NHL

Oilers lock up last spot in West

EDMONTON, Alberta -- Mike York scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and the Oilers held on for a 4-3 victory over the Coyotes on Wednesday night, clinching the final playoff berth in the West.

Last season, the five-time Stanley Cup champions missed the playoffs for the first time in five seasons.

The victory pulled the Oilers within two points of seventh-place Minnesota, and three points behind Anaheim.

York scored the winner when he deflected Cory Cross' shot from the point on a power play at 6:09 of the third for his 22nd of the season.

Phoenix had tied the score 2:55 into the third when Jeff Taffe slid the puck past Edmonton goalie Tommy Salo on what began as a harmless dump-in.

The Oilers scored 2:03 into the game when Ryan Smyth beat goaltender Zac Bierk to the puck behind the net and passed to rookie Ales Hemsky, who had an open net for his sixth of the season.

A few minutes later, former Oiler Kelly Buchberger trickled the puck past Salo, but the goal was disallowed because the whistle had blown.

The Oilers also had a goal disallowed midway when Hemsky set up Todd Marchant in front of the net midway through the period. The goal was disallowed because Andrei Nazarov had shoved Smyth into the net, dislodging it.

BLUES 1, WILD 0: Cory Stillman scored the only goal and Chris Osgood got his second shutout since joining St. Louis.

Osgood, who came over in a trade with the Islanders on March 11, stopped 31 shots as the visiting Blues snapped a two-game losing streak. Minnesota has lost two in a row, both shutouts, after clinching the team's first playoff berth on Sunday night.

It was the fourth shutout of the season for Osgood. He blanked the Predators 1-0 on March 15 in his first start with Blues.

Despite being outshot 6-1 in the opening half of the first period, the Blues scored on their second shot of the game.

A pass from Al MacInnis launched Pavol Demitra and Stillman on a two-on-one break. Demitra carried the puck into the Minnesota zone, drawing defender Filip Kuba and goalie Manny Fernandez to the left of the net. Demitra then flipped the puck to Stillman, who was all alone at the left side of the crease and tapped the puck into the net for his 23rd.

Minnesota's best scoring opportunity came midway through the third when Wild scoring leader Marian Gaborik got the puck at the top of the crease. With a defender on him, Gaborik got off a backhand shot that bounced off the left goalpost and landed behind Osgood before being cleared away.

SABRES 2, PANTHERS 1: Daniel Briere scored the winner on a power play late in the second period as host Buffalo handed Florida its fourth straight loss.

With Olli Jokinen off for hooking, Briere tipped Miroslav Satan's shot from the point past Robert Luongo for his 21st goal of the season and fourth in eight games.

Chris Taylor also scored his first goal since Jan. 20, 2000, as Buffalo won its second straight.

Kristian Huselius scored for Florida, which has scored one goal in four games.

Luongo, who had 24 saves, kept Florida in the game when he stopped Jason Botterill on a breakaway with 5:22 left. Luongo left the game with 3:24 left when Ales Kotalik's shot struck him in the left knee. He plans to play tonight against the Blues despite a bruised kneecap.

Mika Noronen, playing in his 13th game, had 29 saves for Buffalo.

PENGUINS 3, RANGERS 1: Martin Straka and Tomas Surovy scored power-play goals in the first as visiting Pittsburgh snapped a 16-game winless streak.

Sebastien Caron had 33 saves and was 11:46 away from his third shutout in 22 career games before Brian Leetch scored his 10th of the season.

Eric Meloche also scored for the Penguins, who were 0-14-2 since defeating St. Louis on Feb. 22 and just two winless games from tying the worst stretch in club history.

The Rangers trail the Islanders by six points for the final postseason berth in the East with five games remaining. Any combination of five points gained by the Islanders or not acquired by the Rangers will eliminate the Rangers for a club-record sixth straight season.

New York lost three of five to Pittsburgh, losing the season series to the Penguins for the fourth straight season. The Rangers have eight losses to Pittsburgh, Atlanta and Buffalo -- three of the bottom four teams in the East.

The Penguins had not scored more than two goals since scoring three in each of the first two games of the winless streak, and their power play converted six times in 64 opportunities during the slump.

The unit didn't figure to jump to life without Mario Lemieux, but it did. Lemieux, fifth in the league scoring race, missed the game after back spasms flared up on Tuesday.

The Rangers had won three straight and killed 26 straight penalties over the previous five games, not allowing a power-play goal since March 10 -- their last home loss.

THRASHERS 5, HURRICANES 1: Dany Heatley scored twice and host Atlanta extended Carolina's winless streak to six.

Atlanta won for the fourth time in seven games despite being outshot 30-18.

Pasi Nurminen (17-18-4) had 29 saves for Atlanta, which moved within two points of third place in the Southeast behind Florida.

Carolina goalie Kevin Weekes (14-22-9) allowed four goals on 14 shots through the first two periods.

Ron Francis' 536th career goal evened the score midway through the opening period, but Heatley put Atlanta ahead with 4:29 left in the period.

Jeff Cowan scored on a rebound of Marc Savard's shot to give the Thrashers a 3-1 cushion 1:47 into the second.

Heatley, who has 14 points in eight games, put the game away with a power-play goal with 1:40 left in the second. It was Heatley's ninth two-goal game of the season, tied for third most in the league.

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