Breakaway lifts Tampa Bay closer to berth

Martin St. Louis’ breakaway goal with 10.7 seconds remaining in overtime gave the defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning a 3-2 victory over Carolina on Saturday night at Tampa Bay, Fla., and moved them a step closer to clinching a postseason berth.

Brad Richards and Fredrik Modin also scored for Tampa Bay, which snapped a three-game losing streak despite squandering a 2-0 lead in the third period. John Grahame stopped 25 shots, and the Lightning killed off Carolina’s last power-play chance before St. Louis delivered the winner after picking up the loose puck near the red line.

The victory enabled the eighth-place Lightning to retain a three-point advantage over ninth-place Atlanta, which had pulled within one point with a 4-3 victory over Boston earlier in the day. Tampa Bay has 92 points with one game remaining at home against Washington on Tuesday night. Atlanta has 89 points with two games remaining – at Washington on Monday and at Florida Tuesday night.

Carolina, which won a shootout against Tampa Bay in Raleigh, N.C., on Friday night, rallied on third-period goals by Cory Stillman and Matt Cullen and took over sole possession of the top spot in the East with 112 points – one more than Ottawa.

Islanders 5, Penguins 4 (SO): At Uniondale, N.Y., Robert Nilsson scored in the sixth round of a shootout as New York edged Pittsburgh.

Thrashers 4, Bruins 3: At Atlanta, Andy Sutton scored twice, including the tie-breaking goal with 10:51 remaining, and Atlanta beat Boston to keep alive its postseason hopes.

Sutton’s second two-goal game of the season came four days after his first in a crucial 6-2 win over Tampa Bay.

Stars 4, Wild 3 (OT): At Dallas, Trevor Daley scored with 33.7 seconds left in overtime and the Stars rallied past Minnesota after blowing a two-goal lead in the third period.

Sharks 6, Mighty Ducks 3: At San Jose, Calif., Jonathan Cheechoo became the NHL’s leading goal-scorer with his fifth hat trick, and Joe Thornton took the league scoring lead with three points as the Sharks defeated Anaheim to clinch fifth place in the conference with their eighth straight win.

Flyers 4, Rangers 1: At Philadelphia, Jeff Carter set up two goals with cross-ice passes, Antero Niittymaki made 25 saves and the Flyers closed within a point of New York for the Atlantic Division lead.

Sabres 4, Canadiens 2: At Montreal, Chris Drury and J.P. Dumont scored early in the third period and Teppo Numminen added an empty-net goal for Buffalo.

Maple Leafs 5, Senators 1: At Toronto, Mats Sundin scored and had an assist to help defeat Ottawa. Dany Heatley scored his 49th goal for the Senators.

Blue Jackets 5, Blackhawks 2: At Columbus, Ohio, David Vyborny scored twice and had an assist in the third period to help Columbus defeat Chicago and set a franchise record with 72 points.

Predators 5, Coyotes 1: At Nashville, Tenn., Nashville goalie Chris Mason was credited with a goal when Phoenix shot the puck into their net on a delayed penalty midway through the third period. Mason made 23 saves for his fifth consecutive victory.

Capitals 2, Panthers 1 (SO): At Sunrise, Fla., Matt Pettinger beat Jamie McLennan with a low shot in the fourth round of a shootout and Brent Johnson stopped Jozef Stumpel’s attempt to lift Washington past Florida.

Red Wings 3, Blues 2: At St. Louis, Detroit’s Henrik Zetterberg scored with 9 seconds left as he one-timed a pass from Brendan Shanahan past Jason Bacashihua to give the Red Wings their seventh straight win and their 12th consecutive road victory. Shanahan added his 40th goal of the season.

Canucks 4, Avalanche 3: At Vancouver, British Columbia, Anson Carter tied it with 42.4 seconds left in regulation and Brendan Morrison scored with 36.6 seconds left in overtime in Vancouver’s season-ending win over Colorado.

Kings 2, Flames 1 (SO): At Los Angeles, Pavol Demitra scored on a breakaway in the second period and had the only goal in a shootout to defeat Calgary – in Luc Robitaille’s final home game – and make a winner of ex-Spokane Chiefs goaltender Jason LaBarbera.