PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Wojtek Wolski's shootout goal lifted the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday.
Wolski's goal came in the second round of the shootout after Erik Christensen had scored for New York in the first. Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist stopped Nikolay Zherdev and Claude Giroux on the Flyers' shootout chances.
The Rangers picked up two points to remain in eighth place in the Eastern Conference playoff race. New York leads ninth-place Carolina by two points and trails seventh-place Buffalo by one. All three teams have three games left.
Bryan McCabe and Ruslan Fedotenko scored for the Rangers in regulation and James Van Riemsdyk and Zherdev had the Flyers' goals.
The Atlantic Division-leading Flyers pulled even with the Washington Capitals atop the Eastern Conference.
Sabres 2, Hurricanes 1, OT
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Marc-Andre Gragnani scored 2:56 into overtime to lift Buffalo over Carolina.
Chris Butler also scored and Jhonas Enroth made 35 saves for the Sabres, who won a tense matchup with a postseason feel - and plenty of playoff implications.
Buffalo, which has 90 points, kept hold of seventh place in the Eastern Conference and put the Hurricanes' playoff hopes in peril.
Eric Staal scored for Carolina, which had its three-game winning streak snapped. The Hurricanes earned one point to move to 87, two behind the eighth-place New York Rangers, with three games left for both teams.
Carolina's Cam Ward finished with 29 saves in his 13th straight start.
Red Wings 4, Wild 2
DETROIT (AP) - Nicklas Lidstrom scored and Jimmy Howard made 27 saves, helping Detroit beat Minnesota and clinch the Central Division title.
Darren Helm, Tomas Holmstrom and Johan Franzen also scored for the Red Wings.
Detroit has won nine division titles in 10 seasons and 14 since the 1991-92 season when Lidstrom was a rookie.
The Red Wings moved one point ahead of idle San Jose, which has played one fewer game, for second place in the Western Conference with a week left in the regular season.
Brad Staubitz scored his third goal of the season to pull Minnesota within a goal early in the second period and helped set up Carson McMillan's goal in his NHL debut with 3:06 left to make it 4-2.
Red Wings center Pavel Datsyuk played for the first time since March 17, returning from a lower body injury.
Blues 6, Blue Jackets 1
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Patrik Berglund scored twice and Jaroslav Halak had 23 saves to lead St. Louis over Columbus.
Chris Porter, Andy McDonald, Alexander Steen and Carlo Colaiacovo also had goals, with Chris Stewart, Matt D'Agostini and Vladimir Subotka each adding two assists for the Blues, who have earned points in five of six games.
R.J. Umberger, who tied the Blue Jackets record for consecutive games played with 243, had the lone goal for Columbus, which has lost three straight.
Both teams had long been eliminated from the Western Conference playoff picture.
Lightning 2, Blackhawks 0
CHICAGO (AP) - Backup Mike Smith made 31 saves for his first shutout in more than a year, and Vincent Lecavalier scored a power-play goal in the first period before leaving with an injury in Tampa Bay's win over Chicago.
Nate Thompson added an empty-net goal with 22 seconds left to seal Tampa Bay's fifth straight victory. The Lightning improved to 99 points, one behind fourth-place Pittsburgh in the Eastern Conference.
Lecavalier was accidentally high-sticked by Chicago's Michael Frolik early in the second period and didn't return. The team said Lecavalier sustained a cut to his face.
Simon Gagne had two assists to extend his point streak to six games.
Flames 2, Avalanche 1
DENVER (AP) - Miikka Kiprusoff stopped 34 shots, Alex Tanguay had a goal and an assist, and Calgary boosted its postseason chances by beating Colorado.
Olli Jokinen also scored, and the Flames moved to within one point of the eighth-place Chicago Blackhawks, who have played two fewer games than Calgary.
Peter Budaj made 34 saves, and Milan Hedjuk scored for Colorado, which has won only four times in 29 games.
Stars 4, Ducks 3
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - Mike Ribeiro scored twice and Dallas helped its playoff hopes with a victory over Anaheim.
Stars captain Brenden Morrow had a goal and two assists, and Jeff Woywitka added a goal and an assist for the Stars, who snapped a six-game losing streak.
Corey Perry scored his NHL-leading 47th goal, and Ryan Getzlaf and Lubomir Visnovsky both added a goal for Anaheim, which would have clinched a playoff spot with a regulation win.
Ribeiro gave Dallas a 4-2 lead at 15:04 of the second period. The Ducks had a pair of potential tying goals taken away in the final 2:04 on an interference call and a hand pass violation.