Jets Do What They Have to Do--Keep Winning

Keith Tkachuk, ordinarily a scorer, set up an important late-game goal and Craig Janney had three assists for the Jets, who can look behind them, see teams shuffle positions and rest comfortably after a 3-1 victory over Dallas on Wednesday night in Winnipeg.

It was the fourth victory in five games for the Jets, who struggled for two weeks before their recent success, tightening the Western Conference playoff race.

Winnipeg has the West’s eighth position, the last available playoff spot, four points ahead of the Mighty Ducks with six games to play.

Dallas Drake picked up a perfect cross-ice pass from Tkachuk and scored a late goal to seal Winnipeg’s victory.

“Actually, I was hoping he would shoot it, but I just had to tap it in after a great pass,” Drake said.

St. Louis 6, Colorado 3--Steve Leach scored two goals and backup goalie Jon Casey, substituting for the injured Grant Fuhr, had 29 saves for the Blues in a victory at Denver.

Fuhr did not make the trip because of a strained right knee, ending his streak of consecutive starts at 76--an NHL record.

Calgary 4, Vancouver 3--Ron Stern’s goal midway through the third period boosted the Flames to a victory at Calgary.

Tampa Bay 4, Hartford 2--Daren Puppa made 38 saves and Mikael Andersson scored the game-winner at St. Petersburg.

Boston 4, Montreal 1--Todd Elik’s first-period goal began the Bruins’ victory at Montreal.

Chicago 5, Toronto 2--Murray Craven scored two goals for the Blackhawks at Toronto.

Ottawa 3, Florida 2--Senators’ goaltender Damian Rhodes stopped Martin Straka’s penalty shot with 9.6 seconds to play for a victory at Ottawa.

Washington 5, Buffalo 1--Peter Bondra scored four goals for the Capitals in a victory at Buffalo.

NHL Notes

Montreal defenseman Lyle Odelein was suspended for two games and fined $1,000 and teammate Chris Murray was suspended for three games without pay and fined $1,000 for incidents against Buffalo.