Evander Kane is willing the Sharks into the playoffs, the New York Rangers have a new franchise defenceman and Jason Zucker’s career year continues.

Plus the Lightning could have a tough time against the Devils if they meet in the playoffs.

Here are four things we learned in the NHL.

Evander Kane burns Flames again

Evander Kane has been on fire since being traded to San Jose, and is actually proving to be one of the better acquisitions before the deadline.

But his success has mostly come against the Calgary Flames. In fact, six of his seven goals as a Shark have come against the Flames, including two in San Jose’s 5-1 win over Calgary Saturday.

Kane’s play has elevated the play of his teammates too. The Sharks have now won seven in a row and have a 10-2 record since the trade. They’ve also scored at least five goals in seven of those 12 games.

The Sharks have a nice cushion in the Pacific Division and should make the playoffs. If they do get in, the acquisition of Evander Kane will be a big reason why.

Neal Pionk is the next Brian Leetch

You’ve probably never heard of Neal Pionk but he’s making a big impact with the New York Rangers.

The 22-year-old defenceman scored his first career goal on Saturday. But more remarkably, the goal extended his point streak to seven games.

His seven game point streak tied a record for Rangers rookie defencemen. Hall-of-Famer Brian Leetch also had a seven game point streak as a rookie in 1988-89.

Pionk is just one of many young players seizing an NHL opportunity with the Rangers after they sold the farm at the trade deadline. Never drafted, Pionk played two years with the University of Minnesota-Duluth of the NCAA before signing a two-year, entry-level deal last summer with the Rangers.

He spent most of this season with the AHL’s Hartford Wolfpack, where he picked up one goal and 17 points in 48 games. But after getting called up to the NHL in early February, Pionk has been on fire offensively. In 21 NHL games, he now has a goal and 12 assists.

There hasn’t been much hope for hockey fans in Manhattan this season. But the emergence of Pionk as an offensive defencemen should gives fans something to look forward too.

Pionk with his first puck to go along with the #NYR Broadway Hat! pic.twitter.com/Qjly9KKkOb — New York Rangers (@NYRangers) March 25, 2018

The Devils take down Tampa

The Tampa Bay Lightning have been a Cup favourite basically the entire season, and still are. But if they have to face the New Jersey Devils in the first round, their playoff run might be a lot shorter than planned.

The Devils beat the Lightning 2-1 on Saturday to complete the season series sweep 3-0-0. New Jersey currently holds the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference and would meet Tampa Bay in the first round if the playoff started today.

The key to the Devils success against Tampa has been 18-year-old Nico Hischier. Hischier picked up another goal on Saturday and finished the season series with two goals and two assists.

A more obscure stat from the sweep comes in net. The Devils used three different goalies to beat the Lightning this season, with Cory Schneider, Eddie Lack and Keith Kinkaid all picking up wins against the league’s best team. The assumption is that Schneider would start any playoff games, but Kinkaid just beat the Penguins and Lightning on back-to-back nights and could get a look too.

Whatever happens, we have to assume the Lightning are praying they won’t have to face the Devils in April.

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Jason Zucker‘s career year continues

Ever since he broke into the NHL in 2011, Jason Zucker has always been more of a defensive-minded forward than top-line scorer. But this season, he’s broken out in a big way offensively and on Saturday he picked up his 30th goal of the season.

Zucker also picked up an assist on Saturday and now has 30 goals and 29 assists on the year. Depth of scoring has been a problem for the Wild this season but the emergence of Zucker, along with the rebirth of Eric Staal and the continued growth of Mikael Granlund has provided the team with clutch goals all year.

The 4-1 win over the Predators Saturday also was an important milestone for head coach Bruce Boudreau. He collected his 500th win as a coach and is the second fastest coach to reach the feat after Scotty Bowman.

The Wild are still in a battle with the Colorado Avalanche and St. Louis Blues, two teams that also won Saturday, for the third spot in the Central Division. The Avalanche and Blues currently hold the wild card spots in the west, but a lot can change in the final two weeks of the season.