NHL ROUNDUP : On Thin Ice, Blues Sneak Into Playoffs

The St. Louis Blues ended a late-season tailspin just in time, running up a five-goal lead and hanging on to defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 6-5, Thursday night at St. Louis to clinch the final playoff spot in the NHL.

Brendan Shanahan, Bob Bassen and Kevin Miller each scored twice for the Blues, who finished three points ahead of the Minnesota North Stars for fourth place in the Norris Division, despite a 2-5-2 finish.

Their only other victory down the stretch was against Minnesota as they barely avoided missing the playoffs for the first time since 1979.

The North Stars, who could have qualified with a victory if the Blues had lost, were defeated by the Detroit Red Wings.

The standing-room crowd of 17,816 at the St. Louis Arena cheered wildly when the Red Wing-North Star score was posted at 16:08 of the second period and the race officially ended.

In a bit of intrigue, the crowd knew nothing of that game until the Red Wings had it well in hand. No score was listed until Detroit had taken command, 4-2, in the third period.

The Blues will play the Chicago Blackhawks, the regular-season champions in the Norris Division, in the first round of the playoffs starting Sunday at Chicago.

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Detroit 5, Minnesota 3--Paul Coffey’s power-play goal early in the third period at Detroit started a three-goal run and helped the Red Wings knock the North Stars out of the playoffs and out of existence as a Minnesota franchise.

The North Stars needed a victory to have any chance of beating out St. Louis for the final Norris Division playoff spot, but instead ended their final season in Minnesota at 36-38-10. The North Stars are moving to Dallas after this season.

Detroit finished with a club-record 103 points, and will play host to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round of the playoffs starting Monday.

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Philadelphia 7, Buffalo 4--Kevin Dineen scored two shorthanded goals and a power-play goal to give the Flyers their seventh consecutive victory at Buffalo.

The Sabres got two goals from Alexander Mogilny, his 75th and 76th goals of the season, which tied him with Winnipeg rookie Teemu Selanne for the regular-season goal-scoring championship.

Buffalo opens the first round of the Adams Division playoffs Sunday at Boston against the Bruins. The Flyers finish their season tonight against the Whalers.

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Chicago 3, Toronto 2--Jeremy Roenick scored his 50th goal and assisted on another to help the Blackhawks win at Chicago.

Roenick is only the second Blackhawk ever to record back-to-back 50-goal seasons. Bobby Hull was first with 54 in 1965-66 and 52 the following year.

Chicago already had clinched first place in the Norris Division and Toronto could not finish better or worse than third.

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Winnipeg 3, Edmonton 0--Teemu Selanne scored his 76th goal as the playoff-bound Jets ended their regular season by blanking the Oilers at Edmonton.

Alexei Zhamnov and Darrin Shannon also scored for the Jets, who face the Vancouver Canucks in the opening round of the Smythe Division playoffs Monday.

Selanne’s 76 goals and 132 points are NHL rookie records.

Selanne scored his goal by beating Bill Ranford between the pads on a breakaway, but the Edmonton goaltender shut the door on the right winger the rest of the way.

Selanne did beat Ranford again midway through the second, but Oiler Dave Manson stopped the shot with his skates.

The Oilers not only missed the playoffs for the first time but set club records for fewest points, fewest victories and most losses.

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Calgary 7, San Jose 3--The Flames put an end to the Sharks’ dismal second season with a four-goal second period at Calgary.

Joe Nieuwendyk, Paul Ranheim, Trent Yawney and Craig Berube scored in the second for Calgary.

San Jose finished with an NHL-record 71 losses and an all-time low two ties.