Forsberg, Gagne team up to lead Flyers past Devils

AP , PHILADELPHIA

Thu, Mar 23, 2006 - Page 19

Peter Forsberg scored a goal in his return to the lineup and Simon Gagne added his 40th of the season to lead the Philadelphia Flyers to a 2-1 win over the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday.

Antero Niittymaki made 21 saves for the Flyers, who won for only the fifth time in 12 games. Philadelphia (86 points) is two points back of the Atlantic Division-leading Rangers, who was to host the Flyers last night in New York.

Martin Brodeur had 19 saves for the Devils, who lost for the fourth time in five games.

Islanders 3, Canadiens 1

At Uniondale, New York, Rick DiPietro made 33 saves, and Robert Nilsson scored to snap a second-period tie and help the New York Islanders beat Montreal and end a three-game losing streak.

Sean Bergenheim and Jason Blake also scored for the Islanders.

Mark Streit had the only goal for the Canadiens, losers in four of five. Cristobal Huet stopped 22 shots.

Maple Leafs 3, Hurricanes 2

At Toronto, Jason Allison scored a power-play goal with 4:48 left, and Toronto picked up ground in its playoff hunt.

Alex Steen and Alexander Khavanov also scored for the Maple Leafs, who are four points behind Atlanta for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Toronto blew a 2-0 lead in the third period, but Allison gave Toronto the lead for good with a shot from the faceoff circle after a rebound.

Mikael Tellqvist made 33 saves in his sixth straight start in place of Ed Belfour, who is out indefinitely with a sore back.

Coyotes 5, Blue Jackets 2

At Columbus, Ohio, Shane Doan and Steven Reinprecht each had a goal and an assist, and Phoenix scored five unanswered goals against Columbus.

Curtis Joseph made 31 saves for his 423rd victory, tying him with Tony Esposito for sixth place on the NHL's career list.

Mike Johnson, Fredrik Sjostrom and Mike Comrie also scored for Phoenix, which has won two straight for the first time in two months, and three of four overall. Jamie Rivers added two assists for the Coyotes.

Senators 5, Penguins 2

At Ottawa, Daniel Alfredsson netted his career-high 38th goal and assisted on another as Ottawa downed Pittsburgh to become the first Eastern Conference team to reach 100 points this season.

Antoine Vermette scored Ottawa's NHL-best 21st short-handed goal, and rookie defenseman Andrej Meszaros had a power-play goal and helped set up one by Chris Neil as the Senators scored four special-teams goals.

Chris Kelly also scored and Ray Emery made 21 saves for Ottawa, winners of 11 of 13 games.

Pittsburgh's Eric Cairns was assessed five penalties totaling 40 minutes -- including a double game misconduct -- at the end of the second period. Cairns, who got a major for spearing Zdeno Chara, was also assessed a fighting major and a misconduct. Chara was given a fighting major and a misconduct.

Penguins rookie Colby Armstrong scored a short-handed goal for Pittsburgh, which lost its sixth in a row to the Senators. Ottawa swept the four-game season series.

Wild 3, Flames 1

At St. Paul, Minnesota, Marian Gaborik scored twice to break his franchise record for goals in a season and Brian Rolston added a short-handed tally to lead Minnesota over Calgary.

Gaborik's first goal -- his record-setting 31st -- tied the game midway through the second period. Rolston scored the winner with less than a minute remaining in the stanza.

Minnesota, which won for the second time in six games, closed to within eight points of eighth place -- the playoff cutoff -- in the Western Conference.

Thrashers 5, Bruins 4, SO

At Boston, Jim Slater scored in the fourth extra shootout session, lifting Atlanta over sliding Boston.

The Thrashers, who won for the seventh time in nine games, set a franchise record with their 34th win. They leapfrogged Montreal and moved into eighth place in the Eastern Conference. The Bruins have dropped eight of 10.

Atlanta trailed by two goals in the final period, sending the game to overtime on Steve McCarthy's score with 1:08 left in regulation.

Bobby Holik scored on a slap shot from the slot with 7:15 left, making it 4-3.

Predators 3, Red Wings 2, SO

At Detroit, Martin Erat's goal in the sixth round of the shootout helped Nashville snap Detroit's six-game winning streak. The Red Wings still managed to tie Ottawa atop the NHL standings with 100 points.

Nashville, which got regulation goals from Scott Hartnell and Steve Sullivan, won its fifth straight. Marek Zidlicky added two assists.

Robert Lang and Brendan Shanahan scored for Detroit before overtime.

Erat's goal, which beat Manny Legace, was the Predators' fourth of the shootout. Paul Kariya, Steve Sullivan, and Mike Sillinger also scored in the tiebreaker.

Sharks 6, Blues 0

At St. Louis, Steve Bernier scored two goals and Vesa Toskala made 33 saves for his first shutout of the season for San Jose.

San Jose took a 1-0 lead when Jonathan Cheechoo scored just 4:53 into the game.

It was Cheechoo's 43rd of the season and moved him within one of the club record set by Owen Nolan in the 1999-2000 season.

Alyn McCauley gave the Sharks a 4-0 lead when he scored a short-handed goal with just 8:26 remaining. Mark Smith scored his eighth goal with 6:27 to go, and Nils Ekman closed the scoring with 2:25 left.

Canucks 4, Oilers 1

At Edmonton, Alberta, Daniel Sedin scored twice, including a power-play goal in the first period, and Vancouver stopped a late-season slide to beat Edmonton.

Trevor Linden and Ryan Kesler also scored for Vancouver, which jumped one point past Edmonton into a tie with Anaheim for seventh in the Western Conference. Sedin added an empty-net goal with just over 1 minute left in the first game of a crucial three-game series against Edmonton.