By The Associated Press

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Scott Gomez broke out of a scoring drought with a goal and an assist and Scott Clemmensen won in his first start in nearly three months in the New Jersey Devils’ 4-2 victory over the Boston Bruins on Friday night.

On a night when the Devils retired former defenseman Ken Daneyko’s number, they won for just the second time in their last seven games. They are seventh in the Eastern Conference, three points ahead of eighth-place Atlanta.

Brian Gionta, Zach Parise and Paul Martin also scored for New Jersey, and Clemmensen stopped 25 shots in his first start since a 6-1 loss to Pittsburgh on Dec. 29, a span of 31 games. He spelled Martin Brodeur two weeks ago in back-to-back losses to Washington and Pittsburgh.

Glen Murray and Brad Isbister scored for Boston, which lost its third straight game. Isbister’s goal came with 45 seconds left in the game.

Gomez, who was hit in the face by a puck in the Devils’ 6-5 overtime loss at Atlanta on Thursday and was questionable for Friday’s game, showed no ill effects as he burst down the left wing in the game’s first minute and beat Andrew Raycroft with a high slap shot for his 25th goal of the season. It was Gomez’s first goal since he scored March 10 against Washington, a span of six games.

Gomez also played a role in the Devils’ second goal, winning a faceoff in Boston’s end that Jamie Langenbrunner flipped from the left circle to Gionta, who scored from between the circles with 3:41 gone to give the Devils a quick 2-0 lead.

Parise padded the lead to 3-0 in the second period when he took a pass from Martin at the right point and, from a tight angle along the extended goal line, beat Raycroft with a left-handed wrist shot.

Blue Jackets 3, Flames 2

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Jason Chimera scored his career-high 15th goal with 2:47 left to help the Columbus Blue Jackets end a five-game losing streak with a 3-2 victory over the Calgary Flames on Friday night.

Manny Malhotra and Nikolai Zherdev also scored for Columbus, which had lost three in a row at home. Adam Foote tied a career high with three assists.

Penguins 4, Islanders 3

PITTSBURGH – Sidney Crosby scored with 1:32 to play in overtime to give the Pittsburgh Penguins a 4-3 victory over the New York Islanders on Friday night.

Crosby, who earlier hit the post with Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro out of the net less than a minute into overtime, collected the puck in his own end and led a 2-on-1 break with Colby Armstrong against New York defenseman Radek Martinek.

Crosby’s wrister from just inside the left-wing circle beat DiPietro on the short side for the rookie star’s 32nd goal of the season.

Panthers 3, Rangers 2

SUNRISE, Fla. – Olli Jokinen scored in the third round of a shootout to give the Florida Panthers a 3-2 victory over the New York Rangers on Friday night in a game that saw Jaromir Jagr become the NHL’s first 50-goal scorer since 2002-03.

Petr Sykora scored for New York in the shootout, but Michael Nylander and Jagr missed. Nathan Horton also scored for Florida and Jozef Stumpel missed. After Jagr’s shot went just wide, Jokinen put the puck past Kevin Weekes for the deciding goal.

Senators 3, Sabres 1

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Ray Emery stopped 28 shots to help the Ottawa Senators clinch a playoff spot with a 3-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Friday night.

Daniel Alfredsson, Antoine Vermette and Patrick Eaves scored for the Eastern Conference-leading Senators, who won their fourth straight to improve to 12-1-1 in their last 14 games.

Ottawa moved 27 points ahead of ninth-place Montreal, which has 13 games remaining.

Daniel Briere scored the lone goal for Buffalo, which has lost four straight, matching the team’s longest losing streak this season.