, there were still some playoff matchups to be settled — and postseason newcomer St. Louis held all the cards. After three seasons out of the playoffs, following 25 consecutive appearances, the Blues jumped up into sixth place with a 1-0 win Sunday over Colorado (32-45-5), the last place team in the West.
That gave them the right to play the Vancouver Canucks, who were seeded third after winning the Northwest Division. A loss would have left St. Louis in eighth place and in a matchup with the top-seeded San Jose Sharks.
Detroit will take on first-time playoff contender Columbus in the first round.
San Jose (53-18-11) clinched the NHL’s best record for the first time in club history, despite a loss at Los Angeles on Saturday.
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