NHL ROUNDUP : Islanders Tighten Grip on Eighth Playoff Spot

The New York Islanders strengthened their hold on the final Eastern Conference playoff spot by defeating the New York Rangers, 5-4, on Sunday at Uniondale, N.Y.

The victory gave the Islanders 82 points, two more than the Florida Panthers for the eighth position in the Eastern Conference. The Islanders hold the first tiebreaker advantage with 35 victories, three more than the Panthers.

Vladimir Malakhov scored twice for the Islanders. Other Islander goals were scored by Ray Ferraro, Mart McInnis and Benoit Hogue.

Boston 4, Philadelphia 3--Goals by Don Sweeney and Glen Murray only 2:19 apart in the second period lifted the Bruins at Philadelphia, mathematically eliminating the Flyers from the playoff race.

St. Louis 2, Dallas 2--Petr Nedved scored with 7:52 remaining to give the Blues a tie at St. Louis.

Nedved scored his fifth goal since joining the Blues on March 7 on a slap shot from the left circle that beat goalie Darcy Wakaluk.

Hartford 6, Tampa Bay 4--Robert Kron and Pat Verbeek each scored twice to help the Whalers overcome an early three-goal deficit at Hartford, Conn.

Jocelyn Lemieux and Geoff Sanderson also scored for the Whalers, who scored five unanswered goals after falling behind, 3-0.

Buffalo 4, Quebec 1--Alexander Mogilny’s third-period goal broke a 1-1 tie and Dominik Hasek stopped 21 of 22 shots for the Sabres at Buffalo, N.Y.

Mogilny’s goal came 1:45 into the third period during a Sabre power play. His attempt at a crossing pass to Donald Audette bounced off Quebec defenseman Alexei Gusarov and dribbled through the legs of goalie Stephane Fiset into the net.

San Jose 3, Vancouver 1--Ray Whitney scored one goal and assisted on another at San Jose.

Whitney went to work early in the second period. First, on a power play, he sent a backhand, between-the-legs pass to Ulf Dahlen, and Dahlen scored from five feet away at 6:23.

Then, at 9:03, Whitney picked up the rebound put it back in for his 14th goal of the season.

New Jersey 2, Florida 2--Martin Brodeur made a season-high 45 saves at Miami.

Florida goalie Mark Fitzpatrick stopped 31 New Jersey shots and remained unbeaten (3-0-4) in his past seven starts. Neither team scored in the final 28 minutes.

Toronto 7, Winnipeg 0--The Maple Leafs scored three times in the first five minutes at Toronto.

Wendel Clark and Nik Borschevsky had two goals each for Toronto.

Goalie Felix Potvin earned his third shutout of the season.

Edmonton 4, Detroit 3--Steve Rice scored at 17:53 of the third period to give the Oilers the victory at Edmonton.

Keith Primeau scored for the Red Wings in the final second of play, but officials ruled the puck went in after the light had gone on to signal the end of the game.