Blackburn’s Performance Is a Relief for Rangers

Don Blackburn made 28 saves in a strong relief effort and Petr Nedved scored the winning goal with 3 minutes 12 seconds left in the third period as the New York Rangers beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 2-1, Saturday at Philadelphia.

Blackburn, making his first appearance in 14 games, replaced starting goaltender Mike Dunham at the start of the second period after Dunham pulled a hamstring.

The victory kept the Rangers in the playoff hunt. They are in ninth place in the Eastern Conference. It was only the Flyers’ second loss of the season (24-2-5-1) when leading after one period.

New Jersey 4, New York Islanders 2 -- The Devils won for the fourth time in five games and extended their Atlantic Division lead over Philadelphia to four points. The Islanders, who have lost three consecutive games at home, are eighth in the Eastern Conference, only four points ahead of the New York Rangers and six ahead of Montreal for the final playoff spot.

Ottawa 3, Florida 1 -- Marian Hossa scored with 36.7 seconds left at Sunrise, Fla., to help the Senators clinch the Northeast Division title. They have an NHL-leading 104 points. The loss extended Florida’s franchise-record home winless streak to 12 games at 0-9-2-1.

Colorado 8, Chicago 1 -- Alex Tanguay recorded his first career hat trick and Peter Forsberg had a career-high five assists at Denver as the Avalanche clinched a playoff berth and also moved to within four points of Vancouver for the lead in the Northwest Division.

Detroit 4, St. Louis 2 -- The win at St. Louis moved the first-place Red Wings seven points ahead of the second-place Blues in the Central Division. Detroit has won 17 of its last 19 games (17-1-0-1). The loss ended a six-game home-ice winning streak for the Blues.

Toronto 3, Buffalo 2 -- Bryan McCabe scored 36 seconds into overtime at Toronto, enabling the Maple Leafs to move within four points of Philadelphia for fourth place in the Eastern Conference.

Atlanta 3, Columbus 2 -- Lubos Bartecko’s goal with 7:04 left gave the Thrashers the win at Columbus, Ohio. Atlanta’s Dany Heatley had a goal to extend his points streak to six games. He has eight goals and 14 points this month.

Montreal 5, Carolina 3 -- The Canadiens ended a home winless streak at seven. The crowd of 21,273 cheered during the final verse of “The Star-Spangled Banner” following a video address by Hall of Famer Jean Beliveau asking fans to respect the playing of both anthems.

Tampa Bay 4, Phoenix 0 -- At Phoenix, Vincent Lecavalier had his second three-goal game of the season as the Lightning moved within a point of clinching a playoff spot.

Calgary 1, Nashville 1 -- At Calgary, rookie Blair Betts scored his first goal with 6:24 left to give the Flames a tie, but they were eliminated from the Western Conference playoff race.

Edmonton 5, Washington 3 -- Fernando Pisani had his first three-goal game in the NHL to lead the Oilers at Edmonton. He entered the game with three goals in 28 games this season.