Jeremy Roenick scored his 507th career goal and added the decisive shootout score as the San Jose Sharks clinched a playoff berth with their 13th victory in 14 games, 4-3 over the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday night.
Roenick and Curtis Brown each had a goal and an assist, and Evgeni Nabokov made 21 saves in his NHL-leading 42nd victory for San Jose, which has 27 points in its 14 games since Feb. 21 after beating Minnesota for the seventh straight time.
Joe Pavelski put the Sharks ahead with 2:02 left in regulation on an awkwardly angled shot set up by Milan Michalek, who stole a puck behind the Minnesota goal and fed Pavelski for the go-ahead score. But after a penalty and an empty net gave the Wild a 6-on-4 power play, Marian Gaborik slammed home his second man-advantage goal of the night with 28 seconds to play.
Roenick scored the decisive shootout goal in the third round when Niklas Backstrom couldn't hold on to his hard shot. Nabokov stopped Mikko Koivu to end the meeting of division leaders, gleefully kicking the puck after dropping it out of his glove.
Rangers 2, Devils 1
At Newark, New Jersey, Chris Drury scored the tying goal with 4:46 left in regulation, and Nigel Dawes beat Martin Brodeur in the shootout to give New York a victory over New Jersey.
New York tied Ottawa in points in the Eastern Conference playoff race but is still in sixth place on the basis of one fewer win.
The Rangers improved to 6-0 this season against the conference-leading Devils, holding them to five goals in the process and winning three times after regulation.
Dawes had the only goal in the shootout, and Henrik Lundqvist turned aside Jamie Langenbrunner, Brian Gionta and Zach Parise in the tiebreaker after making 17 saves through overtime.
The only blemish was Dainius Zubrus' power-play goal in the first period that looked as though it would be enough for New Jersey to finally top the Rangers.
New Jersey leads Montreal by one point in the race for the top playoff seed in the East.
In other games it was:
* Sabres 7, Lightning 4
* Red Wings 3, Blue Jackets 1
* Hurricanes 5, Thrashers 3
* Blackhawks 5, Capitals 0
* Ducks 2, Stars 1
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