Sundays National Hockey League Capsules
OTTAWA 2, NY RANGERS 1
NEW YORK Ryan Shannon snapped a third-period tie, and Alex Auld made 28 saves in a rare start to lead the also-ran Ottawa Senators to a 2-1 victory over the playoff-hopeful New York Rangers.
The Senators rebounded from an early 1-0 deficit, behind goals by Mike Comrie and Shannon, and started a six-game road trip with their ninth win in 10 games (9-1-0) and fourth straight.
Auld gave rookie Brian Elliott the night off, one day after he earned his eighth consecutive win by beating the New York Islanders 5-2 at home.
MINNESOTA 3, EDMONTON 0
ST. PAUL, Minnesota Owen Nolan scored two goals to lift the Minnesota Wild to a 3-0 win over the Edmonton Oilers.
The Wild moved within a point behind Nashville, which was idle on Sunday, in the race for eighth place in the Western Conference. The Oilers are seventh, two points ahead of the Predators.
Edmonton, which entered the game without a regulation loss in its previous seven games, was frustrated throughout by Minnesota. Wild goaltender Nicklas Backstrom had 31 saves for his seventh shutout of the season as the game also featured the return of star forward Marian Gaborik.
BOSTON 4, NEW JERSEY 1
BOSTON Michael Ryder and Milan Lucic scored on deflections off New Jersey Devils players and the Eastern Conference-leading Boston Bruins beat their closest challengers 4-1.
The win clinched the Northeast Division title for Boston, which locked up a playoff berth Saturday night when Florida lost to Columbus.
The Bruins got another fluke goal when Marc Savard scored on a power play on a rebound off New Jerseys Travis Zajac, who had stopped Matt Hunwicks shot from the left point. And Chuck Kobasew beat Martin Brodeur between the post and the goalies left skate as Kobasew stood behind the goal line.
Andy Greene scored for New Jersey midway through the second period, cutting the lead to 3-1.
CHICAGO 4, LOS ANGELES 1
CHICAGO Patrick Sharp and Martin Havlat each scored two goals, Nikolai Khabibulin made 14 saves, and the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Los Angeles Kings 4-1 to end an 0-3-2 slump.
Chicago, which snapped its longest winless streak this season, is 4-7-3 in its past 14.
Sharp skated in his first game after missing 16 with a left kneeinjury.
Khabibulin lost a bid for his second shutout this season and 40th of his career when the Kings Drew Doughty scored a power-play goal with 3:06 left in the third.
The victory moved the Blackhawks into fourth place in the Western Conference, two points ahead of idle Vancouver.
PHILADELPHIA 3, PITTSBURGH 1
PITTSBURGH Simon Gagne and Scott Hartnell scored power play goals, and the Philadelphia Flyers beat Pittsburgh 3-1 for the Penguins first loss in a month.
Philadelphia won its second in a row to open a two-point lead over Pittsburgh in the race for the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference and home-ice advantage in the first round.
Martin Biron made 27 saves, and Darroll Powe added an empty-net goal that Hartnell assisted on for the Flyers, who have three games in hand on the Penguins.
Kris Letang scored for Pittsburgh, which hadnt lost since Feb. 22 at Washington, had been 8-0-2 in its past 10 and lost in regulation for only the second time in 17 games under interim coach Dan Bylsma.
SAN JOSE 3, COLORADO 1
SAN JOSE, California Milan Michalek had a goal and an assist, Evgeni Nabokov made 31 saves and the San Jose Sharks reclaimed the overall NHL lead with their third home victory in four days, 3-1 over the Colorado Avalanche.
Jamie McGinn also scored, Devin Setoguchi added an empty-netter, and Alexei Semenov had two assists for San Jose, which took advantage of an unusual cluster of Shark Tank appearances to get back in the race for the franchises first Presidents Trophy. San Jose improved its NHL-leading home record to 30-3-4 and earned its 106th point, two off the team record and one more than Detroit in the NHL standings.
Longtime Sharks defenseman Scott Hannan scored his first goal of the season for the last-place Avalanche.
ANAHEIM 6, PHOENIX 2
ANAHEIM, California Ryan Getzlaf scored two power-play goals in the third period, Scott Niedermayer and rookie Andrew Ebbett also connected with the man advantage, and the Anaheim Ducks beat the Phoenix Coyotes, 6-2.
The four power-play goals were a season high for the Ducks, whose fourth win in five games put them a point behind Nashville for the eighth and final Western Conference playoff spot and kept them tied with Minnesota. Theyre 7-for-12 on the power play over their last three games, after going 1-for-28 in their previous eight contests.
Corey Perry and George Parros also scored, and Jonas Hiller made 26 saves.
Petr Prucha and Shane Doan scored for Phoenix.