Gameday 95 (Tue, 23 Apr) - Results

Montreal v New Jersey 2-3 - There's something about the Montreal Canadiens that usually brings out the best in New Jersey Devils goalie Martin Brodeur. Brodeur, who entered Tuesday's game against the Canadiens with 43 wins and nine shutouts in 67 career games, added to those impressive totals behind a 19-save performance to help lead the Devils to a 3-2 victory at Prudential Center. It was Brodeur's third win in the past four starts overall. Steve Sullivan had a goal and one assist on the way to being named the game's first star as the Devils built an early 3-0 lead before the suddenly struggling Canadiens began mounting a comeback that was ultimately thwarted by Brodeur in the end. It's the fifth loss in six games for the Canadiens since they clinched a Stanley Cup Playoff berth on April 11. They've allowed 28 goals in those games. Goalie Carey Price, who will need to be Montreal's best player in the playoffs, has given up 22 of those goals. Price was pulled for an extra attacker with 56 seconds remaining in the third, but desperate Montreal could not generate a quality opportunity on Brodeur as the Devils bottled up the middle of the ice. It's certainly not the way Canadiens coach Michel Therrien envisions heading into the playoffs with just two games remaining in the regular season. It didn't help that the Canadiens also allowed two power-play goals on four New Jersey opportunities in the game. The Habs have now allowed at least one power-play goal in six straight games and are 17-for-27 over that stretch. The game was the first of three road matches to close out the regular season for the Canadiens, who still have a shot at overtaking the Boston Bruins for first place in the Northeast Division. The Bruins dropped a 5-2 decision to the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday, so both the Bruins and Canadiens have 27 wins and 59 points, the Bruins hold the lead since they have a game in hand. Brodeur, who made five saves in the third, was making his 16th straight start (5-7-4) for the Devils since returning to the lineup on March 21 in Carolina. His best save might have been 6:43 into the third when he denied David Desharnais off a rip from the left circle. The save prompted many of those 15,219 fans in attendance to an impromptu "Mar-ty, Mar-ty" chant. The Devils have two games remaining in their season, Thursday at home against the Eastern Conference-leading Pittsburgh Penguins and Saturday against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. In addition to Sullivan's second-period goal, the Devils also received first-period markers by Patrik Elias and Jacob Josefson. The Canadiens took advantage of a mixup between Brodeur and defenseman Alexander Urbom behind their own cage to pull to within 3-2 on a goal by Eller with 20.4 seconds left in the second. Urbom took a pass from Brodeur along the goal line and had his clearing attempt blocked down by Eller at the right point. Eller then dumped it right back behind the Devils cage and rookie Alex Galchenyuk battled Dainius Zubrus for the puck behind the cage before feeding a wide-open Eller in front. After spotting the Devils a 3-0 lead, the Canadiens got a break when Max Pacioretty's backhand pass through the slot ricocheted off the right skate of Devils defenseman Adam Larsson and past Brodeur 6:33 into the second. New Jersey had taken a 3-0 lead 4:36 into the middle period on a power-play goal by Sullivan, who redirected a Marek Zidlicky pass that beat Price to the stick side. Zidlicky sent the puck across the ice from the right point to Sullivan at the bottom of the left circle. The goal came just 53 seconds after the Devils were given their man advantage when Brandon Prust was whistled for goalie interference on Brodeur. The Devils grabbed a 2-0 edge when Josefson scored his first goal since March 29, 2012, just 2:24 left. Dainius Zubrus made the play possible when he took a pass behind the Montreal cage and fed Josefson at the right post. The 22-year-old Swede jammed a shot that went off Price's glove just inside the post. Elias opened the scoring with a power-play goal 13:55 into the game for the Devils. Zidlicky skated the puck the length of the ice before dishing to Travis Zajac in the neutral zone. Zajac feathered a pass to Elias down the middle of the ice and Elias sent a quick shot over the blocker of Price.

Winnipeg v Washington 3-5 - Trust in the system, in the coaching staff and in each other coupled with a bond that developed through adversity helped the Washington Capitals accomplish something Tuesday night that looked impossible one month ago. They're heading to the Stanley Cup Playoffs as the Southeast Division champions. The same team that started the season with two wins in its first 13 games and entered play on March 21 in 14th place, seven points removed from a playoff spot and nine points off the division lead, won its fifth division title in the past six years and locked up the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference by beating the Winnipeg Jets 5-3 on Tuesday at Verizon Center. Braden Holtby made 24 saves and the Capitals got goals from three of their four lines, including one each from third-liners Jason Chimera and Mathieu Perreault. Alex Ovechkin capped it with an empty-net goal, his League-leading 31st of the season, which sent the crowd of 18,506 into the streets celebrating the end of a stunning regular-season turnaround and the start of what they hope is a long playoff run. The Capitals are 14-2-1 in their past 17 games dating back to March 21, when they played the first of two in a row in Winnipeg. They won both by a combined 10-1 and haven't looked back in taking over the division lead from the Jets, who play their last game of the regular season Thursday against the Montreal Canadiens and need a lot of help to get into the playoffs. The Capitals took care of that, starting with those back-to-back wins at MTS Centre on March 21 and 22. Ovechkin combined for three goals and five points in those games, starting a stretch in which he has 10 multi-point efforts and 29 points in the past 17 games. Nicklas Backstrom, who scored off an Ovechkin pass Tuesday night, has 25 points over the same 17 games. Holtby has started 15 of them and won 12. But the Capitals' turnaround goes beyond their top guys. It goes to the play of third- and fourth-liners like Matt Hendricks, Jason Chimera and Mathieu Perreault. They all scored Tuesday, with Hendricks setting the tone 3:12 into the first period and Chimera making it 2-0 shortly before the first intermission. Both goals were scored off an aggressive forecheck, something the Capitals planned to utilize Tuesday because the Jets were coming off a game Monday in Buffalo and have several players, including Kyle Wellwood and Zach Bogosian, sidelined with injuries. Credit for the Capitals' unlikely division championship goes to the play of defenseman John Erskine, who has been a 20-minute-a-night rock this season after being nothing more than a bit player last season. He rewarded coach Adam Oates' faith in him Tuesday night when he dove through the crease to stop Bryan Little's point-blank shot toward the open net 4:12 into the game and later in the first period swatted the puck off the goal line after Aaron Gagnon's shot climbed over Holtby's shoulder and came perilously close to going in. There was early in the season, when it looked like they couldn't get out of their own way as they tried and tried to adjust to all the changes Oates was trying to make only to fail and fail and fail some more. Oates stayed positive, upbeat. He kept showing the players video clips of what they were doing right and never yelled when they did something wrong. He earned their trust and in return they became a team, the closest team Washington has had in quite some time, according to Backstrom. Evander Kane scored a power-play goal 16 seconds into the period and Blake Wheeler tied it at 2-2 with a one-timer past Holtby at 14:11. However, the Capitals built their lead back up to 4-2 before the intermission on goals by Backstrom and Perreault. Nik Antropov made sure Washington wouldn't have it easy when he scored with 8:10 left in the third period, but the Capitals answered with one of their best penalty kills of the season after Perreault was whistled for high-sticking at 14:44. The Jets didn't get a shot on goal; they barely even challenged Washington's 28th-ranked penalty kill. Washington applied relentless, aggressive pressure in the final three minutes, so much so that Jets goalie Ondrej Pavelec couldn't even get out of his net for the extra skater until 50 seconds were left. He started looking toward the bench with 1:30 remaining. Ovechkin finally sealed it with his slap shot into the empty net.

NY Islanders v Carolina 3-4 - News of the New York Islanders' return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs took a couple of minutes to spread around the locker room Tuesday at PNC Arena. The Islanders battled back to tie their game with the Carolina Hurricanes three times, only to lose 4-3 in a shootout. Until that point, many of New York’s players had been hoping for a win, coupled with the Winnipeg Jets earning one point or less in their game against the Washington Capitals. As it turned out, the Islanders' single point and the Jets’ loss also added up to a playoff berth, the first for the franchise since 2006-07. The celebrations that followed were subdued, mostly fist bumps and smiles. Indeed, the Islanders’ core is young. In fact, only defenseman Radek Martinek has appeared in an Islanders’ playoff game, dating back to 2003-04. But New York will have a playoff-tested goaltender when it reaches the first round. Evgeni Nabokov appeared in the playoffs eight times for the San Jose Sharks, so he knows what the team is facing. With two games remaining, New York could still improve on sixth place in the Eastern Conference. The Toronto Maple Leafs are one point ahead in fifth place and have three games remaining. The players haven't lost sight of that possibility. The Islanders posted the first five shots of the game, but the Hurricanes took a 1-0 lead when Nabokov misplayed a low wrist shot. Hurricanes forward Alexander Semin finished a give-and-go with Eric Staal, sending a bad-angle shot through Nabokov's pads. New York forward Brad Boyes answered quickly, tying the game when he used his skate to re-direct Mark Streit's pass from the top of the right circle past Dan Ellis. Carolina redirected a shot of its own to claim a 2-1 lead. Jay Harrison lofted a shot from the point that was headed wide, but Jordan Staal drew the puck back on net, getting a tip-in goal for his 10th of the season. Staal started the play by creating a turnover behind the Islanders’ net. The Islanders broke through in a close-checking second period to tie the game on a goal by Bailey. After Nielsen won a draw in the neutral zone, Kyle Okposo stickhandled through the Carolina defense to put a shot on goal. Bailey cleaned up the rebound for his 11th of the season. The Hurricanes took their third lead of the game late in the period. After the Islanders' Keith Aucoin overskated the puck behind his net, Tuomo Ruutu's centering pass deflected off Jordan Staal and on to the waiting stick of Patrick Dwyer, who snapped a shot past Nabokov. John Tavares scored with 1:01 remaining in regulation to tie the game at 3-3, the third time New York overcame a one-goal deficit. Riley Nash and Jeff Skinner scored in the shootout for Carolina, but the Islanders picked up the point they needed. They are 8-0-3 in their past 11 games. Just one month earlier, reaching the playoffs at all seemed unlikely. After a March 22 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, New York's third straight, the Islanders found themselves 12th in the conference with a 13-15-3 mark. Since then, they have earned points in 14 of 15 games (11-1-3). Even the coach couldn't put a finger on exactly what changed.

Buffalo v Pittsburgh 4-2 - Pittsburgh Penguins coach Dan Bylsma knew it was a long shot that Steve Ott's late goal would be overturned by video review. So, once again, the Buffalo Sabres solved the riddle of beating Pittsburgh, even if seemingly no one else has. Ott batted a puck out of midair past Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury with 2:34 to play, and the Sabres snapped the Penguins' seven-game winning streak with a 4-2 victory Tuesday. It was Pittsburgh's third loss in its past 25 games, two of which were at Consol Energy Center to Buffalo. The Sabres, already assured of a last-place finish in the Northeast Division, have the only two victories by an opposing team at Pittsburgh since Feb. 20. Thomas Vanek scored twice and set up a Jochen Hecht goal in the third period for the Sabres, who were playing their second game since being eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoff contention. Ott, who was given a 10-minute misconduct in the second period after arguing with officials, reached to his left to slap a rebound of a Mark Pysyk shot into the net over Fleury's shoulder for his ninth goal of the season. Officials used video replay to verify the play was legal and not a high stick. The Consol crowd seemed to be expecting the goal to be overturned, but it was upheld. Vanek, who was stopped on a breakaway by Fleury midway through the second period, has four goals and three assists over his past five games to give him 20 goals on the season. Drew Stafford assisted on each of Vanek's goals, the second into an empty net, extending his point streak to four games. The game Tuesday was rescheduled from Saturday after the Penguins' game at the Boston Bruins was moved to that day due to the manhunt for a Boston Marathon bombing suspect late last week. Penguins goals leader Chris Kunitz scored for the second time in 11 games to give him 22, and Jarome Iginla scored for the fourth straight game. Pittsburgh welcomed back Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Fleury to the lineup 24 hours after all missed a win Monday at the Ottawa Senators. Malkin, the reigning NHL MVP, had an assist and won 11 of 18 faceoffs in 21:18 of ice time playing for the first time in five games since aggravating a shoulder injury that caused him to miss nine games in March. The Penguins (35-11-0) did not avoid further injury in what was a relatively meaningless game for them. Pittsburgh has clinched the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference and remains alive in the race for the Presidents' Trophy, trailing the Chicago Blackhawks by three points. Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik did not play the final two periods because of a lower-body injury. The team did not release specifics of when he was injured or his prognosis. Orpik was seen blocking a shot late in the first period. Letang, who came back after sitting out at Ottawa due to food poisoning, also briefly left the game, apparently to treat a cut on his face. Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller made 41 saves to win playing his 499th career game. Fleury, after not making the trip to Ottawa because his wife is expecting to deliver the couple's first child, made 29 saves and lost for the second time in 13 starts. Buffalo's previous win at Pittsburgh snapped a 15-game Penguins winning streak April 2. That started a stretch in which the Sabres have won seven of 11. But a loss to the New York Rangers on Friday eliminated Buffalo from Stanley Cup Playoffs contention. Pittsburgh missed out on its fourth winning streak of at least eight games over the past two seasons; the rest of the NHL combined has three. Six minutes into the third, Vanek won a puck battle against three Penguins along the left-wing boards and slid it into the high slot for Hecht, who one-timed it for his fifth of the season. Less than five minutes later, Iginla scored his fifth in 11 games since being acquired from the Calgary Flames, his 14th of the season, a one-timer from high in the left circle off a pass from Letang. Cody Hodgson and Pysyk each had two assists for the Sabres.

Boston v Philadelphia 2-5 - With a defense stocked with American Hockey League call-ups, a goaltender many believed had seen his best days and with little more than pride to play for, the Philadelphia Flyers snatched the lead by scoring two goals in seven seconds in the second period en route to a 5-2 victory against the visiting Boston Bruins on Tuesday. Matt Read and Oliver Lauridsen scored in succession in the second period, Claude Giroux had a pair of assists and Scott Hartnell and Jakub Voracek also had goals for the Flyers. Steve Mason, making his fourth start since being acquired from the Columbus Blue Jackets on April 3, stopped 38 shots as Philadelphia won its second straight game and fourth in its past five. Wade Redden and David Krejci scored for the Bruins, who remained atop the Northeast Division via tiebreaker with the Montreal Canadiens. Both teams have 59 points, but Boston has played one fewer game than Montreal. The Canadiens lost 3-2 to the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday. In six games (five starts) with the Flyers, Mason is 3-2-0 with a 2.08 goals-against average and .936 save percentage. In 13 games with the Blue Jackets this season, he was 3-6-1 with a 2.95 GAA and .899 save percentage. He was strong most of the game, helping defuse three Boston power plays, including one in the final 1:59 of the second period when Boston put three shots on net. Some of that credit has to go to a defense that included just two defensemen who started the season on the NHL roster. Luke Schenn and Kurtis Foster. The number of regular defensemen out of the lineup grew to six with the news that Kimmo Timonen would miss the rest of the season with a compression fracture in his right foot. One of those players was Lauridsen, who was credited with his first NHL goal seven seconds after Read put the Flyers ahead 2-1 at 11:24 of the second period. On the ensuing faceoff Philadelphia won the draw and Lauridsen, playing in his 13th game, dumped the puck into the Boston end. As the puck rolled around the boards, Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara tried to throw it back around the boards, but instead it rolled into the crease. Anton Khudobin dropped to one knee to stop the puck, but it hit his stick and went between his skates. Lauridsen was credited with his first NHL goal at 11:31 of the period. Lauridsen finished with a plus-3 rating in 19:05 of ice time, the second-most ice time he's had. The defense also included veteran Andreas Lilja, called up Tuesday after Timonen's injury; rookie Brandon Manning; second-year player Erik Gustafsson; and Kurtis Foster, who has been with the team all season but has been waived once and was a healthy scratch 23 times. The Bruins, who started a stretch of four games in six days to end the regular season, were disappointed in their play especially in losing an opportunity to put some distance between themselves and the Canadiens. After Hartnell and Redden exchanged goals in the first period, the game turned on a seven-second burst midway through the second. Brayden Schenn shot wide of the net on a 3-on-1 rush, but Philadelphia maintained possession in the Boston end, and Wayne Simmonds fired a shot from the high slot that was stopped by Khudobin. He kicked the rebound to his left, where Read and the Bruins' Brad Marchand converged. Both players got sticks on the puck, which bounced in the air, but Read was able to bat it past Khudobin at 11:24 to make it 2-1. The Flyers scored again on the ensuing faceoff. The seven-second spread on goals tied for the fastest pair in Flyers history. A frustrated Khudobin smacked the post with his stick and was removed from the game after allowing two goals on 18 shots. He was replaced by Tuukka Rask, who had started the Bruins' back-to-back games in Pittsburgh and Florida on Saturday and Sunday. Voracek scored his 21st of the season when he took a long pass from Giroux, broke in on Rask and made a nice move to his backhand to make it 4-1 at 5:33 of the third. Boston cut into the lead on a nice individual effort by David Krejci. He pounced on a weak clearing attempt by Philadelphia rookie blueliner Brandon Manning, then froze Manning with a nice deke in the right circle and beat Mason up high at 8:20. But the Flyers stole the momentum back just 13 seconds later. Philadelphia created a turnover in the neutral zone on the next faceoff and Luke Schenn sent Giroux racing into the Boston end along the right side. He centered a pass to Simon Gagne, who scored his fifth of the season at 8:33. It was a bittersweet win for the Flyers, who now are 2-0 since having their postseason hopes ended.

NY Rangers v Florida 2-3 - The New York Rangers got closer to the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Tuesday night, but there wasn't a lot of satisfaction in their dressing room. After the Winnipeg Jets lost to the Washington Capitals, the Rangers had a chance to clinch their third consecutive postseason appearance but failed when they lost 3-2 against the Florida Panthers at BB&T Center. Marcel Goc broke a 1-1 tie with a power-play goal at 7:37 of the third period, and Jacob Markstrom made 36 saves as the Panthers beat the Rangers for the second time in three meetings this season. New York remained one point ahead of Winnipeg, which has one game remaining. The Rangers have two to play: Thursday on the road against the Carolina Hurricanes and Saturday at home against the New Jersey Devils. With 52 points, the Rangers are tied with the Ottawa Senators for the last two playoff spots in the Eastern Conference, but Ottawa has a game in hand. The Rangers also missed a chance to move into sixth place after the New York Islanders lost to Carolina 4-3 in a shootout. The loss was the Rangers' fourth in 12 games this month (8-3-1) and snapped a three-game winning streak. New York lost despite outshooting Florida 38-16. It was reminiscent of the March 21 meeting at Madison Square Garden when the Rangers dropped a 3-1 decision despite a 45-24 shot advantage. Florida would have clinched the worst record in the NHL with a loss, but instead snapped its season-long six-game losing streak. The Panthers were outscored 30-8 during the streak, which included a 6-1 loss to the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Thursday. Tomas Fleischmann had a goal and an assist for the Panthers, and Drew Shore scored a shorthanded empty-net goal with 1:23 left. It was Shore's first point in 18 games. Markstrom recorded his second victory in two starts against the Rangers this season. He also was in net for the March 21 game. In both cases, Markstrom outdueled fellow Swede Henrik Lundqvist, who in his 12th consecutive start made 13 saves. Taylor Pyatt and Derick Brassard scored for the Rangers, who had 18 goals during their winning streak, which began against the Panthers. With Richards in the box for tripping, Goc scored from the slot when he redirected Fleischmann's pass and beat Lundqvist to the blocker side. The Rangers went 0-for-3 on the power play against the team ranked last in the NHL in penalty-killing. New York's third power play came when Jonathan Huberdeau was called for tripping with 3:12 left in the third period. Shore scored before Brassard got New York's second goal with 32.9 seconds left and Lundqvist on the bench for an extra attacker. Despite outshooting Florida 21-8 in the first 40 minutes, the Rangers entered the third period trailing 1-0. But Pyatt tied the game at 2:45 off a rebound when he got his stick on the puck and it went in off defenseman Colby Robak. Fleischmann, Florida's scoring leader, opened the scoring with his 10th goal of the season at 5:05 of the second when he tipped Filip Kuba's wrist shot from the top of the left circle past Lundqvist. The goal came on the Panthers' first shot of the period and their third of the game. Florida's two shots in the first tied their season low, which came Saturday in the third period of a 6-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils. With just under five minutes left in the second period, Rangers forward Mats Zuccarello hit the crossbar with a close-range wrist shot after a turnover in the Panthers zone.

Colorado v St Louis 1-3 - The St. Louis Blues had another opportunity to take matters into their own hands. Forget about relying on outside help; the Blues took care of business and punched their ticket to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. And the Blues did it with their power play, which has struggled lately, but Tuesday they were successful twice in the same game for the first time in 32 contests. Chris Stewart got his 100th career goal, 100th career assist and 200th career point; Jordan Leopold added his first points since joining the Blues and Brian Elliott redeemed himself by stopping 17 shots. The Blues lost 5-3 at Colorado on Sunday, a game in which Elliott was pulled after allowing four goals on 19 shots. The Blues (27-17-2) also got a goal and an assist from Andy McDonald as they reached the postseason for the second straight year and momentarily moved past the San Jose Sharks into fifth place in the Western Conference, pending the Sharks' game Tuesday against the Dallas Stars. The Blues pulled within one point of the Los Angeles Kings for fourth place after the Kings lost to the Minnesota Wild. The Blues, Kings and Sharks each have two games remaining. The Avalanche (15-24-7), who came in with the worst road record in the NHL, dropped to 3-16-4 away from Pepsi Center. Cody McLeod scored, and Semyon Varlamov stopped 31 shots and lost to the Blues for the first time in regulation in his career after going 4-0-1 with a 1.56 goals-against average and .956 save percentage in five previous starts. Stewart, a former first-round pick of the Avalanche (No. 18, 2006), deflected Leopold's left-point shot past Varlamov to give the Blues a 1-0 lead 11:19 into the game. Leopold, also a former member of the Avalanche, earned his first point with the Blues in his 13th game after arriving in a trade from the Buffalo Sabres. Patrik Berglund's first goal in 10 games, on the power play, gave the Blues a 2-0 lead 2:55 into the second period when he was able to redirect Jay Bouwmeester's right-point one-timer. McDonald added his sixth of the season at 5:13 when he skated in from the left side of the ice and tucked a shot under Varlamov's stick paddle for a 3-0 lead. McLeod scored his fifth goal in five games after getting three in his first 43. Off a delayed penalty, he took Paul Stastny's feed and snapped a shot from the left circle past Elliott with 4:47 left in the second to make it 3-1. Varlamov did make three stellar stops in the game. He kicked out Alexander Steen's breakaway attempt in the first period, gloved Vladimir Tarasenko's wrister from the slot late in the second, and thwarted McDonald early in the third with a glove save from the slot. But the Blues won't rest on their laurels the final two games. They still have something to strive for. The remaining games, Thursday at home against Calgary and Saturday at home against Chicago, have meaning.

Calgary v Nashville 3-4 - Nashville Predators rookie forward Austin Watson has endured a wild ride during the past few weeks, one that culminated in his first NHL goal on Tuesday in his team's 4-3 win over the Calgary Flames at Bridgestone Arena. The goal helped Nashville to end an eight-game winless streak that cost them a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Watson, the Predators' first-round pick in the 2010 NHL Draft, made his NHL debut on April and played five games before returning to Milwaukee of the American Hockey League on April 16. He proceeded to play three games in three days with the Admirals in Milwaukee, Chicago and then Peoria before he was recalled on Tuesday, marking his fourth game in five days. The 6-foot-4, 193-pound Watson scored by finishing off a 3-on-2 with a wrist shot low to Calgary goalie Miikka Kiprusoff's blocker side at 3:17 of the third period. The goal came in Watson's sixth NHL game. The Predators have been forced to go with a youth movement because of a rash of injuries to their top forwards. A Michigan native, Watson will play his first game at Joe Louis Arena on Thursday against the team he grew up rooting for, the Detroit Red Wings. Nashville coach Barry Trotz said he thought the goal could give Watson, a prolific scorer in the Ontario Hockey League, some confidence. Another Nashville rookie also earned his first NHL point earlier in the game. Rookie Filip Forsberg, the 11th player taken in the 2012 draft, earned an assist in his fourth game. He was acquired from the Washington Capitals on April 3. Forsberg said he was not aware he earned a point until he heard the goal announced. Matt Halischuk scored Nashville's fourth goal, the eventual game-winner, at 4:40 of the third. He has three goals in his last two games after scoring two in his first 33. Calgary pulled to within one goal at 15:10 on its second shot of the period. Roman Cervenka scored his second goal of the game, deflecting Chris Butler's shot out of midair and into the net. Calgary had won six of eight entering the game. The Flames suited up numerous young players recently called up from Abbotsford of the American Hockey League and sat healthy veterans such as Mike Cammalleri, Lee Stempniak, Matt Stajan and Cory Sarich. Calgary was outshot 32-18 and had six shots in the second period and three in the third. Nashville had gone 0-7-1 entering the game, the Predators' last victory was a 3-1 home win against the Colorado Avalanche on April 2. The win was just the second of the month for the Predators, whose 1-8-3 slide knocked them out of the playoff race. Previously, they had qualified for the postseason in seven of the past eight seasons. Nashville tied the game at 2-2, as Bang earned a power play when Calgary's Mark Cundari hooked him following a breakaway attempt that Bang shot wide. Shea Weber picked up his second primary assist of the game, this time with a soft shot that Nick Spaling deflected between his legs at 18:31 of the second period. Spaling has nine goals in 45 games, one off his career high, which he set last season in 77 games. Cervenka scored a breakaway goal at 7:06 of the second period to put Calgary on top 2-1 on the Flames' first shot of the period. Forward Sven Baertschi pitchforked the puck from along the left boards below the faceoff dot and hit Cervenka in stride in the neutral zone. Cervenka had plenty of time to line up his shot and beat Pekka Rinne [15 saves] high to the blocker side. With 5:21 left in the first period, Nashville evened the score on David Legwand's team-leading 12th goal and the 200th of his career. Weber let loose one of his trademark bombs from the right point and the rebound was too much for Kiprusoff to control. Legwand put it in from the doorstep. T.J. Brodie put Calgary on top 1-0 in a 4-on-4 situation at 5:59 of the first period. With Rich Clune and Akim Aliu in the penalty box for coincidental roughing minors, Brodie faked his way around Nashville center Chris Mueller and deposited a quick wrist shot from the right circle. The Predators went through a lot of losing in recent weeks, which made the events in their final home game of the season feel somewhat odd.

Los Angeles v Minnesota 1-2 - With the pressure of making its first postseason since 2008 reaching a fever pitch following five straight home losses, the Minnesota Wild knew they needed to be at their best in the final three games of the season in order to hang on to their playoff berth. They got off to a good start against the defending Stanley Cup champions at Xcel Energy Center. The Wild got goals from Charlie Coyle and Cal Clutterbuck 16 seconds apart in the first period and hung on in the third to beat the Los Angeles Kings 2-1 on Tuesday night. Clutterbuck, who said the game was the biggest of his professional career, was credited with the game-winner at 16:37 when he flew down the left side boards and rifled a high shot that beat Kings goaltender Jonathan Bernier to the short side for his fourth of the season and first since March 16, a span of 19 games. The victory snapped a five-game home losing streak for the Wild and gave them a critical victory in their fight for one of the final two playoff spots in the Western Conference. Minnesota is seventh with 53 points, two more than the eighth-place Columbus Blue Jackets and three more than the ninth-place Detroit Red Wings. The Wild and Blue Jackets have two games remaining; the Red Wings have three. Minnesota played one of its finest periods of the season in the first, getting back to the basics of coach Mike Yeo's system, getting pucks deep, using an effective forecheck to create turnovers and generally making life difficult for its opponent. After a slow first couple of minutes, the Wild started winning shifts and before long, Yeo had cycled a couple of times through each forward line with Minnesota carrying the play. The period was reminiscent of each of its last two opening periods at home, the lone difference being the Wild capitalized on a couple of chances, allowing them to play most of the night from in front. Yeo raved about his leadership core afterwards, praising the specific efforts of captain Mikko Koivu, forward Zach Parise and defenseman Ryan Suter, who racked up 32:17 of ice time, third highest of his career, Tuesday night. With just three whistles through the first 16 minutes of game time, the Wild finally took advantage of its zone time when Parise raced to a loose puck behind the net and saucered a pass over the stick of Kings defenseman Matt Greene's stick right to Coyle, who was standing in front of the net. The rookie buried his eighth of the season past a sprawling Bernier at 16:21. Things got chippy late in the second period when Brown appeared to elbow Wild winger Jason Pominville in the head. Pominville stayed on the ice a few moments before skating wobbly to the bench. He did not return and no penalty was called. The Kings appeared to get the benefit of a couple of other non-calls and in turn, sucked some of the life from the building. They capitalized on the momentum shift in the dying seconds of the period when Jeff Carter received a pass in the slot from Brad Richardson and rifled a wrister past Niklas Backstrom with 0.8 seconds remaining for his 26th of the season. Los Angeles was on the attack almost the entire third period, but the Kings were stymied by Backstrom on all 12 shots they got on goal. His last save may have been his best of the season, he made a sprawling save going from right to left to rob Slava Voynov of a sure goal with 13 seconds left in regulation, one he actually stopped with his right calf. The victory improved Backstrom's record to 23-14-3, he's tied for the most victories in the League. Minnesota has two days off before hosting the Edmonton Oilers on Friday night and playing at the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday. Any combination of two points in those games clinches a spot in the playoffs, although various other results from around the league could get the Wild in before they take the ice for their next game. Los Angeles has already secured a postseason berth and will play its final road game of the season Wednesday at Joe Louis Arena before capping the regular season at home Saturday against San Jose.

Dallas v San Jose 2-3 - In their final home game of the regular-season, the San Jose Sharks gave a sellout crowd reason to celebrate Tuesday at HP Pavilion, clinching their ninth straight trip to the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 3-2 comeback win against the Dallas Stars. Joe Pavelski and Logan Couture scored back-to-back goals in a 30-second span late in the third as the Sharks overcame a 2-1 deficit. After a post-game celebration with their fans ended, the Sharks quickly turned their attention to their next goal, securing home-ice advantage in the first round. San Jose and Los Angeles, which lost 2-1 to the Minnesota Wild, are deadlocked with 57 points, although the Kings own the tie-breaker for fourth place with more regulation/overtime wins. The St. Louis Blues are right behind in sixth place with 56 points. The Sharks finish the season with road games on Wednesday at Phoenix and Saturday at Los Angeles. For their second straight game, the Sharks needed just one point to clinch a playoff spot. After losing 4-3 to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday, the Sharks got two points on Tuesday. But until late in the third period, it looked as if they were going to get swept by Dallas in the season series and hit the road for their final two games without a playoff berth locked up. Then, Pavelski and Couture went to work and finally got some pucks past Stars goaltender Kari Lehtonen, who stopped 34 of 37 shots. With 5:37 left to play, the Sharks pulled even at 2-2 when Pavelski redirected a long blast from Brad Stuart past Lehtonen. Thirty second later, Couture got the puck from Patrick Marleau in the left circle and ripped it past Lehtonen, giving the Sharks a 3-2 lead with 5:07 left to play. Raffi Torres also scored for the Sharks, and goaltender Antti Niemi stopped 24 of 26 shots. Antoine Roussel, Loui Eriksson scored for the Stars, whose playoff hopes took a huge hit with their first loss to San Jose after three straight wins in the series. The Stars remained in 10th place with 48 points, three behind eighth-place Columbus and two behind the Detroit Red Wings. They have two games left, but both are at home against the teams they're trying to catch: Columbus on Thursday and Detroit on Saturday. The Sharks had gone a combined 2-for-12 on the power play in three previous games against Dallas this season, but Torres gave them a 1-0 lead at 12:53 of the first period with a power-play goal. Skating hard down the slot, Torres took a pass from Scott Gomez and flipped the puck over Lehtonen's glove and into the net for his seventh goal of the season and second as a Shark. The Stars answered just 99 seconds later on Roussel's eighth goal of the season. Niemi stopped Cody Eakin's shot from the right circle, but couldn't control the rebound. Roussel pounced on the loose puck and knocked it past Niemi before he could get back into position. The Stars turned up the heat late in the period, when the Sharks started taking penalties. Defenseman Scott Hannan went to the box at 17:48 for elbowing Eakin. Then 46 seconds later, Stuart joined Hannan in the penalty box for interfering with Erik Cole. The Stars had a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:15, but didn't score and nearly gave up a shorthanded goal to Sharks defenseman Justin Braun on a breakaway, but Lehtonen smothered his shot. By the end of the period, the Sharks had just 28 seconds left to kill on Stuart's penalty, but defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic earned two minutes for slashing. So the Stars opened the third period with a 5-on-3 advantage, and Eriksson needed just 17 seconds to score a power-play goal on a rebound of a Ray Whitney shot, putting Dallas ahead 2-1. The Sharks had a great chance to pull even midway through the period when a loose puck came to Marleau in front of Lehtonen. Marleau's shot trickled past Lehtonen, but the puck was cleared out of the crease before it crossed the goal line. Then late in the period, Sharks defenseman Dan Boyle ripped a shot from the slot, but Lehtonen deflected the puck with his left pad. The Sharks outshot Dallas 10-4 in the second period, but couldn't convert. Early in the third, the Sharks kept the shots coming couldn't get one past Lehtonen. In one sequence, Pavelski and Boyle ripped back-to-back shots, both of them turned away. With under seven minutes left, Torres hammered a rebound from close range, but Lehtonen covered the puck. Stars rookie forward Alex Chiasson, who scored a combined three goals in the previous two games against San Jose, missed his fourth straight game with a shoulder injury. Sharks defenseman Jason Demers, who had a walking boot on his left foot Tuesday morning, missed his second straight game.