Saint paul, Minnesota: Centre Cody McCormick, best-known for his tough guy ways, had a goal and an assist as the Minnesota edged closer to a return trip to the play-offs with a rousing win over the Pittsburgh Penguins in their NHL game yesterday.
McCormick scored his first points since coming over in a trade with Buffalo, while Wild goalie Illya Bryzgalov, another trade deadline pickup, had 20 saves, improving to 5-0-3.
The Ottawa Senators quickly bounced back from one of their most disappointing losses of the season by beating the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
After blowing a three-goal lead on the way to a loss against Montreal on Friday, the Senators (33-31-4) never trailed against the Rangers and in doing so, ended a brief two-game losing streak.
Backup goalie Robin Lehner stopped 41 shots as Ottawa also played the role of spoilers, preventing the Rangers (43-31-5) from clinching a spot in the playoffs. New York needed just one point to lock up its postseason spot.
The Boston Bruins clinched the top spot in the Eastern Conference with a victory over Philadelphia that further damaged the Flyers’ playoff hopes.
Defenseman Johnny Boychuk and winger Milan Lucic scored third-period goals 31 seconds apart as the Bruins ended a two-game losing streak and extended the Flyers’ losing streak to four games, two against Boston.
Center Evgeny Kuznetsov scored the lone goal in the shootout and goaltender Braden Holtby stopped all three shots he faced as the Washington Capitals defeated the New York Islanders 4-3 in a shootout.
After officially being eliminated from playoff contention on Thursday, the Winnipeg Jets began playing their role of spoiler with a win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.Reuters
