Ottawa’s Playoff Hopes Brighten With Victory

The Ottawa Senators’ chances of making the playoffs are looking pretty good right now. The same can’t be said of the New York Rangers.

“This was huge for us,” said Ottawa’s Daniel Alfredsson, who set up Alexei Yashin’s goal with 1:49 left in overtime as the Senators beat the Rangers, 3-2, Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden. “The playoffs have started now.”

The Senators solidified their hold on the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference as they improved their lead to seven points over both the Rangers and Carolina Hurricanes.

Edmonton 4, Washington 2--Andrei Kovalenko scored his first goal since Feb. 8 and had an assist at Edmonton to help the Oilers, who are in eighth place, two points behind Phoenix and Chicago for sixth place and five points ahead of ninth-place San Jose in the Western Conference.

Montreal 2, Tampa Bay 1--Patrice Brisebois scored on a breakaway with 2:26 remaining in overtime at Tampa as the Canadiens moved into a tie with Boston and Washington for fourth place in the Eastern Conference with 75 points.