NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - Kevin Hayes and Ryan McDonagh scored 47 seconds apart in the first period and the New York Rangers defeated the New Jersey Devils 4-2 Tuesday night to win the President's Trophy for the best regular-season record for the third time in franchise history.
The Rangers' fifth straight win improved their record to 52-21-7 for 111 points. The 52-wins ties the franchise record and the point total is one less than that franchise mark, both set in 1993-94, the last time they won the Stanley Cup.
Cam Talbot made 19 saves and James Sheppard and Carl Hagelin added third-period goals as the Rangers swept the four-game season series with New Jersey.
Patrik Elias and Steve Bernier scored and Cory Schneider made 36 saves in the Devils final home game.
SENATORS 4, PENGUINS 3, OT
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) - Mark Stone scored 2:43 into overtime to cap Ottawa's comeback from three goals down, preserving the Senators' playoff hopes.
Stone also scored in the third period, and Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Mike Hoffman had the Senators' other goals. Andrew Hammond had 25 saves for Ottawa, which played its final home game of the season.
Sidney Crosby and Patric Hornqvist had a goal and an assist each for the Penguins, and Beau Bennett scored for the first time in 31 games. Marc-Andre Fleury finished with 40 saves.
The Senators moved into a tie with Boston for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. Ottawa trails Pittsburgh, which holds the first wild-card spot, by one point.
Stone pulled the Senators to 3-2 in the opening minute of the third period, and Hoffman tied it with 1:48 remaining.
FLYERS 5, ISLANDERS 4
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Brayden Schenn capped a wild final 2 minutes with the winning goal with 2.1 seconds left to lift Philadelphia.
With a playoff berth at stake, the Islanders wiped out a 4-1 deficit in the third period and nearly sent the game into overtime. Johnny Boychuk scored with 1:44 remaining in the game to make it 4-3 and Anders Lee tied it with 28 seconds to go.
Lee scored earlier in the period to start the rally.
The Islanders needed a win or a Pittsburgh win at Ottawa to clinch an Eastern Conference playoff berth. The Penguins, also chasing a playoff spot in the final days of the season, blew a 3-0 lead and lost 4-3 in overtime to the Senators. The Islanders play at Pittsburgh on Friday night.
Claude Giroux scored two goals and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Carlo Colaiacovo also had goals.
RED WINGS 3, HURRICANES 2
DETROIT (AP) - Gustav Nyquist and Pavel Datsyuk scored in the third period, and Detroit moved closer to its 24th consecutive playoff berth.
Detroit could have clinched a postseason spot with the win over Carolina if Pittsburgh had beaten Ottawa in regulation, but the Penguins couldn't do that.
The Red Wings' streak of playoff berths is the longest active run in the four major U.S. pro leagues.
Detroit for only the sixth time in the last 18 games, and looked sluggish again while falling behind 2-1 in the second period, but Nyquist tied it less than two minutes into the third, and Datsyuk scored the game winner with 8:35 to play.
Jimmy Howard made 30 saves for Detroit, which was outshot 28-16 over the final two periods.
JETS 1, BLUES 0
ST. LOUIS (AP) - Ondrej Pavelec stopped 30 shots for his second consecutive shutout and the Winnipeg Jets strengthened their bid for a Western Conference playoff spot.
Chris Thorburn gave the Jets the game's first goal for the fourth straight game and eighth out of nine, and Pavelec made it stand up one night after making 31 saves in a 2-0 victory at Minnesota. Pavelec has four shutouts overall.
The Jets, who have won three straight, are battling Los Angeles and Calgary for the final two playoff spots in the West.
Jake Allen made 30 saves for the Blues, who had won three straight and entered with a one-point lead in the Central over Nashville. St. Louis was without injured Vladimir Tarasenko and Alexander Steen for the fourth straight game, but both are expected back for the playoffs.
WILD 2, BLACKHAWKS 1
CHICAGO (AP) - Devan Dubnyk made 32 saves to help Minnesota clinched a playoff spot.
Mikael Granlund and Jason Zucker scored in the third period for the Wild, who were coming off a 2-0 home loss to Winnipeg on Monday night. It was Zucker's first game since he broke his collarbone in the first period of a 5-3 victory over Vancouver on Feb. 9.
It was quite a turnaround from Minnesota's last visit to Chicago in January, when it lost 4-1 in the fifth game of a six-game slide. That losing streak dropped the Wild to 18-19-5, but they traded for Dubnyk on Jan. 14 and the veteran goaltender helped them turn their season around.
Bryan Bickell scored his 14th goal and Corey Crawford had 28 stops for the Blackhawks (48-26-6), who have lost two in a row.
AVALANCHE 3, PREDATORS 2
DENVER (AP) - Joey Hishon broke a third-period tie with his first NHL goal, Semyon Varlamov stopped 40 shots and Colorado handed Nashville its fourth straight loss.
Calle Jarnkrok and Ryan Ellis had scored for the Predators, who remain a point behind St. Louis for the Central Division title with two games remaining. The Blues lost to Winnipeg 1-0 earlier.
Jarome Iginla and Ryan O'Reilly had goals 9 seconds apart in the second period for Colorado, which was eliminated from the playoff chase last week.
Hishon, playing in his 11th game since being recalled from Lake Erie of the AHL, split two Nashville defenders and beat Pekka Rinne with a wrist shot at 7:06 of the final period.
The Predators pulled Rinne with about 1:35 remaining, but they couldn't get anything by Varlamov. Nashville dropped to 6-10-3 since Feb. 26.
FLAMES 3, COYOTES 2
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) - Sean Monahan scored the tiebreaking goal midway through the third period to lift Calgary.
Monahan carried the puck up ice and into the Coyotes' zone and, after hitting the brakes in the slot, sent a shot past Mike Smith for his 31st goal of the season. It came less than 2 minutes after Arizona capitalized on a big mistake by Flames goalie Jonas Hiller to tie it.
David Jones and Johnny Gaudreau also scored for the Flames, which swept the teams' five-game season series by a combined score of 20-8.
B.J. Crombeen and Craig Cunningham scored for the Coyotes.
Calgary can clinch their first trip to the postseason in six years when it hosts Los Angeles.
OILERS 4, KINGS 2
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) - Matt Fraser scored a pair of goals and Edmonton dealt a big blow to the playoff hopes of defending Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles.
Benoit Pouliot and Tyler Pitlick also scored for the Oilers, who snapped a three-game skid.
Jake Muzzin and Drew Doughty scored for the Kings, who have lost two straight at a time when they can't afford to let any points escape.
Los Angeles trails Winnipeg by three points and the Calgary Flames by two points with only two games remaining for all three teams in the hunt for the final two playoff spots in the Western Conference.
The Kings' loss clinched a playoff spot for the Vancouver Canucks.