Gretzky’s Grand Day Ruined by the Devils

The New Jersey Devils did more than spoil Wayne Gretzky’s 1,000th NHL goal. They took another step in avoiding a first-round playoff matchup with the team that scares them, the New York Rangers.

Krzysztof Oliwa scored his first NHL goal to trigger a three-goal, third-period outburst at East Rutherford, N.J., and the Devils extended their unbeaten streak to 10 games with a 6-3 victory over the Rangers on Saturday.

The win, coupled with Dallas’ loss to St. Louis, tied the Devils and Stars for the best record overall in the NHL this season. It also left the Rangers dangling in 10th place in the Eastern Conference, two places out of playoff spot with 20 games left in the regular season.

“Obviously the fourth goal was a big goal,” said Gretzky, who tied the game at 3-3 in the second period with his 1,000th goal (878 regular season, 122 playoffs). “It seemed to break our back.

“Unfortunately we need to win at this point in time. Close is not good enough.”

Gretzky got his milestone goal with a minute left in a four-minute high-sticking penalty to Bobby Carpenter. Deep in the right corner, Gretzky sent a pass in front and it went into the net off Brodeur’s skate after being tipped by Devil defenseman Scott Stevens.

“It’s mind-boggling,” the Devils’ Steve Thomas said of Gretzky’s total. “A thousand goals, I don’t know if I have 1,000 goals playing bantam, pee-wee, minor, novice, midget anything. NHL, that’s a lot of goals. He is the best that ever played the game.”

Pittsburgh 6, Philadelphia 4--Jaromir Jagr set up third-period goals by Alexei Morozov and Martin Straka as the Penguins won at home after they had knocked Flyer captain Eric Lindros out of the game with a concussion in the second period.

Lindros left the game at 8:48 of the second period when he was hit by defenseman Darius Kasparaitis. Lindros was near the blue line and had his head down when Kasparaitis hit him in the face with his shoulder with a clean check. Lindros, who leads the Flyers with 67 points, had to be helped from the ice and did not return.

St. Louis 2, Dallas 1--Pierre Turgeon scored with nine minutes remaining to lead the Blues over the Stars at St. Louis.

The game had been tied since 7:24 of the first period before Turgeon scored on a slap shot from the left circle to beat goaltender Ed Belfour.

Washington 6, Florida 3--The Capitals exploded out of their worst losing streak in eight years, scoring four goals on five shots in the third period to sink the Panthers at Washington.

Joe Juneau had two goals and two assists, Richard Zednik scored twice, and Peter Bondra scored for the first time in a month as the Capitals broke a six-game losing streak and extended the Panthers’ losing run to five.

Chicago 2, Boston 1--Eric Daze’s 24th goal broke a 1-1 tie and gave the Blackhawks the victory at Boston.

Chicago ended a three-game winless streak.

Colorado 4, N.Y. Islanders 2--Defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh scored a power-play goal and assisted on three other power-play goals as the Avalanche upended the Islanders at Uniondale, N.Y.

Peter Forsberg added a goal and assist for Colorado, and Valery Kamensky and Keith Jones also scored. It was the fourth consecutive game that Forsberg recorded at least two points.

Buffalo 2, Montreal 1--Geoff Sanderson and Michal Grosek scored in the third period as the Sabres extended the Canadiens’ home losing streak to six games.

Dominik Hasek made 31 saves for Buffalo.

Ottawa 2, Calgary 1--Daniel Alfredsson scored the game winner with 10:23 left in the third period as the Senators edged the Flames at Kanata, Canada.

Alfredsson’s goal was his first in 11 games and his 11th of the season.

Toronto 4, Edmonton 1--Rookie Alyn McCauley scored one goal and assisted on another as the Maple Leafs defeated the Oilers at Toronto to stop a two-game losing streak and keep their slim playoff hopes alive.

The victory gave the Maple Leafs 50 points, moving them within six of the Oilers for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Vancouver 5, Tampa Bay 2--Mark Messier and Pavel Bure scored as as the Canucks rolled over the Lightning at Vancouver.

Bure gave the Canucks a 2-0 lead at 13:04 of the first period with his 38th goal of the season, and Messier put Vancouver ahead, 3-1, nine minutes into the second period with his 21st goal of the season.