NHL ROUNDUP : Winnipeg Wins to Leap Kings, Edmonton

Teemu Selanne scored two goals and the Winnipeg Jets delivered a blow to the Oilers’ playoff hopes and breathed new life into their own with a 5-1 victory Saturday night at Edmonton.

They didn’t do the Kings any good, either.

Winnipeg broke open a close game late in the third period when Selanne scored his second goal of the game at 15:08. Seventeen seconds later, Kris King walked in alone on Edmonton goaltender Fred Brathwaite, scoring.

Randy Gilhen also scored for Winnipeg in the third period.

The Jets’ victory allowed them to leave the Kings behind, pass Edmonton and move into an eighth-place tie with the San Jose Sharks for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. The Sharks and Jets have 39 points, Edmonton has 38 and the Kings have 37.

Winnipeg has two games to play, the Sharks three and San Jose holds a tiebreaker advantage over the Jets with 18 victories to Winnipeg’s 16.

Selanne, left unguarded near the faceoff dot, was fed a perfect pass from linemate Alexei Zhamnov in the corner. Selanne sent a low shot past Brathwaite for his 21st goal of the season at 5:40 of the second period.

Brathwaite got the start when Bill Ranford developed back spasms moments before the start of the game. His playing status has been listed as day to day by the Oilers.

Detroit 4, Dallas 2--The Red Wings won the President’s Cup, clinching the NHL’s best record and home ice throughout the playoffs, on the day they retired Sid Abel’s No. 12. Abel was the last man to coach Detroit in a Stanley Cup final, in 1965. The Red Wings last won a Stanley Cup in 1955.

Home ice might be particularly important to Detroit, which is unbeaten in its last 12 games there (10-0-2).

Toronto 2, Calgary 2--The Maple Leafs moved one point ahead of Chicago in competition for the home-ice playoff advantage in the first round of the playoffs by getting goals from Dave Andreychuk and Mike Gartner in a tie at Toronto.

Buffalo 3, Montreal 3--Pat LaFontaine scored for Buffalo with 10 seconds to play in the second period at Montreal to forge the tie and move the Sabres three points ahead of the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference and near a playoff spot.

The Canadiens moved within two points of the Rangers for the final playoff spot in the East.

Quebec 4, Tampa Bay 1--Mike Ricci had a power-play goal and an assist for the Nordiques, who scored on four of their first 12 shots at Quebec in sending the Lightning to its fifth consecutive defeat.

Ottawa 4, New York Islanders 3--The Senators, who have won only eight games, have won three of those in a row, getting two goals from Sylvain Turgeon in a victory over the Islanders at Ottawa.

NHL Notes

Commissioner Gary Bettman arrived in an angry Winnipeg under police escort, saying that he wants the Jets to stay put. Bettman met with government officials, members of a private business group that wants to buy the Jets and move it to Minnesota and the Jets’ current owners a day after a demonstration in Winnipeg targeted him. . . . Edmonton’s Bryan Marchment has been suspended without pay, pending completion of a review by the NHL into an incident involving the Oilers’ defenseman on the Oiler bench on Thursday. . . . Claude Ruel, an executive and former coach with the Canadiens, was in intensive care in Montreal after suffering a heart attack.