SUNRISE, Fla. – Bryan McCabe and Rostislav Olesz each had a goal and an assist, and Tomas Vokoun made 41 saves to lead the Florida Panthers to a 4-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday night.

David Booth and Ville Peltonen also scored, and Jay Bouwmeester had two assists to help the Panthers move into a tie with the idle New York Rangers for eighth place in the Eastern Conference. Florida, vying for its first playoff berth since 2000, has 89 points with three games remaining. The Rangers, who lost 1-0 to Boston on Saturday, hold the edge over Florida because they have one more victory.

Pascal Dupuis and Mark Eaton scored for the Penguins, who needed a victory to clinch a playoff spot. Sidney Crosby traded punches with a Florida player for the second time this season after Panthers defenseman Keith Ballard upended Evgeni Malkin with a low check late in first period. Crosby, who fought Brett McLean during a Jan. 3 game, received a minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct and a major for fighting.

Blackhawks 1, Blue Jackets 0, OT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Kris Versteeg beat fellow rookie star Steve Mason on a breakaway at 3:10 of overtime to give Chicago the victory.

Versteeg ended it with his 22nd goal of the season moments after Chicago’s Nikolai Khabibulin stopped Kris Russell on a breakaway. Khabibulin made 20 saves for his second shutout of the season. Mason stopped 24 shots for the Blue Jackets.

A day after clinching a playoff spot for the first time in seven years, the Blackhawks ran their winning streak to three and snapped a season-high five-game road losing streak. Chicago also moved three points ahead of Vancouver – which faced Colorado later Sunday – for the fourth seed and home ice in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs. Columbus is sixth in the conference, two points ahead of Anaheim, with the Ducks facing San Jose later Sunday.

Capitals 6, Thrashers 4

WASHINGTON (AP) – Tomas Fleischmann had a goal and an assist for his first multipoint game in nearly two months, and Washington moved into sole possession of second place in the Eastern Conference.

Alexander Semin, Keith Aucoin, Michael Nylander, Eric Fehr and Brooks Laich also scored for the Capitals, two points ahead of New Jersey. Ilya Kovalchuk scored his 42nd goal for Atlanta, and Colby Armstrong, Jim Slater and Slava Kozlov also scored.

Red Wings 3, Wild 2

DETROIT (AP) – Marian Hossa scored with 55 seconds left, and Chris Osgood made 20 saves to help Detroit snap a three-game losing streak.

Pavel Datsyuk added a goal and an assist, and Jiri Hudler also scored.

Cal Clutterbuck had a goal and an assist, and Marian Gaborik added a goal for Minnesota – 10th in the race for the eight Western Conference playoff spots.

AP-ES-04-05-09 2019EDT

Copy the Story Link