MONTREAL 6, TORONTO 2
TORONTO Jaroslav Halak made 34 saves, and Alex Kovalev had a goal and three assists in the Montreal Canadiens 6-2 victory over Toronto.
After dropping a 5-2 decision to Toronto two weeks ago in Montreal, the Canadiens have gone 5-0-1 to move five points clear of ninth-place Florida in the race for one of the eight Eastern Conference playoff spots.
Guillaume Latendresse, Alex Tanguay, Chris Higgins, Maxim Lapierre and Josh Gorges also scored for Montreal. John Mitchell and Boyd Devereaux scored for Toronto.
Halak wasnt tested often in earning his 18th victory of the season, although he made a nice save on Mikhail Grabovski in the second period. The Slovak goalie was backed up by AHL callup Marc Denis with Carey Price sidelined by the flu.
Kovalev opened the scoring at 6:11 of the first period with a beautiful wrist shot that found a narrow gap above Martin Gerbers shoulder. Latendresse then converted from in-close just over two minutes later and the Habs were off and running.
The large group of Montreal fans in attendance at Air Canada Centre responded in kind, sending up chants of Lets go Habs! Lets go Habs!
They were given even more reason to cheer late in the period as Georges Laraques ran over defenseman Jay Harrison before getting in a good punch or two when the pair squared off.
Latendresse had a chance to extend Montreals lead when he was awarded a penalty shot early in the second period, but Gerber got his body in front of the shot. It was the second straight game a Habs player failed to convert a penalty shot – Tom Kostopoulos was turned away on Long Island on Thursday night.
It mattered little as Tanguay converted a great pass from captain Saku Koivu at 7:29 to make it 3-0. Kovalev also earned an assist on the goal as all three members of the red-hot line continued to pile up points.
Gerber was furious after Higgins made it 4-0 at 8:59. The goalie had been sparring with Tomas Plekanec moments before getting beaten with a wrist shot.
Toronto ended Halaks shutout bid 2:11 into the third period when Mitchell tipped home a shot, but any comeback hopes didnt last long. Lapierre and Gorges scored power-play goals less than three minutes apart to ice the win.
EDMONTON 5, VANCOUVER 3
EDMONTON, Alberta Sam Gagner had a goal and two assists, and the Edmonton Oilers kept their slim playoff hopes alive with a 5-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks.
Ales Kotalik, Denis Grebeshkov, Ales Hemsky and Sheldon Souray also scored to help the Oilers snap a three-game losing streak. Edmonton is three points behind St. Louis and Nashville in the race for the final Western Conference playoff spot.
Mason Raymond, Kyle Wellwood and Alex Burrows scored for Vancouver. The Canucks missed an chance to move two points ahead of Calgary for the Northwest Division lead.
OTTAWA 4, PHILADELPHIA 3 (SO)
OTTAWA Mike Fisher scored on Ottawas fifth shootout attempt to give the Senators a 4-3 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers.
Fisher beat Antero Niittymaki after Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson also converted the Senators second attempt.
Alex Auld turned aside Mike Richards, Simon Gagne, Jeff Carter and Claude Giroux after Daniel Briere was awarded a goal on Philadelphias first attempt, though only following a lengthy review that determined his shot crossed the goal line.
Niittymaki stopped 34 shots for Philadelphia, which won 8-5 in Toronto on Friday night after losing three of four.
BOSTON 1, NY RANGERS 0
BOSTON Tim Thomas celebrated his new four-year contract with a 1-0 win over the New York Rangers that clinched the best record in the Eastern Conference for the Boston Bruins.
He also got into a brief tussle with Sean Avery after the Rangers wing tapped the back of Thomas head with his stick during a stoppage in play with 5:24 left as the goalie knelt in front of the crease. Both received two-minute penalties.
The teams met in a potential first-round playoff preview. The Rangers hold the eighth and final postseason spot in the East with three games left. Florida was idle Saturday and trails them by two points with four games left.
Rookie Blake Wheeler scored his 21st goal at 9:04 of the first period.
That was all Thomas needed to post his fifth shutout of the season one day after the Bruins announced a contract extension for the NHLs leader in goals-against average.
The victory extended Bostons winning streak to six games and left them with 112 points, 10 more than second-place Washington, which was idle. It also gave them a 51-17-10 record, matching the fourth-most wins in team history, last achieved in 1992-93.
The Bruins captured the conference for the first time since 2001-02, when they lost to Montreal in the first round.
Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist also played an outstanding game, but Wheelers goal was enough to beat New York, which fell to 1-3-1 in its last five games. Defenseman Dennis Wideman passed the puck from the right corner to Wheeler, who connected on a slap shot from 10 feet above the right circle.
NEW JERSEY 3, BUFFALO 2
BUFFALO, New York Martin Brodeur stopped 35 shotsincluding 21 in the third period aloneto turn back the Buffalo Sabres furious rally and secure the New Jersey Devils 3-2 victory.
Jamie Langenbrunner had a goal and assist, putting the Devils on the verge of clinching their fifth Atlantic Division title this decade. New Jersey enters the final week of the season a point or a Philadelphia loss away from winning the division.
Zach Parise and David Clarkson also scored in helping the Devils snap a six-game road skid (0-5-1).
Jochen Hecht and Clarke MacArthur scored for the Sabres, who had a 4-0-1 skid snapped and squandered a great opportunity to put themselves firmly in the hunt for the Eastern Conferences eighth and final playoff berth.
CAROLINA 3, PITTSBURGH 2 (OT)
RALEIGH, North Carolina Anton Babchuk scored at 1:11 of overtime and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 to clinch their first playoff berth since 2006.
Cam Ward stopped 33 shots and matched a club record with his 38th victory of the season, helping the Hurricanes extend their franchise-record home winning streak to 11.
Their eight-game overall winning streak is their longest since they won nine in a row during 2005-06when they made their most recent playoff appearance and went on to win the Stanley Cup.
Chad LaRose and Eric Staal both scored for the second straight game, and Ray Whitney added two assists for Carolina.
NY ISLANDERS 3, TAMPA BAY 1
UNIONDALE, New York Yann Danis made 29 saves, and the New York Islanders snapped a three-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Richard Park, Radek Martinek and Josh Bailey scored for the Islanders, who took three of four meetings this season against Tampa Bay. Jesse Joensuu and Bruno Gervais each had a pair of assists.
Matt Pettinger had the only goal for the Lightning, losers of six straight (0-4-2).
Mike McKenna made 18 saves for Tampa Bay.
NASHVILLE 5, COLUMBUS 4 (SO)
NASHVILLE, Tennessee Ville Koistinen scored the only shootout goal to give the Nashville Predators a 5-4 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Jason Arnott, back in the Predators lineup after an 11-game absence because of a concussion, had two goals and an assist to help Nashville match Anaheim and St. Louis with 86 points in the Western Conference playoff chase. The Blue Jackets are sixth, three points ahead of Nashville, Anaheim and St. Louis.
Shea Weber and Radek Bonk also scored for Nashville.
Rick Nash scored twice, and Jiri Novotny and Jason Williams added goals for Columbus.
DALLAS 5, ST. LOUIS 4 (OT)
DALLAS Defenseman Trevor Daley scored 16 seconds into overtime to give the Dallas Stars a 5-4 victory over the St. Louis Blues.
Daley skated up the right side, took Mike Modanos centering pass and beat Blues goalie Chris Mason.
Despite the victory, the Stars were eliminated from playoff contention. St. Louis has 86 points, six more than Dallas. Both teams have three games left, and St. Louis holds the tiebreaker over Dallas by taking three of four games between the teams this season.
Loui Eriksson had two goals for the injury-depleted Stars in their final home game of the season. Mike Ribeiro and Steve Ott also scored for Dallas, 2-6-2 in its last 10.
Brad Boyes had two goals and two assists for the Blues, 6-1-1 intheir last eight in a surprising climb into the conferences top eight. Rookie T.J. Oshie added a power-play goal, and David Backes also scored.
ANAHEIM 5, SAN JOSE 2
SAN JOSE, California Ryan Getzlaf set up four goals, and the Anaheim Ducks stayed in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race with a 5-2 victory over the NHL-leading San Jose Sharks.
Bobby Ryan scored two goalsincluding his 30thin the resurgent Ducks 10th win in 12 games, keeping them in seventh place in the conference standings. Jonas Hiller made 28 saves for Anaheim, which has won four straight while scoring 20 goals and capping the run with a convincing victory in the NHLs toughest road arena.
Joe Thornton and Milan Michalek scored for the Sharks, whose lead over Boston for the leagues best record stands at one point with four games to play.
LOS ANGELES 6, PHOENIX 1
LOS ANGELES Brian Boyle and Alexander Frolov each had two goals, Justin Williams added a goal and two assists, and Jonathan Quick made 28 saves in the Los Angeles Kings 6-1 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes.
Anze Kopitar had a goal and two assists, and Drew Doughty added two assists to help the Kings snap a three-game losing streak with their second victory in their last eight games (2-5-1). Shane Doan scored for Phoenix, which has won three in a row.
Williams earned his first points in eight games since being acquired by Los Angeles in a three-way deal with Edmonton and Carolina on March 4.
Rookie goalie Al Montoya made his third consecutive start for the Coyotes and suffered his first NHL loss. He shut out Colorado 3-0 on Wednesday night and beat the Kings 2-1 in Arizona on Thursday night before yielding a half-dozen goals Saturday.
