Daniel Briere and Chris Drury each scored a power-play goal, and Martin Biron made 33 saves to lift the Buffalo Sabres over the New York Rangers 3-1.
"In the third period, he stepped over the line and got a couple of fabulous saves for us," Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said of Biron.
Ales Kotalik added an empty-net goal with 36.6 seconds remaining on Friday night to help the Sabres win for the fourth time in five games and pull within five points of the New York Islanders for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Dale Purinton scored for the fading Rangers, who have lost six of seven. They also learned Friday that star center Eric Lindros will be sidelined indefinitely after sustaining the eighth concussion of his career Wednesday against Washington.
"We've put ourselves in a bit of a hole here," Rangers captain Mark Messier said. "We're looking up again. We have to find a way to win games."
Maple Leafs 4, Thrashers 1
In Atlanta, Trevor Kidd made 25 saves in a rare start as Toronto beat the Thrashers.
Alexei Ponikarovsky and Gary Roberts scored less than three minutes apart late in the second period to put the Maple Leafs ahead 3-1. Matt Stajan finished off the Thrashers with a goal about 7 1/2 minutes into the third.
Robert Reichel also scored for Toronto.
Injury-plagued Atlanta was bolstered by the return of Marc Savard, who scored after missing seven games with a sprained knee.
Also, Dany Heatley played his second game for the Thrashers since recovering from a car wreck that killed teammate Dan Snyder.
Still, the Thrashers have only two wins in 16 games.
Stars 3, Sharks 1
In Dallas, Jere Lehtinen scored the tiebreaking goal with 2:49 remaining to send Dallas over San Jose.
Dallas moved within four points of first-place San Jose in the Pacific Division. The Stars have won the Pacific title in four of the past five seasons.
Lehtinen got his eighth goal when he beat goaltender Vesa Toskala from the right circle, converting Mike Modano's pass to snap a 1-1 tie.
Brenden Morrow also scored for Dallas, Stu Barnes added an empty-net goal and Marty Turco made 14 saves. Modano had two assists.
Blackhawks 5, Flames 3
In Calgary, Alberta, Chicago ended its 19-game road losing streak, rallying past Calgary behind two goals from Tuomo Ruutu.
Chicago's skid away from home was the longest in franchise history and the fourth-longest in NHL history. The Blackhawks hadn't won on the road since beating Nashville 2-1 on Nov. 7.
Tyler Arnason, Steve Sullivan and Mark Bell also scored for the Blackhawks, who snapped a three-game skid and improved to 2-7 in their last nine games.
Steve Passmore made 30 saves to improve to 2-6-0.
Jarome Iginla had two goals and an assist for the Flames, who also got a goal from Toni Lydman.
Mighty Ducks 4, Avalanche 3, OT
In Anaheim, California, Sergei Fedorov scored the tying goal with 46 seconds left in the third period and assisted on the winner by Niclas Havelid in overtime, lifting Anaheim over Colorado.
Paul Kariya had two assists in his long-awaited return to Anaheim. The Ducks' captain during seven of his eight seasons with the team signed with Colorado on July 3 as an unrestricted free agent for US$1.2 million -- just 24 days after Anaheim lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals to New Jersey.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB