Associated Press
TAMPA, Fla. ó Jeff Halpern scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and Karri Ramo made 38 saves to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning past the Southeast Division-leading Carolina Hurricanes 2-1 on Saturday night.
Halpern gave the Lightning a 2-1 lead on a shot from the right circle 5:43 into the third period. Jussi Jokinen also scored for Tampa Bay, which is last in the Eastern Conference and won for the sixth time in its last 20 games.
Chad LaRose scored for the Hurricanes, who saw their lead over second-place Washington cut to two points after the Capitals beat Florida 3-0.
The Hurricanes and Capitals both have three games left, including a showdown Tuesday in Washington.
Bruins 4, Senators 0
BOSTON ó Tim Thomas stopped 34 shots for his third shutout of the season, and David Krejci had a goal and two assists Saturday to help the Boston Bruins beat the Ottawa Senators 4-0.
The Bruins have 90 points ó one behind Philadelphia and the New York Rangers.
Martin Gerber stopped 27 shots for the Senators, who have won once in their last five games.
P.J. Axelsson and Marco Sturm scored 31/2 minutes apart in the second period, and Shane Hnidy made it 3-0 on a short-handed slap shot 73 seconds into the third.
Flyers 4, Islanders 3, SO
UNIONDALE, N.Y. ó Danny Briere scored the only goal in the shootout for the Philadelphia Flyers, who rallied twice in the third period and escaped with a victory.
Wade Dubielewicz made a career-high 51 saves against the Flyers and then stopped Mike Richards and Jeff Carter in the first two rounds of the shootout. Antero Niittymaki matched him at the other end with saves against Frans Nielsen, Kyle Okposo and Richard Park. That set up Briere for the winner on the final attempt of the tiebreaker.
The Flyers jumped back over Boston, which won earlier in the day, into seventh place in the Eastern Conference playoff race. Philadelphia is tied in points with the sixth-place Rangers and is three ahead of Washington, the first team below the postseason cutoff.
Stars 7, Kings 2
LOS ANGELES ó Loui Eriksson scored twice less than 31/2 minutes apart during a four-goal second period and Dallas connected three times on power plays.
Eriksson, Stephane Robidas and Brenden Morrow all scored with the man advantage for the Stars, who earned a split of the eight-game season series after winning all eight meetings with the Kings last season. Stu Barnes, Jere Lehtinen and Niklas Hagman also had goals, Mike Ribeiro had three assists and defenseman Robidas had two.
Kevin Dallman and Michael Cammalleri scored for the Kings, who were outshot 35-14.
Maple Leafs 4, Canadiens 2
TORONTO ó Rookies Anton Stralman and Jiri Tlusty each scored two goals and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Canadiens. Nik Antropov added three assists for the Maple Leafs, who are playing for pride after being eliminated from playoff contention Thursday night.
Tom Kostopoulos and Mathieu Dandenault scored for the Canadiens, who failed to put more distance between them and the second-place Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference title race.
Capitals 3, Panthers 0
SUNRISE, Fla.ó Cristobal Huet stopped 32 shots for his fourth shutout of the season, and Viktor Kozlov had a goal and two assists as the Washington Capitals continued their playoff push.
Huet, acquired from Montreal at the trading deadline, recorded his second shutout with the Capitals and the 17th of his career. Mike Green and Alex Ovechkin also scored for the Capitals, who have won eight of their last nine.
Tomas Vokoun made 30 saves for Florida, which was mathematically eliminated from playoff contention by losing in its home finale.