Buffalo Gets the Point and Earns Playoff Spot

On the last day of the regular season, the Buffalo Sabres did just enough to make it into the playoffs.

“We said it probably was going to come down to the last game, but it turned out to be the last period, the last few minutes. But we got the job done,” Coach Lindy Ruff said after the Sabres earned a 1-1 tie with the Washington Capitals at Washington.

The result gave the defending Eastern Conference champions the eighth and final seed in the conference and eliminated the Carolina Hurricanes. The Capitals will be seeded No. 2.

Needing a victory or tie to clinch a playoff berth, Buffalo took the lead on Stu Barnes’ goal 2:48 into the third period. Washington’s Richard Zednik tied it with 14:24 to play. Because each team gets a point if the game is tied after regulation, the extra period became essentially meaningless.

The Capitals, who clinched the Southeast Division title on Saturday without playing, entered the game with a chance to finish first in the conference standings for the first time in franchise history. But they needed to win and the Philadelphia Flyers to lose--and neither happened.

Philadelphia 4, New York Rangers 1--The Flyers, playing down the stretch without their coach and captain, earned the No. 1-seeding in the Eastern Conference.

Mark Recchi and Daymond Langkow scored second-period goals as the Flyers clinched the Atlantic Division title at Madison Square Garden.

The Flyers, with 105 points, won their first division title since the 1995-96 season. It is the Flyers’ highest point total since 1985-86, when they had 110.

Philadelphia (45-25-12-3), which plays Buffalo in the first round, earned home-ice advantage in every round at least until the Stanley Cup finals.

Carolina 2, Atlanta 1--Paul Coffey scored two goals and Arturs Irbe had a shutout until the final minute at Raleigh, N.C., as the Hurricanes won but missed the playoffs by one point.

The Hurricanes went into their regular-season finale needing to win and Buffalo to lose at Washington in order to get the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

But the Sabres finished with 85 points, leaving the defending Southeast Division champions with 84.

Meanwhile, the Thrashers lost their 61st game--tying for the fourth worst single-season record in NHL history. Atlanta was 3-32-1 over its final 36 games.

Colorado 3, Detroit 2--Usually one of the league’s most spirited rivalries, the Avalanche and Red Wings played a rare penalty-free game at Denver. It was the first penalty-free game in 20 years. Montreal tied Buffalo, 2-2, in the last one on Feb. 17, 1980.

Colorado finished with an eight-game winning streak. The Avalanche, seeded third in the Western Conference, will open the playoffs against sixth-seeded Phoenix.

Chicago 3, St. Louis 1--The Blackhawks played well again when it didn’t matter.

Josef Marha scored a tiebreaking power-play goal in the third period that enabled the Blackhawks to defeat the league’s best regular-season team at Chicago.

The Blues have a 51-20-11 record and home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs, but the Blackhawks missed the postseason for the third consecutive year.

Phoenix 2, Dallas 2--Daniel Briere’s first goal of the season capped the Coyotes’ comeback from a two-goal deficit at Dallas.

Briere, recalled on Saturday from Springfield of the American League, skated up the right side, went in alone and beat goaltender Ed Belfour from close range at 10:46 of the second period.

New York Islanders 3, Florida 2--Mariusz Czerkawski’s hat trick helped the Islanders win at home for only the 10th time, tying for the fewest home victories in a season. They won 10 home games in their first season of 1972-73.

New York (24-49-9-1) also avoided losing 50 games. The Islanders had 60 losses their first season. The 49 are the second most in franchise history.

Pavel Bure scored the first Florida goal, finishing with 58 as the Panthers (43-33-6-6) were denied a 100-point season.

Boston 3, Pittsburgh 1--The Penguins had already clinched the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs, so the loss at Boston was meaningless.

The Bruins, who had not won in their previous eight games (0-6-2), will miss the playoffs for the second time in four years.

Jaromir Jagr, who did not score, finished with 96 points--42 goals and 54 assists--for his third consecutive scoring title.

Vancouver 5, San Jose 2--The Sharks lost an opportunity to move into the seventh position in the Western Conference playoffs with a loss at San Jose.

The Sharks will play the top-seeded St. Louis Blues in the first round of the playoffs.

If they had won or tied, the Sharks would have moved ahead of Edmonton in the standings and played Dallas. San Jose was 4-2-0 against Dallas and 0-4-1 against St. Louis.

Ottawa 5, Tampa Bay 2--Five goals at Kanata, Canada, enabled the Senators to set a franchise record for goals in a season.

Jason York, Magnus Arvedson, Shaun Van Allen, Radek Bonk and Marian Hossa scored. Ottawa finished with 244 goals, surpassing last season’s total of 239.