Flyers clinch playoff berth

By The Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA (AP) " Jeff Carter scored the go-ahead goal at 7:32 of the third period, helping the Philadelphia Flyers clinch a playoff berth with a 2-1 win over the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night.

Carter moved ahead of New Jersey's Zach Parise for second place in the NHL scoring race with his 45th goal. His shot from the side of the crease dribbled past Florida goaltender Tomas Vokoun, who appeared to lose his balance.

Joffrey Lupul also scored for the Flyers, whose 97th point and 43rd victory surpassed their 2007-08 totals (95 and 42).

Brett McLean scored for the Panthers, who dropped two points behind the New York Rangers for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Hurricanes 9, Islanders 0

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) " Eric Staal had three goals and an assist and Carolina matched a club record with their ninth straight win by giving the Islanders the worst beating in franchise history.

Cam Ward made 12 saves, and his franchise-record 39th victory of the season was his sixth shutout of the year and 12th of his career.

Erik Cole assisted on all three of Staal's goals and finished with four assists. Tuomo Ruutu scored twice and Scott Walker, Dwight Helminen, Rod Brind'Amour and Frantisek Kaberle also scored for the Hurricanes. They led 3-0 after one period and 6-0 after two, held a 57-12 shots advantage and extended their franchise-record home-ice winning streak to 12.

Canucks 4, Flames 1

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) " Roberto Luongo made 21 of his 46 saves in the first period, defenseman Mattias Ohlund scored twice, and Vancouver moved into a tie with Calgary atop the Northwest Division.

Flames captain Jarome Iginla tied the game 1-all with 5:16 left in the second period, finally beating Luongo on the 33rd shot. But Ohlund restored the lead 22 seconds later with a shot off a Calgary defenseman " his first goal in 26 games " and added an insurance goal on the power play with 5:09 left.

Miikka Kiprusoff made 21 saves for the Flames, who moved ahead of Vancouver with a win over Los Angeles on Monday, and could have clinched the division with a victory.

Penguins 6, Lightning 4

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) " Sidney Crosby scored twice in a 1-minute, 4-second span midway through the second period to help Pittsburgh clinch a playoff berth.

Crosby (101) joined teammate Evgeni Malkin (NHL-leading 110), who had two assists, in reaching the 100-point mark this season. It is the first time two Pittsburgh players have reached 100 points during the same season since Mario Lemieux (161) and Jaromir Jagr (149) in the 1995-96 season.

Ruslan Fedotenko, Matt Cooke, Petr Sykora and Jordan Staal also scored for the Penguins, who are 16-3-4 under interim coach Dan Bylsma. They are sixth in the Eastern Conference.

Jeff Halpern scored twice, and Martin St. Louis and Paul Szczechura also had third-period goals as Tampa Bay nearly erased a four-goal deficit.

Rangers 3, Canadiens 1

NEW YORK (AP) " Chris Drury scored a pair of goals and the Rangers took advantage of Montreal's careless defense and suspect goaltending to improve their chances of making the playoffs.

The Rangers (41-30-9), eighth in the Eastern Conference, moved within one point of seventh-place Montreal and two in front of Florida. All three teams have two games remaining.

Nik Antropov shook off a knee injury to get into the lineup and scored with a dive against goalie Carey Price, who played for the first time in four games following a bout with the flu and made 41 saves.

Canadiens defenseman Mathieu Dandenault scored.

Maple Leafs 4, Devils 1

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) " The son of one of the notorious Hanson brothers from the movie "Slap Shot" scored his first NHL goal, and Martin Gerber played a spectacular game with 47 saves as Toronto beat the suddenly inconsistent Devils.

Christian Hanson, the son of former hockey player turned actor Dave Hanson, capped a stunning three-goal first period as the Maple Leafs prevented New Jersey " at least momentarily " from wrapping up its eighth Atlantic Division title, and third in four years.

Mikhail Grabovski, Jeff Hamilton and John Mitchell also scored for Toronto, which won for only the second time in six games. Gerber had given up 12 goals in his last two starts and the Maple Leafs' allowed 14 in the same span.

Jamie Langenbrunner scored for New Jersey, which lost for the seventh time in nine games.

Senators 3, Bruins 2

OTTAWA (AP) " Dany Heatley scored his 38th goal on a power play in the second period and the Ottawa Senators set a franchise record with their ninth straight home win.

Heatley drove a one-timer past Manny Fernandez from the right side 13:57 into the second to restore Ottawa's two-goal lead at 3-1.

Christoph Schubert and Mike Fisher also scored for Ottawa, which beat Boston for the first time this season to avoid being swept in the season series.

Phil Kessel and Zdeno Chara scored for the Bruins, who had their six-game winning streak snapped. Marc Savard set up both Boston goals for his 59th and 60th assists.

Wild 3, Stars 1

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) " Marian Gaborik kept up his remarkable scoring rate with a goal and two assists, and the Minnesota Wild avoided elimination from the playoff chase for at least three more days.

Eric Belanger and Owen Nolan each scored on the power play in the second period off rebounds of shots by Gaborik, who has eight goals and five assists in nine games since returning from hip surgery. Injuries have limited him to 15 games all season, but he has 11 goals and seven assists and has scored in five straight games.

Niklas Backstrom, making his team-record 19th straight start in goal for the Wild, made 27 saves. The Stars peppered him in the first period and finally scored with 12:34 left in the third on Fabian Brunnstrom's 2-on-1 goal.

Kings 2, Oilers 1

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) " Wayne Simmonds had a goal and an assist, and Los Angeles removed the Oilers from the playoff picture.

Alexander Frolov also scored for the Kings, already eliminated from contention.

Fernando Pisani responded for the Oilers, who are five p ints out of eighth place in the Western Conference and have just two games left.

Blues 5, Coyotes 1

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) " B.J. Crombeen scored twice, Chris Mason made 28 saves and St. Louis inched closer to the playoffs.

The Blues, who have not made the playoffs since 2004, won for the seventh time in nine games to move two points ahead of Nashville for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Keith Tkachuk had a goal and an assist and Brad Winchester also scored for St. Louis, which completed its first-ever season sweep against the Coyotes/Winnipeg Jets franchise.

St. Louis scored four straight goals after falling behind 1-0 on Scottie Upshall's goal 6:14 into the game.

Capitals 4, Thrashers 2

ATLANTA (AP) " Tomas Fleischmann had a goal and an assist and the Capitals strengthened their hold on second place in the Eastern Conference.

Washington scored three first-period goals and led 3-2 midway through the third period when Sergei Fedorov jammed in a rebound after Atlanta goaltender Ondrej Pavelec stopped a shot by Alex Ovechkin.

Viktor Kozlov and Alexander Semin also scored for Washington.

Simeon Varlamov stopped 29 shots in only his fifth start of the season for Washington, which moved four points ahead of New Jersey in the conference.

Blackhawks 4, Predators 2

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) " Martin Havlat scored an empty-net goal and added an assist as the Blackhawks damaged Nashville's playoff hopes. The Predators fell two points behind St. Louis for the final spot in the West. The Blackhawks already are in.

Jonathan Toews, Dustin Byfuglien and Patrick Kane also scored for the Blackhawks in their fourth straight win.

Sharks 1, Avalanche 0, SO

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) " Evgeni Nabokov made 20 saves in his seventh shutout and then stopped all three Colorado attempts in the shootout, carrying the Sharks two points closer to the Presidents' Trophy.

Joe Pavelski scored the only goal during the first round of the shootout for the Sharks, who moved five points ahead of Boston for the NHL's best record. San Jose also clinched a share of its first Western Conference championship by taking a six-point lead over Detroit, although the Red Wings still have a shot at home-ice advantage.

Peter Budaj stopped 30 shots in his second shutout for the Avalanche, missing only Pavelski's low shot to his stick side. The Avalanche have lost nine of 10, but only Nabokov prevented last-place Colorado from knocking off the uninspired Sharks.