Flyers Lose Without a Fight

Martin Prusek made 39 saves to lead the surging Ottawa Senators to a 3-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers Friday night in Philadelphia.

Despite a number of big hits, the much-anticipated game was much less combative than the previous meeting.

In the Flyers’ 5-3 victory on March 5, the teams combined to set an NHL record with 419 penalty minutes. The feud continued off-ice after the game, with each team blaming the other for instigating the fighting. The rematch produced only six minor penalties totaling 12 minutes.

The Senators, 4-0-1 in their last five games, pulled into a tie with Boston for the Northeast Division lead and are in second place in the Eastern Conference.

Ottawa holds the tiebreaker with three more victories, but the Bruins have two games left to the Senators’ one.

The Flyers lead New Jersey by two points in the race for the Atlantic Division title. The Devils play Boston today and Sunday, and Philadelphia will close the regular season against the New York Islanders on Sunday.

New York Islanders 6, Carolina 4 -- The Islanders clinched their third consecutive playoff appearance by beating the Hurricanes at Raleigh, N.C. They won the final postseason berth in the Eastern Conference, eliminating Buffalo from the race.

The Islanders, who are one point behind Montreal for seventh place, qualified for the playoffs three years in a row for the first time since a 14-year run from 1975-88.

Toronto 2, Buffalo 0 -- At Buffalo, Ed Belfour had to stop only 17 shots to record his 74th career shutout and the Maple Leafs set a club record for points. The Maple Leafs, who have 101 points, play their final regular-season game today at Ottawa. Toronto trails Ottawa and Boston by a point in the East.

Pittsburgh 3, Atlanta 2 -- At Atlanta, the Thrashers’ Ilya Kovalchuk scored his 40th goal, tying Columbus’ Rick Nash and Calgary’s Jarome Iginla for the NHL lead.

Kovalchuk, who was denied on six first-period shots by Penguin goaltender Jean Sebastien Aubin, hadn’t scored in five games.

Colorado 4, Columbus 2 -- Marek Svatos scored his first two NHL goals and Joe Sakic scored his 33rd to help the Avalanche end a five-game road losing streak.

Svatos started the season with the Avalanche but then injured his shoulder and had to have surgery for the second time in nine months. He was playing his first game since getting hurt Oct. 12, 2003, against St. Louis.

Vancouver 4, San Jose 1 -- The victory at San Jose enabled the Canucks to remain in first place in the Northwest Division. The Canucks won their fifth in a row and ended the Sharks’ five-game winning streak.

Minnesota 4, Dallas 2 -- Goaltender Manny Fernandez stopped 32 shots at St. Paul to beat his former team for the first time in four tries. The Stars are 0-2-2 since starting goaltender Marty Turco was suspended four games for slashing Edmonton’s Ryan Smyth.

*

Boston’s Joe Thornton is listed as day to day because of an apparent wrist injury and isn’t expected to play in the Bruins’ final home game today against the New Jersey Devils. Coach Mike Sullivan said he didn’t know if the forward would be back for Sunday’s regular-season finale in New Jersey.... Forward Tomas Holmstrom signed a three-year contract with the Red Wings. He would have been an unrestricted free agent this summer.