NHL ROUNDUP : Canucks Beat Devils, Clinch Playoff Berth

The Vancouver Canucks clinched a playoff berth with a 2-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils Thursday night at Vancouver.

Cliff Ronning and Pavel Bure scored in the first period as the Canucks gained their 38th victory of the season.

The Canucks are 24 points ahead of fifth-place Calgary in the Smythe Division and the Flames have 11 games remaining.

Vancouver also tied a team record set 17 years ago for points in a season with 86. The Canucks also have 11 games left, starting Saturday in Calgary.

The victory increased Vancouver’s division lead to nine points over the Kings and extended its unbeaten string to four games.

Eric Weinrich scored for the Devils in the final period as injury-riddled New Jersey went without a victory for the fourth consecutive game.

Canuck goalie Kirk McLean faced 26 shots, including 14 in the final period.

Pittsburgh 6, New York Islanders 4--Mario Lemieux had an empty-net goal and four assists at Pittsburgh as the Penguins increased their lead over the Islanders to six points for the final playoff spot in the Patrick Division.

Kjell Samuelsson had the tiebreaking goal in the third period as the Penguins raised their season record against the Islanders to 5-1-1.

The fourth-place Penguins have 72 points and the Islanders have 66, with 11 games to go. Pittsburgh has three more victories and the Islanders have played one more game than the Penguins.

Detroit 5, St. Louis 4--Sergei Fedorov, a former Soviet, scored twice and countryman Vyacheslav Kozlov assisted on both goals in his NHL debut as the Red Wings won at St. Louis to end a four-game winless streak.

Kozlov, 19, a former Red Army player who is the third former Soviet to join the Red Wings, got an assist on his first shift, setting up Fedorov’s goal at 1:37 of the first period. He also got the puck to Fedorov on a break-in at 9:30 of the second period.

Philadelphia 5, Calgary 4--Rod Brind’Amour’s goal 1:54 into overtime lifted the Flyers to a victory over the Flames at Philadelphia.

The Flyers have only two losses in their last 21 home games (13-2-6). Calgary has one victory in its last nine (1-6-2) and one victory in its last 11 road games (1-9-1).