Oilers Clinch Playoff Berth

Mike York scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and the Edmonton Oilers held on for a 4-3 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes on Wednesday night at Edmonton, Canada, clinching a playoff berth.

Last year, the five-time Stanley Cup champions missed the playoffs for the first time in five seasons.

The victory pulled the Oilers within two points of seventh-place Minnesota and three points of the Mighty Ducks.

York scored the winner when he deflected Cory Cross’ shot from the point on a power play at 6:09 of the third for his 22nd of the season.

St. Louis 1, Minnesota 0 -- Chris Osgood stopped 31 shots and Cory Stillman scored the only goal at St. Paul, Minn.

It was the second shutout for Osgood since he was traded to St. Louis from the New York Islanders on March 11.

The Blues ended a two-game losing streak, and moved into a tie with Colorado for fourth place in the Western Conference.

Both the Blues and Avalanche have six games remaining, and play each other in Denver in the regular-season finale.

Minnesota has lost two in a row, both shutouts, after clinching the team’s first playoff berth on Sunday night.

Pittsburgh 3, New York Rangers 1 -- Martin Straka and Tomas Surovy scored power-play goals in the first period at New York as the Penguins ended a 16-game winless streak.

Sebastien Caron made 33 saves and was 11:46 away from his third shutout in 22 games before Brian Leetch scored his 10th goal of the season.

New York lost three of five games to Pittsburgh, losing the season series to the Penguins for the fourth season in a row. The Rangers have eight losses to Pittsburgh, Atlanta and Buffalo -- three of the bottom four teams in the East.

Mario Lemieux, fifth in the NHL scoring race, sat out the game because of back spasms.

Atlanta 5, Carolina 1 -- Dany Heatley scored two goals at Atlanta and the Thrashers extended the Hurricanes’ winless streak to six games.

Atlanta won for the fourth time in seven games despite being outshot, 30-18.

Buffalo 2, Florida 1 -- Daniel Briere’s power-play goal late in the second period at Buffalo, N.Y., led to the Panthers’ fourth consecutive loss.

With Olli Jokinen off for hooking, Briere tipped Miroslav Satan’s shot from the point past Robert Luongo for his 21st goal and fourth in eight games.