Games for Sunday, April 9thTampa Bay Lightning 3, Florida Panthers 6SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) -- The Florida Panthers are out of playoff contention, but it was the Tampa Bay Lightning who looked like they had nothing to play for.Juraj Kolnik and Olli Jokinen each scored two goals to help the Panthers beat the Lightning 6-3 on Sunday.Nathan Horton and Joe Nieuwendyk also had goals for Florida and Jamie McLennan made 29 saves to notch his second win of the season."We forged ahead and came out strong in the third," McLennan said. "We wanted to have a good showing and we did."Vaclav Prospal, Dan Boyle and Martin St. Louis tallied goals for Tampa Bay. John Grahame had 41 saves for the Lightning, who remain tied with Montreal at 89 points for the final two playoff berths in the Eastern Conference."We're just not doing enough right now," Tampa Bay's Brad Richards said. "We're not trying to win games, we're just hoping. You can use a lot of fancy words but there's no other way to put it."Tampa Bay lost for the sixth time to Floirda this season."The pressure has been getting to us and we're sitting back and being a little too careful and allowing teams to come to us," said Tampa Bay associate coach Craig Ramsay, who spoke in lieu of head coach John Tortorella. "We had our chances when they weren't on their game early. The third period just opened up."Kolnik picked up a loose puck in the left circle and his shot went just inside the top corner of the net to put Florida ahead 4-3 with 5 minutes left in the third. Nieuwendyk's empty net goal with 90 seconds left made the score 5-3. Kolnik added a goal in the last half minute of the game."I think we had a really good game," Florida coach Jacques Martin said. "This is how our team has been looking the second half of the season. The players should feel good about their performance."Tampa Bay tied the score 3-all at 9:25 of the third when St. Louis beat McLennan stick side from just in front of the crease.Florida took a 3-2 lead after Horton's shot from the right circle went over Grahame's left shoulder at 6:49 of the third.Jokinen's second goal at 5:01 of the third tied the score at 2. Kolnik fired a pass from the boards to Jokinen at the corner of the crease and he beat Grahame on the glove side."It was a little sloppy in the first period but starting in the second we were solid," Jokinen said. "They had a tough game last night (1-0 win vs. Pittsburgh)and didn't look like they had legs. It was nice to get a win for (McLennan.)The Lightning took their first lead on their second power-play goal. Prospal's cross-ice feed was picked up by Boyle to the right of the crease. He beat McLennan glove side to make the score 2-1 with 20 seconds left in the second.Tampa Bay tied the score 1-all during a power play at 15:24 of the second. McLennan blocked a shot but the puck bounced off his glove and Prospal jumped on the rebound from behind the net and poked in the puck.The Panthers scored first on Jokinen's goal midway through the second. Gary Roberts passed from the left of the crease to Jokinen behind the net. Jokinen came out and pushed the puck past Grahame on a wrap-around.Game notesTampa has lost four straight at Florida and seven of its last eight there. ... Florida snapped a three-game losing streak... Panthers defenseman Alexei Semenov played for the first time in 30 games.http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=260409026New York Rangers 2, New Jersey Devils 3EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- There was a playoff feel to the latest game between the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers.Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta scored 39 seconds apart in the third period to lift the surging Devils to a dramatic 3-2 victory over the Rangers on Sunday night in a game rife with playoff implications.The tense contest featured the kind of hard hits and momentum shifts that mark playoff hockey."That was a playoff atmosphere," Devils coach Lou Lamoriello said.Rangers coach Tom Renney agreed."It was real intense," he said. "It was a hard working, hard hitting game. It was a fun game."The teams concluded the season series with four wins each and could meet again in the opening round. That's the matchup at the moment with the Atlantic Division-leading Rangers third in the Eastern Conference and the streaking Devils sixth.The showdown might have to wait, if the Devils continue to climb in the standings.Sergei Brylin also scored for the Devils and Martin Brodeur made 24 saves to help New Jersey extend its winning streak to seven. The victory gave the Devils 93 points, pulling them within two of the fifth-place Philadelphia Flyers."We're staying patient," Gionta said. "We're staying on an even keel and waiting for our chances."Time was running out when Gomez got his chance.With New Jersey down 2-1 in the third, Gomez tied the game at 11:33 as he split the Rangers defense pair of Sandis Ozolinsh and Jason Strudwick to whip a backhander past Kevin Weekes. The goal was the fourth in the last three games for Gomez."I got a little lucky," Gomez said. "I just found a hole and I took it."Gionta scored the winner on the power play as he knocked in Jamie Langenbrunner's centering feed from behind the net. The goal extended Gionta's scoring streak to 11 games (8 goals, 7 assists)."It was a short-side play." Gionta said. "Langenbrunner found me in front."The Rangers, who had won three in a row, got goals from Blair Betts and Ozolinsh while Weekes made 23 saves."Even if we had gotten to overtime and gotten a point out of it, it would have been more palatable," Weekes said. "This is a bitter pill to swallow. We had two points and came out with nothing to show for it."The Rangers took a 2-1 lead on second-period goals by Betts and Ozolinsh.The turning point in that period came at 3:32 when the Rangers Ryan Hollweg got a 5-minute charging penalty. The Rangers weathered the major without giving up a goal as Weekes made big stops on Gionta, Gomez and John Madden.Momentum swung in New York's favor after the penalty kill.Betts pulled the Rangers even at 13:54. Jason Ward gloved down a clearing attempt by Devils defenseman Colin White and fed the puck to Betts for the tying goal.Ozolinsh gave the Rangers the lead with a power-play score at 15:46 as he cheated in from the point. Jaromir Jagr hit the cutting defenseman with a pass that glanced off his stick shaft and knuckled past Brodeur.In the third, Martin Straka hit the post with 12 minutes remaining with a shot that would have given the Rangers a two goal lead. That miss ultimately proved costly.Brylin bounced back from a hard hit in the opening minutes to score the only goal of the first period. Brylin was checked face-first into the side boards by Hollweg. Brylin was bleeding heavily as he left the ice and needed stitches over his left eye.He returned in time to score a power-play goal at 13:46, seconds after Brodeur stopped Fedor Tyutin on a breakaway.The goal unfolded with Zach Parise making a cross-ice pass to Paul Martin who unloaded a slapshot toward the Rangers net. Brylin deflected the puck past Weekes who was screened by the Devils' Erik Rasmussen.Game notesRangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist missed a fourth straight game with a hip injury. ...The Rangers recalled defenseman Thomas Pock from Hartford (AHL). ... Jagr lost his edge late in the second period and rolled into linesman Thor Nelson who had to be helped off the ice. The game continued with only three officials. ...The sellout was the Devils fourth this season and second with the Rangers as the opponent.http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=260409011Edmonton Oilers 1, St. Louis Blues 2ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Too bad the St. Louis Blues can't find another jersey to retire.Rookie Jason Bacashihua carried a shutout into the final minute and the Blues, inspired on after Al MacInnis was honored, beat the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 on Sunday night to end a franchise-record 13-game losing streak."It's been a while since we got a 'W" Bacashihua said. "It was a good way to get one."Jamal Mayers and Mark Rycroft scored for the Blues, who won hours after the Blues retired MacInnis' No. 2 jersey before a paid crowd of 19,090, the second largest of the season. In the process, they put a dent in the Oilers' playoff hopes."It was a touching ceremony," Mayers said. "Having Al's jersey retired was a special day, and the guys did a great job of coming up with a solid effort."The Oilers declined to participate in the 45-minute pre-game ceremony, feeling it was inappropriate for the Blues to honor MacInnis before a late-season game that held meaning to them. Among those not involved in the ceremony was defenseman Chris Pronger, a longtime teammate of MacInnis' before being traded last September.Pronger, who was booed frequently throughout the game, said it was "immaterial" whether the MacInnis ceremony was a distraction."We're professionals and we have to come to work and play the game," Pronger said. "They had to sit through the same thing except they had to sit on the bench."A video tribute from Oilers coach Craig MacTavish was aired with under two minutes to go, however. Pronger said he also did a video."But did they lose it?" he said. "I think they lost it."MacTavish complained that his team has run into a handful of pre-game ceremonies this season."The perfect guest again," MacTavish said. "I wondered why they were going to pick us to retire Al MacInnis' jersey."There's no excuse for not having everybody ready to play and we end up being the perfect guest for what ends up being a crucial game for us."Bacashihua, who made his first start in about 2 1-2 months on Saturday at Colorado, is getting a chance to play due to season-ending injuries to Curtis Sanford and Patrick Lalime. He made 36 saves and was particularly strong in the first half of the third period when the Oilers outshot the Blues 14-1."I didn't look," Bacashihua said. "I knew we had a two-goal lead and that was my job back there to protect it."Pronger scored his 12th goal on a power play with 24.1 seconds to go for the Oilers, who fell into a tie for seventh in the Western Conference after the Sharks' 4-1 victory over the Stars. They're two points ahead of the idle Canucks.The Blues got the only goal in the first two periods on Mayers' 13th of the season, and second in four games. Mayers beat Dwayne Roloson on a 2-on-1 break at the one-minute mark of the second period.Rycroft's sixth goal, also on a 2-on-1 break, made it 2-0 at 1:30 of the third. Rycroft ended a 22-game goal drought off a feed from Ryan Johnson, scoring on the first shot of the third. It was also the Blues' only shot for the first half of the period.Game notesThe Blues were outscored 53-21 during the losing streak. ... Roloson made his 17th straight start for the Oilers since being acquired from the Wild on the trade deadline and made 16 saves. ... The Blues finished 3-1 against Edmonton. ... The Blues won for only the second time all season when playing on the second straight day. They're 2-13-3 in that situation.http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=260409019Minnesota Wild 5, Colorado Avalanche 2DENVER (AP) -- The Pepsi Center crowd went wild after Peter Budaj surrendered back-to-back goals to Minnesota 42 seconds apart early in the first period Sunday night.That's right. They cheered.Because into the crease skated Jose Theodore for his Colorado Avalanche debut a month and a day after his trade from Montreal.The cheers didn't last long.Theodore's long-anticipated arrival couldn't prevent the already-eliminated Wild from putting a serious dent in the Avs' playoff aspirations with a 5-2 win behind Marian Gaborik's eighth career hat trick."In their situation it's got to hurt a bit," Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said. "But they had a lot of good chances and they didn't score. And to me, the next game ... I think they'll get their goals there. They can't be missing goals like this."Or opportunities, not if they want avoid missing out on the playoffs for the first time since moving from Quebec in 1995.The damaging loss left the Avalanche 2-2 on their pivotal five-game homestand, tightening the race in the Western Conference, where three teams are within striking distance of their 92 points and sixth-place status.The Avs had hoped to keep Theodore, who hadn't played since Jan. 31, off the ice until Tuesday night against Phoenix."That was the plan, yeah," coach Joel Quenneville said. "He had some work this morning and I think it was an opportunity for us to get his feet wet, get him back in it. It's been a while since he's played."And Quenneville said he liked what he saw."I thought he looked sharp in the net. I like the way he positioned himself. I liked the way he moved handling the puck. I thought he looked comfortable," Quenneville said.Still donning his mask from the Canadiens, Theodore made several spectacular saves before Daniel Tjarnqvist sent a slap shot through a screen from the right point on a power play at 16:54 of the second period.Gaborik's short-handed goal early in the third period made it 4-0. John-Michael Liles finally put the Avalanche on the board but he was out of position 24 seconds later as Gaborik scored for the third time."When the playoff picture isn't there anymore, it's hard to get motivated," Gaborik said. "But I think we are doing fine and especially these last few games we have to go out there and have fun."The Avs had little to smile about other than Theodore's return to the ice."I felt a little rust," Theodore said. "Overall, it was good just to be able to get in the game like that to work on little details. It's never easy when you walk in when you're not starting and you just go in. But I'm happy that I was able to play a couple of periods before my start."I did some good things. I did some things I wasn't solid technically. I felt more comfortable as the game went on and that's what I wanted."Theodore suited up Sunday night for the first time since the trade, and Budaj must have been looking over his shoulder. He allowed Gaborik's first goal 4 minutes into the game and then watched Pascal Dupuis tap in another less than a minute later."We gave up the lead and he had to come in with us having to play from behind," Pierre Turgeon said. "That opened the game up for chances for them. Good chances."Manny Fernandez had a career-high 40 saves in positing his 30th victory, quite an accomplishment considering he platooned in the net until the Wild sent former All-Star Dwayne Roloson to Edmonton last month.Colorado has been searching for a strong presence in net since Patrick Roy retired in 2003. Theodore, the NHL's MVP and the league's top goalie in 2002, is looking for a fresh start after wearing out his welcome in Montreal.He struggled this season, going 17-15-5 with a 3.46 goals-against average and a .881 save percentage for the Canadiens, and he was pulled in three of his final four starts before losing his starting job altogether to Cristobal Huet. Then he broke his right heel Feb. 16 when he slipped on icy steps at his home during the Olympic break and the Canadiens sent him to Colorado on March 8 for goaltender David Aebischer.Cody McCormick's fourth goal of the season at 15:52 of the third period made it 5-2 and took Budaj off the hook and saddled Theodore with the loss."It was good for him to get into the game," Turgeon said. "It would have been better for him to get a win in his first game here. It didn't happen for him. I think we will bounce back."Game notesAvs captain Joe Sakic extended his points streak to 13 games, one shy of his career high. ... Tjarnqvist set a career high with three points.http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=260409017Dallas Stars 1, San Jose Sharks 4SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- In between the scoreboard-watching and frequent goal celebrations during San Jose's impressive surge toward the playoffs, the Sharks still find time to marvel at Joe Thornton's impressive passing.In fact, Thornton's skill might be the biggest reason San Jose is making a playoff surge at all.Captain Patrick Marleau tied the Sharks' single-season points record, Jonathan Cheechoo scored his 49th goal and San Jose won its fourth straight game down the playoff stretch, beating the weary Dallas Stars 4-1 Sunday night.Marleau and Cheechoo both got their goals on second-period passes from Thornton as the Sharks moved into a seventh-place tie with Edmonton in the Western Conference standings with 91 points -- and San Jose has played two fewer games than the Oilers.Marleau scored his 84th point on a 5-on-3 power-play goal in the second period, tying Owen Nolan's franchise record. Cheechoo, who scored 104 seconds earlier on a one-timer from Thornton, already surpassed Nolan's team record for goals March 25."I should have had a couple of goals earlier with (Thornton)," said Marleau, who also set a franchise record with his 20th power-play goal of the season. "I'm glad he stuck with me and found me the third time."Thornton also set a league record for the most points by a player who changed teams during the season. Thornton, acquired in a trade with Boston on Nov. 30, is second in the NHL with 113 points -- one more than Bernie Nicholls scored for the Kings and the Rangers in 1989-90.The Sharks were all smiles as they packed up for a quick trip to Phoenix for a game Monday night -- well, all except Cheechoo, who had to speed home to pick up the travel bag he forgot to bring to the arena.Rookies Steve Bernier and Patrick Rissmiller also scored and Vesa Toskala made 21 saves for the Sharks. They got their fourth victory in the eight-game season series with the Stars, whose frustrations with a tough stretch of their schedule resulted in a series of cheap shots leading to 28 penalty minutes in the first two periods."We thought they might be a little weary, especially this time of year, and psychologically they can go up or down," Sharks coach Ron Wilson said. "You want to jump a team like that as quickly as you can, and we had a lot of energy."After going unbeaten on a three-game road trip, San Jose returned to a sold-out Shark Tank to begin a brutal stretch of five games in seven days. The Stars, who played in Phoenix on Saturday night, know a bit about brutal schedules as well."We're going to run into that during the playoffs," forward Bill Guerin said. "We're going to be tired. We're going to be more beaten up than we are now, so we can't use that as an excuse. We have to get ourselves ready to go."Sergei Zubov scored and Marty Turco made 32 saves while taking two foolish minor penalties for the Stars, who lost for the fourth time in six games. Turco got a roughing penalty in the second period and an interference call in the third for checking Marleau to the ice behind his net."You put a desperate team on the power play nine times in the first two periods, and you are going to get what you earn," Dallas coach Dave Tippett said. "The referees were a non-factor tonight. It was all us."Mike Modano, the Stars' leading scorer and a perennial problem for the Sharks, missed his second straight game with a left knee injury. Defenseman Willie Mitchell also missed the game to rest an undisclosed upper-body injury -- but with the Pacific Division champions essentially locked into the No. 2 seed, Dallas' main concern is keeping its key players healthy for the postseason.Zubov got his 13th goal during a 5-on-3 Dallas advantage to cut the Sharks' lead to 2-1 in the second period, but San Jose replied when Thornton stole the puck behind Dallas' net and instantly found Cheechoo.And then the Stars lost it. After Turco roughed Bernier to set up a 5-on-3 disadvantage, Marleau got his career-best 34th goal on a cross-ice pass from Thornton. Steve Ott then snapped, earning 14 minutes in penalties by pummeling Sharks rookie Grant Stevenson for unclear reasons.Game notesThornton, the NHL's second-leading scorer behind the Rangers' Jaromir Jagr, has assisted on 32 of Cheechoo's 42 goals since the trade. ... Tippett on Mitchell: He has a bit of a bump, slash or bruise. We're going to rest him for a couple of days." ... The Sharks signed two draft picks during the weekend. RW Devin Setoguchi was their first-round pick last summer, and D Dan Spang was a second-round selection in 2002. ... Mitchell had played in 14 straight games since joining the Stars last month in a trade with Minnesota.http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=260409018
