Gagne leads Philadelphia into playoffs
Simon Gagne had a goal and two assists Friday, helping the Philadelphia Flyers clinch a playoff spot with a 4-2 victory over the Sabres in Buffalo, N.Y.
Robert Esche made 19 saves for Philadelphia, which closed within three points of the first-place New York Rangers in the Atlantic Division. The Flyers and Rangers each have six games left, with one game remaining between the clubs on April 15.
R.J. Umberger, Eric Desjardins and Mike Knuble also scored for the Flyers, who trail fourth-place Buffalo by five points in the chase for Eastern Conference playoff position.
Tim Connolly and Ales Kotalik scored for Buffalo and Ryan Miller made 30 saves as the Sabres failed in their bid to sweep the season series from Philadelphia. Buffalo won three of the four meetings, with this loss breaking a seven-game home unbeaten streak against the Flyers.
If the teams remain in their current place in the standings, they would face each other in the first round with Buffalo holding home-ice advantage.
Hurricanes 4, Capitals 3: At Washington, Justin Williams scored two of Carolina’s franchise-record three short-handed goals as the Hurricanes moved into a first-place tie atop the Eastern Conference by beating Washington. Alexander Ovechkin had an assist to reach 99 points in his rookie season, but it wasn’t enough to help the Capitals, whose late rally fell short.
Penguins 5, Panthers 1: At Sunrise, Fla., Pittsburgh rookie Sidney Crosby had a goal and three assists, and Sebastien Caron made 36 saves as the Penguins snapped a 12-game losing streak to Florida. Konstantin Koltsov, Ryan Whitney, Ryan Malone and John LeClair also scored for Pittsburgh, the NHL’s worst team this season.
Red Wings 6, Blue Jackets 5 (SO): At Detroit, Tomas Holmstrom scored the only goal of a five-round shootout to lift Detroit to a win over Columbus. Brendan Shanahan had a goal and an assist, and Kris Draper, Mikael Samuelsson, Niklas Kronwall, and Jason Williams also scored for Detroit.
Oilers 4, Blackhawks 3 (OT): At Chicago, Ryan Smyth scored his second goal of the game during a power play at 3:18 of overtime, lifting Edmonton to a win over Chicago.
Flames 2, Wild 1: At Calgary, Alberta, Jamie Lundmark scored the tiebreaking goal in the third period and Miikka Kiprusoff won his franchise-record 40th game in Calgary’s win over Minnesota.
Hasek hopes to return
Ottawa goaltender Dominik Hasek practiced without pads and hopes to return for the playoffs after missing nearly two months with a groin injury.
Though there is no timetable for his return, an upbeat Hasek all but guaranteed he’d be ready to go for the postseason, although he wouldn’t make any predictions on his return before then.