Jarome Iginla scored his 48th goal and added two assists. Iginla tied the game 2-2 in the first period, just 28 seconds after Minnesota had taken the lead. Displaying the quick hard shot that has been his trademark all season, Iginla took a drop pass from Craig Conroy and snapped a shot off goaltender Manny Fernandez's blocker.
With five games remaining, Iginla is nine goals ahead of Washington's Peter Bondra in the race for the Rocket Richard Trophy as the NHL's top goal scorer. Iginla also tightened his grasp on the Art Ross Trophy for leading the points race. Iginla has 91, 12 more than Vancouver's Markus Naslund.
Minnesota 2 0 1 --; 3
; Calgary 3 1 0 --; 4
; First Period-- 1, Calgary, Shantz 3 (Morris, Kravchuk), 6:13 (pp). 2, Minnesota, Virta 1 (Domenichelli, Gavey), 9:31. 3, Minnesota, Zholtok 18 (Sekeras, Walz), 12:14 (pp). 4, Calgary, Iginla 48 (Conroy, Morris), 12:40. 5, Calgary, Regehr 2 (McAmmond, Iginla), 19:30.
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Second Period-- 6, Calgary, Betts 1 (Berube, Iginla), 6:00.
Third Period-- 7, Minnesota, Domenichelli 9 (Virta), 19:22.
Shots on goal-- Minnesota 6-14-5-- 25. Calgary 15-11-10-- 36.
Goalies-- Minnesota, Fernandez. Calgary, Turek. A-- 13,831 (17,104).
ISLANDERS 2, BRUINS 1, OT
Oleg Kvasha scored at 3:29 of overtime, but the Bruins added to their Eastern Conference lead.
Kvasha put the puck between defenseman Hal Gill's skates near the Boston blue line, then cut past Sean O'Donnell, who knocked him to the ice. But as he was falling, Kvasha shot the puck between goalie Byron Dafoe's legs.
The Islanders, outshot 40-16, nearly won in regulation, but Glen Murray scored with 2:16 left.
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The Bruins gained one point from the overtime loss and are five points ahead of Philadelphia, which lost to Montreal 3-1.
N.Y. Islanders 0 1 0 1 --; 2
; Boston 0 0 1 0 --; 1
; First Period-- None.
Second Period-- 1, New York, Czerkawski 21 (Isbister, Jonsson), 19:04.
Third Period-- 2, Boston, Murray 36 (Samsonov, Boynton), 17:44.
Overtime-- 3, New York, Kvasha 11, 3:29.
Shots on goal-- New York 2-7-6-1-- 16. Boston 8-16-16-0-- 40.
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Goalies-- New York, Snow. Boston, Dafoe. A-- 17,565 (17,565).
BLUE JACKETS 2, PREDATORS 1
Deron Quint scored his first goal in 19 games and Espen Knutsen had two assists. The victory ended the Blue Jackets' seven-game winless streak (0-5-0-2).
Quint matched his career high with his seventh goal 6:43 into the third period to break a 1-1 tie. Knutsen set up that score the same as he had Columbus' first goal by threading a pass between two defenders.
Ron Tugnutt stopped 20 shots for the Blue Jackets, including Andy Delmore's bullet from the right wing with the Predators on a two-man advantage with 6 seconds remaining.
Nashville 1 0 0 --; 1
; Columbus 0 1 1 --; 2
; First Period-- 1, Nashville, Timonen 13 (Johnson, Yachmenev), 13:39.
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Second Period-- 2, Columbus, Pronger 2 (Knutsen, Nedorost), 7:59.
Third Period-- 3, Columbus, Quint 7 (Knutsen, Timander), 6:43.
Shots on goal-- Nashville 7-7-7-- 21. Columbus 10-7-6-- 23.
Goalies-- Nashville, Vokoun. Columbus, Tugnutt. A-- 18,136 (18,136).
CANADIENS 3, FLYERS 1
The Montreal Canadiens moved into the final Eastern Conference playoff position Thursday night, handing the Philadelphia Flyers their fifth straight loss, 3-1.
Montreal, winner of four consecutive games, is two points in front of idle Washington for eighth place in the East.
Andrei Markov had a goal and an assist and goaltender Jose Theodore stopped 23 shots. Richard Zednik and Bill Lindsay also scored for the Canadiens.
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Mark Recchi scored for the Atlantic Division-leading Flyers, who matched their longest losing streak since 1999.
Philadelphia is winless in its last seven home games against Montreal (0-5-2).
Montreal 2 1 0 --; 3
; Philadelphia 0 0 1 --; 1
; First Period-- 1, Montreal, Markov 5, 5:17. 2, Montreal, Zednik 21 (Perreault), 11:55.
Second Period-- 3, Montreal, Lindsay 5 (Van Allen, Markov), 14:09.
Third Period-- 4, Philadelphia, Recchi 20 (LeClair, Oates), :27.
Shots on goal-- Montreal 10-6-8-- 24. Philadelphia 6-10-8-- 24.
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Goalies-- Montreal, Theodore. Philadelphia, Cechmanek. A-- 19,547 (19,519).
LIGHTNING 4, PENGUINS 2
Dave Andreychuk scored twice to reach 20 goals for the 17th time in his career. The 17 20-goal seasons ties Andreychuk for third with Wayne Gretzky, Marcel Dionne, Mike Gartner and Mark Messier.
Gordie Howe scored at least 20 goals in 22 seasons. Ron Francis has accomplished it 19 times.
Andreychuk's second of the game gave the Lightning a one-goal lead with 15:55 left in the third period. Ben Clymer added an empty-net goal with 7.1 seconds left as Pittsburgh was eliminated from the playoff race.
The Lightning snapped a six-game losing streak.
Pittsburgh 1 1 0 --; 2
; Tampa Bay 0 2 2 --; 4
; First Period-- 1, Pittsburgh, Kovalev 30 (Rozsival, Morozov), 18:54 (pp).
Second Period-- 2, Pittsburgh, Nieminen 11 (LaCouture), 4:38. 3, Tampa Bay, Andreychuk 19 (Cullimore, Richards), 12:03. 4, Tampa Bay, Lacavalier 16 (St. Louis, Willis), 19:02.
Third Period-- 5, Tampa Bay, Andreychuk 20 (Olvestad, Sarich), 4:05. 6, Tampa Bay, Klymer 14 (Andreychuk, Cullimore), 19:52 (en).
Shots on goal-- Pittsburgh 7-11-13-- 31. Tampa Bay 9-13-10-- 32.
Goalies-- Pittsburgh, Hedberg. Tampa Bay, Khabibulin. A-- 15,454 (19,758).
RANGERS 4, MAPLE LEAFS 2
Pavel Bure scored twice, including the go-ahead goal midway through the third period. Bure was standing alone at the side of the net as linemate Eric Lindros fought off a Maple Leafs defender and fed him a loose puck. The Russian sniper easily put in the winner.
Matthew Barnaby added a goal as New York, badly outplayed by Toronto most of the game and outshot 37-24, got its third consecutive win thanks to the solid goaltending of 18-year-old rookie Dan Blackburn.
Lindros had a goal and two assists for the Rangers, who remained five points behind eighth-place Montreal for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
N.Y. Rangers 2 0 2 --; 4
; Toronto 0 1 1 --; 2
; First Period-- 1, New York, Bure 30 (Lindros), :54. 2, New York, Lindros 34 (Poti, Rucinsky), 10:14.
Second Period-- 3, Toronto, Mogilny 22 (Green, Tucker), 2:26.
Third Period-- 4, Toronto, Renberg 12 (Mogilny, Sundin), :43 (pp). 5, New York, Bure 31 (Lindros, Rucinsky), 10:55. 6, New York, Barnaby 7 (Nedved), 14:15.
Shots on goal-- New York 10-5-11-- 26. Toronto 8-20-7-- 35.
Goalies-- New York, Blackburn. Toronto, Schwab. A-- 19,362 (18,800).
KINGS 3, RED WINGS 0
Felix Potvin stopped 31 shots against the NHL's highest-scoring team for his 24th career shutout. The shutout was the fifth this season for Potvin, who was given a vote of confidence by coach Andy Murray in a private meeting Wednesday morning. Potvin had surrendered 15 goals in a four-game span, blowing a two-goal lead in the final 2 1/2 minutes of Tuesday's 4-4 tie with Vancouver.
Aaron Miller and Jason Allison scored less than five minutes apart in the second period. Kelly Buchberger also scored and Cliff Ronning had two assists, helping the Kings end a five-game winless streak and extend their home unbeaten streak to eight.
Detroit 0 0 0 --; 0
; Los Angeles 0 2 1 --; 3
; First Period-- None.
Second Period-- 1, Los Angeles, Miller 5 (Ronning, Allison), 13:19. 2, Los Angeles, Allison 19 (Deadmarsh, Ronning), 17:54.
Third Period-- 3, Los Angeles, Buchberger 6 (Allison, Visnovsky), 15:06.
Shots on goal-- Detroit 6-10-15-- 31. Los Angeles 6-13-9-- 28.
Goalies-- Detroit, Hasek. Los Angeles, Potvin. A-- 18,621 (18,118).
SHARKS 5, COYOTES 2
Mike Ricci had a goal and two assists as the Sharks took a big step toward the first division title in franchise history.
Mike Rathje had a goal and an assist, and Teemu Selanne scored the go-ahead goal as the Sharks (41-25-8-3, 93 points) used a decisive second period to open a four-point lead on the surprising Coyotes and the Los Angeles Kings atop the Pacific Division. All three teams have five games left.
It was the third straight victory for the Sharks, who wrap up a six-game homestand Saturday against Detroit. San Jose needs just three points in its final five games to improve its point total for the sixth consecutive season.
Sean Burke made 25 saves for the Coyotes, who are two points behind Chicago for the fourth playoff spot and home-ice advantage in the first round.
Phoenix 1 1 0 --; 2
; San Jose 1 3 1 --; 5
; First Period-- 1, Phoenix, Radivojevic 3 (Handzus, Burke), 5:21. 2, San Jose, Rathje 4 (Thornton, Ricci), 9:57.
Second Period-- 3, Phoenix, Nazarov 6 (Handzus, Lemieux), 5:22. 4, San Jose, Marleau 16 (Nabokov), 10:18. 5, San Jose, Selanne 27 (Ricci), 14:27. 6, San Jose, Ricci 19 (Thornton, Rathje), 19:26.
Third Period-- 7, San Jose, Nolan 20 (Graves, Damphousse), 2:46.
Shots on goal-- Phoenix 6-4-13-- 23. San Jose 13-10-7-- 30.
Goalies-- Phoenix, Burke. San Jose, Nabokov. A-- 17,496 (17,496).
