Florida Continues Its Steady Climb Toward Top of Atlantic

Rob Niedermayer and Scott Mellanby scored power-play goals as the Florida Panthers defeated the New York Rangers, 4-3, on Sunday night in a battle of the second- and third-place teams in the Atlantic Division.

Florida, six points out of first place a week ago, is 5-1-3 in its last nine games and has moved within one point of Atlantic leader Philadelphia.

Florida’s Martin Straka scored his first goal since Dec. 26 on a rebound, and Jody Hull’s wrist shot through Mike Richter’s legs gave Florida a 4-1 lead.

New York’s Adam Graves scored his 20th goal off a faceoff with 2:36 remaining. Vladimir Vorobiev and Sergei Nemchinov also scored for the Rangers.

John Vanbiesbrouck stopped 29 shots for the Panthers as he improved to 8-8-4 against his former team.

Buffalo 2, Ottawa 1--Dominik Hasek made 32 saves and took advantage of an early Sabre lead en route to the victory over the Senators at Buffalo.

Jason Dawe scored 1:34 into the game, and Derek Plante scored the eventual game-winner 37 seconds into the second period for the Sabres, who moved ahead of Pittsburgh for first place in the Northeast Division.

Edmonton 4, Washington 1--Ryan Smyth and Mariusz Czerkawski each had a goal and an assist to lead the surging Oilers to a victory over the Capitals at Edmonton.

Bob Essensa made 30 saves for his first victory since December 28 for Edmonton, which has won six of its last seven games. The Oilers defeated Washington at home for the first time since Oct. 31, 1992.