NHL ROUNDUP : Run to Playoffs Hits the Wall in Hartford

New Jersey and Washington are in and the New York Rangers are still on the doorstep, despite themselves. But Hartford is down and out of the NHL playoffs again, victims, perhaps, of an unaccustomed stretch drive.

After all, the Whalers haven’t been in the playoffs since 1992.

Karl Dykhuis scored his second NHL goal Friday night in Hartford and it gave the Philadelphia Flyers a 4-3 victory, knocking the Whalers out of playoff contention.

They have 43 points with a game to play and no chance with a tiebreaker.

The loss was the fifth in six games for the Whalers, who faded down the stretch.

“We’ve experienced a lot of intense hockey and a playoff-type race atmosphere for three weeks or more,” Hartford goalie Sean Burke said. “There was a chance to make the playoffs but unfortunately, it just didn’t go our way.”

It almost did. Philadelphia took a 3-1 lead, then stopped before Dykhuis scored the game winner.

“Hartford was desperate and they played like it,” Flyer Coach Terry Murray said.

New York Islanders 4, New York Rangers 2--The Rangers were just as desperate as Hartford, but didn’t play that way, blowing a chance to virtually assure a chance to defend their Stanley Cup title.

The Rangers outshot the Islanders, 47-26, but could get only two of those shots past Tommy Soderstrom.

Ray Ferraro’s second goal of the game, his 22nd of the season, in the second period gave the Islanders a 2-1 lead.

New Jersey 3, Florida 1--The Devils clinched their sixth playoff trip in a row by getting a goal from Bobby Holik with 7:11 to play to win at East Rutherford, N.J., and snap a 0-3-1 slump.

Florida has 41 points and probably must win its last three games to keep playing in the postseason.

Washington 5, Buffalo 1--The Capitals clinched their Eastern Conference playoff spots much the same way they have won all season, by getting 19 saves from goalie rookie Jim Carey.

Pittsburgh 4, Boston 1--Kevin Stevens and Shawn McEachern scored in the second period and the Penguins won at Pittsburgh.

Vancouver 3, St. Louis 1--The Canucks got second-period goals from Russ Courtnall and Jyrki Lumme at home in a victory over the Blues that clinched a Western Conference playoff berth.

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NHL Notes

Bob Probert of the Chicago Blackhawks had his suspension for substance abuse lifted by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, but the left wing will not be able to play until next season. . . . The Ducks have signed free-agent defenseman Brian Corcoran, 23, who played college hockey at Massachusetts.