ST. LOUIS - Marc Lamothe won in his second start of the season and Chris Chelios had two assists, helping the Red Wings clinch first place in the league with a 3-2 victory over the Blues Thursday.
St. Louis missed a chance to clinch its 25th consecutive playoff berth, which would extend the longest current streak in professional sports. Instead, the loss in the home finale put the team in a three-way tie with the Oilers and Predators for seventh in the West.
The Red Wings, who won their fifth in a row and ended the Blues' four-game winning streak, are 8-1-1-1 in their last 11 against St. Louis.
Lamothe has spent most of the season in the AHL and is essentially the Red Wings' fourth goalie after Dominik Hasek, Curtis Joseph and Manny Legace. Legace played Wednesday in a 3-2 win over Columbus that clinched first overall in the West. Hasek and Joseph are injured, so Lamothe made his first start since Feb. 23.
BRUINS 3, CAPITALS 3: Joe Thornton assisted on a game-tying goal for host Boston then left with an injury. Thornton was slashed on the right wrist by Todd Rohloff as he crashed the net 3:25 into the third. He left the ice with a trainer but came back for another shift and threaded a cross-ice pass to Glen Murray to set up a goal that made it 2-2 at the 5:23 mark. A few minutes later, Thornton left the bench. The loss of its captain and leading scorer could be more important than the point for Boston, which holds the second playoff seed but could finish as low as sixth. Andrew Raycroft made 24 saves for the Bruins, who played their 30th overtime game to extend a league record. Dan McGillis had a goal and an assist and Nick Boynton also scored for Boston.
FLYERS 2, CANADIENS 0: Simon Gagne and Michal Handzus scored for visiting Philadelphia, which strengthened its hold on first place in the Atlantic. Sean Burke made 24 saves for his second shutout. Philadelphia had lost its previous two with Robert Esche in goal. The victory gave the Flyers (40-20-14-6) 100 points, two more than New Jersey. Both have two games left. The Canadiens lost their fifth consecutive game and missed a chance to clinch seventh place. They have 91 points, three more than the Islanders.
PREDATORS 3, BLACKHAWKS 1: Steve Sullivan and Jeremy Stevenson had a goal and an assist, and Tomas Vokoun made 34 saves for visiting Nashville, which moved into a tie for the final playoff spot in the West. Adam Hall had the other Nashville goal and Scott Walker added two assists.
