PHILADELPHIA — Michael McLeod, Kyle Palmieri, Yegor Sharangovich and Travis Zajac scored and the New Jersey Devils beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 on Tuesday night.

The top four teams in the East Division make the playoffs and the Flyers entered a pivotal stretch just two points behind Boston for the final spot. Starting with the Devils, the Flyers played five straight games against teams behind them in the standings. Trying to make a push at jumping back into the playoff race, the Flyers pinned yet another loss on shaky defense and goalie Carter Hart.

The Flyers dropped their third straight.

Joel Farabee scored his 14th goal of the season. Sean Couturier added two goals late in the third to make it 4-3. The Flyers pulled Hart in the final minute and made a mad rush a tie game but could not force OT.

McLeod, a fourth-liner, backhanded in his fourth goal of the year for the 1-0 lead. Farabee, one of the lone bright spots in a breakout year for the Flyers, curled a rebound just inside the pipe to make it 1-all.

Then the wheels came off for the Flyers, who heard a chorus of 3,100 boos.

The Flyers had a lazy possession with the puck and defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere failed to clear it out of the zone, allowing Palmieri to pounce with 5.6 seconds left in the period.

Sharangovich scored his seventh goal of the season in the second when Flyers defenseman Phil Myers committed a turnover and the Devils seemed poised to break this one open.

Zajac caught the Flyers’ defense napping again in the final minute and banked in his fourth goal of the season with 23.4 seconds left  to seal the win.

The 22-year-old Hart dropped to 8-8-3 this season and has played nothing like the goalie who last season became the second-youngest goaltender in NHL history to record back-to-back shutouts in the playoffs. The Flyers are 4-8-1 in March – and Hart is 2-5.

PREDATORS 2, RED WINGS 0: Juuse Saros made 31 saves for his first shutout of the season and Nashville beat visiting Detroit.

Mikael Granlund and Mathieu Olivier scored for Nashville, which has won 4 of 5.

Detroit has lost two straight.

BLACKHAWKS 3, PANTHERS 2: Kevin Lankinen made 33 saves, Patrick Kane had two assists and host Chicago stopped a four-game slide.

Dominik Kubalik, Pius Suter and Carl Soderberg scored for Chicago in the opener of a six-game homestand. It was the Blackhawks’ first victory against the Panthers in five games this season.

Anton Stralman and Alex Wennberg scored for the Panthers, who lost for the third time in four games. Chris Driedger made 29 stops.

NOTES

SABRES: Goalie Carter Hutton has been sent home for further testing on a lower-body injury, leaving the slumping team with no experienced presence in net during a season that’s gone from bad to worse for Buffalo.

Interim coach Don Granato said Dustin Tokarski will make his first NHL start in more than five years Wednesday, when Buffalo opens a two-game series at the Pittsburgh Penguins. Minor-league journeyman Michael Houser, who was only signed on Friday, will serve as the backup.

Buffalo is 0-12-2 in its past 14 to match the longest streak in franchise history set midway through the 2014-15 season, when the Sabres went 0-14. The 14-game skids represent the longest in the NHL since the Phoenix Coyotes went 0-8-4 with three ties from Feb. 21 to March 21, 2004.

Hutton’s absence is the most concerning after he was hurt in the opening minutes of a 5-3 loss at the New York Rangers on Monday night. Hutton made two saves before he was injured when New York’s Julien Gauthier slid hard into him while being pushed by Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen. Hutton needed assistance walking once he left the ice.

Buffalo is already minus starting goalie Linus Ullmark, who missed his 13th game since sustaining a lower body injury. Ullmark practiced with the team Tuesday for the first time since being injured, but there is no clear timetable for his return.

SHARKS: The National Hockey League fined San Jose Sharks forward Kurtis Gabriel and Coach Bob Boughner after a pregame altercation with the Los Angeles Kings.

Gabriel was fined about $3,000 and Boughner docked $5,000. The Sharks were also assessed a conditional fine of $25,000, which will be collected if there is any similar inappropriate behavior in the next year.

Gabriel cross-checked Los Angeles defenseman Kurtis MacDermid in the back near center ice during pregame warmups. The two then fought in the first period.

DRAFT LOTTERY: The NHL is instituting changes to the draft lottery that make it more difficult for the last-place team to drop out of the top three in the selection order.

Beginning with the 2021 draft, only the first two picks will be subject to the lottery instead of the top three, and no team can move up more than 10 picks. Starting in 2022, no team will be able to win the draft lottery – for either of the first two spots – more than twice in a five-year span.

Those changes were approved by the league’s Board of Governors. Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said earlier this month general managers were recently asked to review draft lottery policies with a vote pending among owners.

The tweaks were made after the Detroit Red Wings fell to the fourth pick in the 2020 draft despite finishing 23 points behind the 30th-place team.

Daly said “it’s more likely than not” the 2021 draft goes ahead as scheduled July 23-24, despite questions from teams about moving it back with many eligible prospects not playing this season.

COVID-19: The NHL announced that the Montreal Canadiens have had their games through Sunday postponed.

The league made the announcement a day after the Canadiens’ game against the visiting Edmonton Oilers was postponed following the addition of Montreal forwards Joel Armia and Jesperi Kotkaniemi to the NHL’s COVID protocol list.

The NHL said the decision was made by the medical groups from the league, the NHL Players’ Association and the Canadiens.

The league said it’s expected that the Canadiens will be able to reopen their facilities for practice on Monday pending COVID-19 test results over the next few days.

Montreal and Edmonton were scheduled to meet again Wednesday and Friday at the Bell Centre. The decision also affects a home game Sunday against Ottawa.

The Canadiens canceled practice Tuesday but the Oilers were back on the ice Wednesday at the Bell Centre.

There was no immediate word on makeup dates for the games, the first North Division matchups to be postponed this season due to COVID protocol.

There have been 41 games postponed this season because of COVID protocol. The truncated 56-game campaign began Jan. 13.