The Boston Bruins qualified for the NHL playoffs on Monday when Steve Shields made a key save in overtime to preserve a 2-2 tie with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Dan Boyle took a shot from point-blank range with 25 seconds remaining, but Shields stopped it with his pads.
PHOTO: AP
Coupled with the New York Rangers' overtime loss, the Bruins clinched an Eastern Conference playoff berth. The Lightning wrapped up no worse than the sixth seed in the East.
``It's all good to make the playoffs,'' Boston's Brian Rolston said, ``but you are here for one reason, to win the Stanley Cup.''
Tampa Bay's John Grahame held off the Bruins despite the Lightning being outshot 19-4 in the third period and overtime
Tampa Bay extended its franchise-record unbeaten streak to 6-0-6 and is 13-2-8 in its last 23 games. But its long winless string in Boston continued. The Lightning are 0-14-4 there since their last victory -- Dec. 17, 1997. Overall, they're 1-15-5 in Boston.
Mike Knuble and Nick Boynton scored for Boston. Ruslan Fedotenko and Fredrik Modin had goals for Tampa Bay.
Thrashers 4, Rangers 3, OT
In New York, Yannick Tremblay scored a power-play goal at 2:40 of overtime to give Atlanta a win over New York.
Marc Savard had a pair of goals and added an assist for Atlanta, while Dany Heatley assisted on three goals -- including the game-winner. Eric Lindros was off for high-sticking when Tremblay scored.
The Rangers trail the idle New York Islanders by three points with three games to play in the race for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
The teams were to play tonight in Long Island, and an Islanders victory would eliminate the Rangers from playoff contention.
Mark Messier, Petr Nedved and Boris Mironov scored for the Rangers. Vyachaslev Kozlov had the other Atlanta goal.
``I thought it was a great effort,'' Rangers coach Glen Sather said. ``They busted their rear ends -- every one of them. We played hard. It was a good hockey game. It's too bad we couldn't win. We had six chances in the third period where the puck was bouncing all over the place and it just wouldn't go in.''
Flyers 6, Penguins 1
In Pittsburgh, Keith Primeau scored once and set up two goals in just over eight minutes of the second period as Philadelphia beat Pittsburgh for the fourth time in 17 days.
The Penguins' Jamie Pushor scored the opening goal in the first period, but Flyers goaltender Roman Cechmanek had little difficulty thereafter.
The Penguins are winless in 10 games at home (0-9-1), one short of the club record. They are 1-16-2 overall in their last 19.
John LeClair, Michal Handzus, Sami Kapanen, Radovan Somik and Marty Murray also scored for the Flyers, who moved within two points of idle New Jersey for the Atlantic Division lead.
Red Wings 3, Predators 0
In Detroit, Curtis Joseph earned his 41st career shutout, and Sergei Fedorov had a goal and an assist as Detroit beat Washington to win its third straight Central Division title.
Joseph stopped 27 shots for his fifth shutout of the season. Steve Yzerman and Henrik Zetterberg also scored for the Red Wings, who have 106 points.
It was only the second goal for Yzerman since his return in late February from offseason knee surgery.
Canadiens 4, Hurricanes 0
In Raleigh, North Carolina, backup goaltender Mathieu Garon got his second shutout in seven games, stopping 33 shots as Montreal beat Carolina to snap a three-game losing streak.
Saku Koivu, Francis Bouillon and Richard Zednik scored first-period goals for the Canadiens. Donald Audette closed out the scoring in the second period.
Wild 3, Flames 0
In St. Paul, Minnesota, Manny Fernandez earned his eighth career shutout with 26 saves as Minnesota blanked Calgary.
Cliff Ronning, Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Antti Laaksonen scored for Minnesota, which had three power-play goals for the first time this season. Fernandez, who notched his second shutout of the season, and Dwayne Roloson have a combined six.
Stars 3, Sabres 0
In Dallas, Marty Turco made 18 saves for his sixth shutout of the season as the Dallas beat Buffalo to move into a tie for the NHL's best record.
Blues 5, Oilers 5
In St. Louis, Ethan Moreau scored Edmonton's third goal of the third period with 1:52 remaining in regulation as the Oilers rallied for a tie with St. Louis.
It was the second big comeback in two days for the Oilers, who came back from a 4-1 deficit on Sunday to tie Chicago 4-4.
Avalanche 3, Sharks 1
In Denver, Milan Hejduk had two goals and an assist, and Patrick Roy stopped 22 shots as Colorado beat San Jose to extended its home unbeaten streak to a team-record 16 games.
Kings 5, Coyotes 4, OT
In Phoenix, Steve Kelly scored 1:42 into overtime as Los Angeles snapped a seven-game winless streak with a win over Phoenix. The Coyotes had rallied from a two-goal deficit in the third period.
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