Chris Mason made 28 saves for his sixth shutout of the season, helping the St Louis Blues take the sixth playoff spot in the Western Conference with a 1-0 win over the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday in the regular-season finale.
In the playoffs for the first time in five years, the Blues — with nine wins in their final 11 games, will face Vancouver in the opening round.
Brad Boyes scored the only goal of the game early in the first period.
PHOTO: AP
RANGERS 4, FLYERS 3
At Philadelphia, Sean Avery and Blair Betts scored third-period goals to lift New York, spoiling Philadelphia’s shot at home-ice advantage against Pittsburgh in its opening playoff series.
Brandon Dubinsky scored two goals for the Rangers, set to open the playoffs against Southeast Division champion Washington.
Dubinsky’s second goal was short-handed, wrecking Philadelphia’s shot at becoming the first team in NHL history to play an entire season without allowing one. The Flyers’ streak of 103 games without surrendering a short-handed goal was the longest since Montreal went 122 games from March 1975 to November 1976.
Jeff Carter scored his 46th goal to finish second behind Washington’s Alex Ovechkin (56) for the NHL lead. Danny Briere and Claude Giroux also scored.
BLACKHAWKS 3, RED WINGS 0
At Chicago, Nikolai Khabibulin made 37 saves for his 41st career shutout as the Blackhawks tuned up for their first playoff appearance in seven years by beating Detroit.
Andrew Ladd and Jonathan Toews scored first-period goal, and Dave Bolland converted on the power play in the third. Khabibulin has three shutouts this season. Chicago, a 4-2 winner over the Red Wings on Saturday in Detroit, was 6-0-1 in its final seven games and will open the playoffs against Calgary. Defending Stanley Cup champion Red Wings will face Columbus in the first round.
BRUINS 6, ISLANDERS 2
At Uniondale, New York, Phil Kessel had three goals and an assist, and Tim Thomas made 32 saves for his 36th victory for Eastern Conference champion Boston.
Michael Ryder, Marc Savard and Chuck Kobasew also scored for the Bruins, who will face Montreal in the first round of the playoffs.
Radek Martinek and Doug Weight scored for New York. The Islanders finished last overall in the NHL, losing their last four games.
After letting another big lead slip with an error-strewn performance at the French Open on Wednesday, top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka felt like getting as far away from the courts as possible. “Just want to quit tennis right now,” Sabalenka said after wasting a lead of a set and two breaks in a 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 loss to Diana Shnaider in the women’s singles quarter-finals. “We’ll see in few days. Hopefully I’ll get back on track mentally.” Sabalenka’s wait for a first French Open title continues despite the four-time major winner leading 4-1 in the second set and being two points from victory while
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