Penguins 5, Thrashers 2
Defenseman Ben Lovejoy set up three of Pittsburgh's four second-period goals as the Penguins skated to a 5-2 road victory over the Atlanta Thrashers on Sunday in the regular-season finale for both teams.
Tyler Kennedy, Pascal Dupuis, Michael Rupp and rookie Mark Letestu tallied in the second period for Pittsburgh (49-25-8), which entered the contest locked into the fourth seed for the playoffs after the Philadelphia Flyers clinched the Atlantic Division title on Saturday night.
Winners of eight of their last 10 games, the Penguins will face the fifth-seeded Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals later this week.
With no room for movement in the standings, the Penguins elected to sit stud goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury while also giving Jordan Staal and James Neal the day off to nurse some nagging injuries.
Mike Comrie added an empty-net goal in the third period and Brent Johnson turned aside 37 shots to improve to 13-5-3 on the season.
Captain Andrew Ladd and Tim Stapleton netted power-play goals and Chris Mason finished with 15 saves for Atlanta (34-36-12), which ended its season by losing four of its last five contests.