NEW YORK – Matt Cullen banged in a shot off the crossbar and bounced the New York Rangers into the second round of the playoffs for the first time in a decade.

Cullen fired a rolling puck from just inside the blue line that smacked the iron and dropped on its side just over the goal line 2:06 into the third period Wednesday night. It withstood a lengthy video review and snapped a tie, and the Rangers completed a four-game sweep of the Atlanta Thrashers with a 4-2 victory.

New York, which earned its first home playoff victory since 1997 a night earlier, won a postseason series for the first time since that year. It was the Rangers’ first sweep since the opening round of the 1994 playoffs – the year the Rangers last won the Stanley Cup – and quickly ended the Thrashers’ initial venture into the postseason.

Fresh off a 7-0 victory in Game 3 on Tuesday, the Rangers had a much tougher time with goalie Johan Hedberg than Kari Lehtonen. Hedberg stopped 37 shots in a 2-1 loss in Game 2 but Thrashers coach Bob Hartley made the curious decision to go back to Lehtonen, the 4-3 loser in the opener, at Madison Square Garden.

Michal Rozsival and Brendan Shanahan wiped out one-goal advantages and put Cullen in position for the game-winner. Jaromir Jagr sealed the victory with an empty-net goal with 1:33 remaining.

Cullen stepped into his series-winning shot, meeting the puck as it rolled on edge. It smacked the bar and landed as it was when Cullen let it go. Play continued for another 16 seconds until Hedberg stopped another scoring chance.

Cullen stretched and talked to teammate Petr Prucha, while Hedberg strolled during the 5-minute video review. Finally, referee Mike Hasenfratz hung up the phone with the NHL office in Toronto and pointed to center ice.

Sabres 4, Islanders 2

UNIONDALE, N.Y. – Chris Drury and the Sabres left Long Island in better shape than when they arrived.

Drury scored twice and Ryan Miller made 24 saves to help Buffalo beat the New York Islanders, giving the top-seeded Sabres a 3-1 lead in the first-round series.

Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville also scored for Buffalo, in position to end the series Friday night in Buffalo after two road victories.

Jason Blake and Mike Sillinger scored for the Islanders, and Rick DiPietro stopped 27 shots in his third start since returning from a concussion.

The Islanders thought they had tied it with 1:42 left after Miller was pushed across the goal line in a big scramble in front. Referee Mike Leggo, positioned behind the goal, immediately waved off the goal.

and his decision was upheld by replay.

Pominville then beat DiPietro with 1:12 left to seal the victory.

Drury, who also scored twice in Buffalo’s Game 1 victory, gave the Sabres a 3-2 lead with a power-play goal 39 seconds into the second period. He scored from the slot off his own rebound after DiPietro and defenseman Tom Poti failed to control the puck.

After Blake opened the scoring for the Islanders at 6:24 of the first, Vanek and Drury scored in a 1:48 span to give Buffalo a 2-1 lead. Vanek tied it with 8:43 left, beating DiPietro from the high slot off a rebound. Drury then slipped the puck past DiPietro from the edge of the crease off a feed from Dainius Zubrus.

Sillinger tied it at 2 on a power play with 16 seconds left in the period, beating Miller from the slot off Viktor Kozlov’s pass from behind the goal.

Blake scored a second after a New York power play expired. After Miller stopped Blake twice and turned aside Miroslav Satan’s close-range attempt, Blake took a cross-ice feed from Poti and beat Miller with a quick shot from the right slot.

Blake missed most of the second period after crashing headfirst into the boards late in the first. Buffalo’s Teppo Numminen was penalized for boarding on the play, leading to Sillinger’s power-play goal.

Notes: Vanek also scored Monday night at Nassau Coliseum in Buffalo’s 3-2 victory in Game 3. … The Islanders haven’t advanced past the first round since reaching the conference finals in 1993. In their previous two playoff appearances, first-round matchups with Ottawa in 2003 and Tampa Bay in 2004, the Islanders split on the road only to drop the next two at home en route to five-game eliminations. … The Sabres also won three of the four regular-season meetings against New York. … Game 6, if necessary, will be Sunday night at the Coliseum.