The New York Rangers clinched a National Hockey League playoff berth after beating the New York Devils 5-2 and then waiting for the Tampa Bay Lightning to eliminate the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Rangers (44-33) defeated the Devils in their final -regular-season game at Madison Square Garden in New York on Saturday.
“A significant portion of the guys got together to watch the game [Hurricanes V Tampa Bay],” Rangers’ captain Chris Drury told reporters during a conference call. “The superstitious guys stayed away.”
Before the Hurricanes’ game, New York had 93 points and Carolina had 91 points.
Carolina held the tiebreaker over the Rangers and would have advanced to the postseason at New York’s expense with a win.
The Rangers open the playoffs with a series against the Washington Capitals (48-23), who sit atop the Eastern Conference. Two years ago, New York had a 3-1 first-round series lead over Washington before losing in seven games.
TAMPA BAY 6, HURRICANES 2
In Raleigh, North Carolina, the Carolina Hurricanes were eliminated from NHL playoff contention on Saturday after suffering a 6-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
“Everyone wanted this and every one of us wanted to be in the playoffs,” Hurricanes captain Eric Staal told reporters after the game. “It’s not a nice feeling in the stomach. We worked our butts off all year to have this opportunity at home and we didn’t get the job done.”
The Lighting built a 3-0 lead in the first period on goals by Dominic Moore, Vincent Lecavalier and Steve Stamkos, and stretched it to 4-0 with a goal from Brett Clark midway through the second.
Cory Stillman and Chad Larose cut the Tampa Bay lead in half with 11:27 remaining, but Lightning goaltender Mike Smith kept Carolina at bay for the remainder, despite the Hurricanes out-shooting the Lighting 17-7 in the third period.
“It was key for me to get in good position, but our defense has been solid all year and tonight again,” Smith said. “They blocked a lot of shots and were excellent on the penalty kill.”
Simon Gagne and Martin St Louis scored empty net goals in the final three minutes for Tampa Bay, who will be the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference.
“It was a great test for us -because it was going to be a playoff game,” St Louis said. “For them [Carolina], it was a do-or-die situation. I thought it was good preparation for what’s coming.”
In other NHL action, it was:
‧ Bruins 3, Senators 1
‧ Flyers 7, Islanders 4
‧ Canadiens 4, Maples Leafs 1
‧ Panthers 1, Capitals 0
‧ Sabres 5, Blue Jackets 4
‧ Blues 2, Predators 0
‧ Canucks 3, Flames 2
‧ Ducks 3, Kings 1
‧ Sharks 3, Coyotes 1
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