The Nashville Predators were forced to wait until the 82nd game of the NHL regular season to secure back-to-back Central Division titles.

The Predators emerged victorious in a heated three-way race for the Central crown by knocking off the Chicago Blackhawks on the final day of the regular season.

Nashville joins the Calgary Flames, Tampa Bay Lightning and Washington Capitals as the division winners with at least two rounds of home-ice advantage in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Over in the Eastern Conference, Sidney Crosby picked up his 100th point on an important goal that kept the Pittsburgh Penguins from dropping into one of the two wild-card positions.

The 16 teams who qualified for the postseason have a few days off before the playoffs begin Wednesday.

Saturday's NHL Scores

Tampa Bay 6, Boston 3

St. Louis 3, Vancouver 2

Montreal 6, Toronto 5 (Final/Shootout)

Columbus 6, Ottawa 2

Buffalo 7, Detroit 1

New Jersey 4, Florida 3 (Final/OT)

Carolina 4, Philadelphia 3

New York Rangers 4, Pittsburgh 3

New York Islanders 3, Washington 0

Nashville 5, Chicago 2

Dallas 3, Minnesota 0

Winnipeg 4, Arizona 2

Edmonton 3, Calgary 1

Los Angeles 5, Vegas 2

San Jose 5, Colorado 2

Crosby and Guentzel Hit Milestones on Game-Tying Goal 

Draisaitl's 50th Goal

Poehling's 1st-Career Hat Trick

Kucherov Glides Through Traffic

Pearson Goes End to End 

Dubois Scores from Short Side

Filppula's Filthy Work in Front of Goal

Zacha's Tremendous Stick Work 

Nilsson's Goal-Line Denial 

Arvidsson Gets Air After Goal

Predators Clinch Central Division Title

The Predators entered their game against Chicago down a point in the race for the Central Division crown.

Nashville jumped back over the St. Louis Blues into first place by scoring five unanswered goals at Bridgestone Arena.

Viktor Arvidsson's power-play goal at the start of the third period secured the victory for Nashville, who will host the Dallas Stars in the first round of the postseason.

Arvidsson admitted that the pressure put on the team by St. Louis' win made Saturday's game fun for the fans and players, per Paul Skrbina of The Tennessean.

"That's how it's supposed to be," Arvidsson said. "It's fun for the fans. It makes it way more interesting, more pressure on players. That's why you play, to play these games that matter."

Arvidsson's goal also handed him the franchise's single-season goals record.

Filip Forsberg effusively praised Arvidsson, per Brooks Bratten of the team's official website: "It's awesome. I'm so happy for him. It's going to be a race going forward in the coming years between the two of us, but I'm so excited for him. I don't know how many games he played, but just doing it in that few games is unbelievable, and I'm excited going forward for that."

Nashville's first postseason test comes in the form of the top wild-card team Dallas, whom the Predators beat on three occasions during the regular season.

Saturday's victory also locked up home-ice advantage of the first two rounds of the playoffs for the Predators, who would face St. Louis or the Winnipeg Jets if they advance through the opening round.

Crosby Records 100th Point

In the process of sending Saturday's game against the New York Rangers to overtime, Crosby recorded his 100th point.

Crosby picked up an assist on Jake Guentzel's 40th goal of the campaign to level the contest at three goals apiece late in the third period.

Unfortunately for the Penguins, they dropped the game in overtime and barely held on to the No. 3 seed in the Metropolitan Division.

Crosby has now hit the 100-point milestone six times in his career, and the only other Pittsburgh player to record more of those seasons is Mario Lemieux:

After the loss, Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said Crosby and Guentzel are two of the most consistent players on the team, per the franchise's official insider Twitter account:

By sending the game to overtime, the Penguins earned their 100th point and kept a one-point lead over Carolina to maintain third place in the Metropolitan Division.

Pittsburgh will open its playoff run on the road against the New York Islanders, and if it wins in the first round, the rival Washington Capitals await in the second round.

Playoff Series

Tampa Bay vs. Columbus

Boston vs. Toronto

Washington vs. Carolina

New York Islanders vs. Pittsburgh

Calgary vs. Colorado

San Jose vs. Vegas

Nashville vs. Dallas

Winnipeg vs. St. Louis

Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.