Marc-Andre Fleury had 31 saves as the Pittsburgh Penguins clinched a playoff berth and took a big step toward winning the Atlantic Division title, beating the New Jersey Devils 2-0 on Tuesday.
Ryan Malone scored a power-play goal in the first period and Marian Hossa added one into an empty net for the Penguins, who opened a four-point lead over the Devils in the division and pulled to within a point of Montreal for the best record in the Eastern Conference.
Pittsburgh and the Canadiens have five games to play in the regular season, one less than the Devils, whose four-game winless streak (0-3-1) matches their season high.
SENATORS 6, SABRES 3
At Buffalo, New York, Daniel Alfredsson had two of Ottawa's five third-period goals, and Anton Volchenkov snapped a third-period tie with less than two minutes left in regulation to rally Ottawa past Buffalo.
Volchenkov, who also had a pair of assists, scored his first of the season with a slap shot from right point that ricocheted twice before going past Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller for the winner.
Christoph Schubert, Dean McAmmond and Antoine Vermette also scored for Ottawa.
Derek Roy scored twice before leaving the game with five minutes left in regulation with an apparent leg injury, and Jason Pominville also scored for the Sabres.
FLYERS 2, RANGERS 1, OT
At New York, Mike Richards scored a breakaway goal 2:16 into overtime and Philadelphia beat New York.
Sean Avery turned over the puck in the New York offensive zone to defenseman Jason Smith, who sent Richards in alone. With Rangers defenseman Marek Malik chasing, Richards cut to his backhand and swept a shot past Henrik Lundqvist.
That gave the Flyers their fourth straight win and moved them within one point of the sixth-place Rangers in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
Danny Briere scored his 30th goal 7:32 into the third period to tie it. The Rangers tried to protect a 1-0 lead they earned just 1:41 in when Jaromir Jagr hit the 20-goal mark for the 17th straight season.
CAPITALS 3, HURRICANES 2, SO
At Raliegh, North Carolina, Viktor Kozlov scored in the third round of the shootout to lead Washington past Carolina.
Alexander Ovechkin scored his club-record 61st goal, Alexander Semin also scored and Nicklas Backstrom had two assists for the Capitals, who have won six of seven.
Jeff Hamilton and Erik Cole scored power-play goals for Carolina, which picked up a point to strengthen its grip on the Southeast Division lead. The Hurricanes hold a four-point lead with five games remaining.
BRUINS 6, MAPLE LEAFS 2
At Toronto, Marco Sturm and rookie David Krejci each had a goal and an assist as Boston beat Toronto to hurt the Leafs' playoff chances.
Jeremy Reich, Phil Kessel, Shawn Thornton and Glen Murray also scored for the Bruins, who maintained their hold on the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and improved to 86 points.
Alexei Ponikarovsky and Jason Blake scored for the Leafs, who head to Boston tomorrow.
PREDATORS 3, BLUE JACKETS 0
At Nashville, Tennessee, goaltender Dan Ellis stopped 36 shots for his fifth career shutout, and Nashville blanked Columbus for its second straight victory to keep its fading playoff hopes alive.
Jan Hlavac and Jason Arnott each had a goal and an assist, and Radek Bonk added a goal for Nashville.
The Predators trail eighth-place Colorado by four points in the Western Conference.
RED WINGS 2, BLUES 1
At St. Louis, Johan Franzen's power-play goal snapped a third-period tie and Henrik Zetterberg added his 150th career goal, helping Detroit its fourth straight victory.
Andy McDonald scored in the second period for the Blues, who played their first home game in 22 days.
Chris Osgood made 17 saves for the Red Wings, who lead the NHL with 108 points.
LIGHTNING 3, PANTHERS 1
At Tampa, Florida, Jeff Halpern had a goal and two assists and Tampa Bay hurt Florida's late playoff push.
Florida, 8-1-1 in its past 10 games, is five points behind eighth-place Boston for the final playoff spot.
Michel Ouellet and Filip Kuba also scored for Tampa Bay. David Booth scored for Florida.
FLAMES 3, CANUCKS 2
At Calgary, Alberta, Daymond Langkow and Dion Phaneuf scored 41 seconds apart in the third period and Calgary rallied to beat Vancouver, moving into first place in the Northwest Division.
COYOTES 5, SHARKS 4, OT
At Glendale, Arizona, Martin Hanzal scored on a wrist shot with 1:37 left in overtime to give Phoenix a win over San Jose.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
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ANKLE PROBLEM: Taiwan’s Ye Hong-wei and Lee Chia-hsin had a disappointing end to their tournament after an injury forced them out of their mixed doubles semi-final Taiwanese badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying on Friday was knocked out in the women’s singles quarter-finals at her last Taipei Open. The world No. 3 lost 21-18, 16-21, 22-24 to Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia in a match that stretched 68 minutes at the Taipei Arena. Despite her higher ranking, Tai said she was not too sad about the loss, given her struggle with a lingering knee injury. “Wins and losses are just part of the game. Actually, I think I’m going to lose every single match considering my condition now,” said the five-time champion of the Super 300 event, who has announced plans
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