Kariya scores 400th goal; Blues top Rangers

NEW YORK — Paul Kariya scored his 400th NHL goal to snap a third-period tie and the St. Louis Blues took advantage of uncharacteristically shaky Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist and beat New York 4-3 on Thursday night.

St. Louis scored four times on its first 14 shots and handed the ninth-place Rangers a key loss in their pursuit of an Eastern Conference playoff spot. New York is three points behind Boston with 11 games left.

Just 1:13 after Wade Redden got the Rangers even at 3, Kariya took a feed in front from T.J. Oshie and scored his milestone goal.

Brad Boyes and defensemen Mike Weaver and Erik Johnson also scored for the Blues, 11-44-7 at New York. Weaver’s goal was his first in three years, covering 185 NHL games. Ty Conklin made 26 saves.

Redden’s first in 58 games gave the Rangers brief life that Kariya quickly took away. Marian Gaborik had a goal and two assists, and Ryan Callahan also scored for New York, which has lost six of eight (2-4-2).

Lundqvist fought the puck all night. Despite putting only 10 pucks on net, St, Louis carried a 3-2 lead into the third.

Weaver tied it at 2 at 2:21 of the second after the Rangers failed to clear the puck out of their zone. Weaver let go a shot from inside the blue line that eluded Lundqvist. The New York netminder banged his stick and was still shaking his head side to side when the teams lined up for the ensuing faceoff.

Lundqvist’s rough game got worse 3:24 later when Johnson sent a seemingly tame shot from the right wing boards that sneaked in between his pads during a power play.

St. Louis got the jump for the second straight game. It wasn’t as quick as Alex Steen’s team record-tying goal 8 seconds into Tuesday’s home loss to Colorado, but still fast.

Boyes staked the Blues to a 1-0 lead 1:10 in. St. Louis won a faceoff in the Rangers end and dug out the puck in the corner. It came to Boyes in the left circle and he zipped a shot over Lundqvist’s glove for his 13th goal.

That was an early clue that Lundqvist lacked sharpness. About 8 minutes into the first, T.J. Oshie rang a shot off the post behind him during 4-on-4 action. Lundqvist also seemed to miss catching a rising shot that sailed wide in the second.

His best moments came during a Rangers power play in the first when he faced two breakaways. B.J. Crombeen was denied before he tripped over Lundqvist’s pad and crashed awkwardly into the boards. Moments later, David Backes outraced defenseman Michal Rozsival for a loose puck. His backhander was kept out by the left post.

Flyers 3, Stars 2

DALLAS — Scott Hartnell scored the tiebreaking goal in the third period to send the Philadelphia Flyers to a victory over Dallas, dealing another blow to the Stars’ playoff chances.

Hartnell set up to the left of Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen, and Jeff Carter’s shot deflected off Hartnell, off the goal post, and over the goal line at 7:55.

Simon Gagne and Mike Richards had a goal and an assist each for the Flyers, who won on the road for the first time in five games.

Brian Boucher made 25 saves after the Flyers learned earlier in the day that top goalie Michael Leighton will be out at least eight weeks because of a high ankle sprain. Leighton was injured Tuesday night in a 4-3 shootout loss at Nashville.

Thrashers 6, Senators 3

ATLANTA — Nik Antropov and Colby Armstrong scored two goals apiece for the Atlanta Thrashers, who gave themselves hope in the playoff race with a second straight victory, 6-3 over the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night.

The Thrashers, three points out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, squandered a pair of two-goal leads for the second game in a row but still managed another vital win.

Antropov scored off a pair of deflections in front of the net, including a tiebreaking power-play goal with 16:04 remaining in the third period.

Armstrong added two goals less than 5 minutes apart to put it away for the Thrashers, who had lost six in a row before beating a pair of teams that appear headed for the playoffs, Buffalo and Ottawa.

The Senators are struggling, though. They have lost seven of eight games since the Olympic break, including the last four.

Atlanta reclaimed the lead after Andy Sutton, who had a rough night, delivered a cheap shot to Eric Boulton near center ice and was sent off for elbowing. With a man advantage, Tobias Enstrom fired a slap shot that Antropov deflected past Brian Elliott for his 21st goal of the season.

Armstrong clinched it for the Thrashers. First, he stole an attempted clearing pass by Chris Phillips and ripped a shot over Elliott’s left shoulder for an unassisted goal with 14:26 left. Then, after Armstrong had a shot blocked in front, he scrambled in front of the net, took a return pass from Jim Slater and flipped it past Elliott with 9:40 left.

Hurricanes 4, Capitals 3

RALEIGH, N.C. — Ray Whitney scored at 4:02 of overtime to give the Carolina Hurricanes a victory over the Washington Capitals.

Eric Staal had a goal and set up Whitney’s winner, and Brett Carson and Chad LaRose also scored for Carolina. Eric Fehr forced the overtime for Washington, scoring with 10 seconds left in regulation and goalie Semyon Varlamov off for an extra attacker.

LaRose put the Hurricanes ahead on a breakaway with 1:35 to go. It was LaRose’s fifth goal of the season and 100th NHL point.

Washington played without captain and scoring leader Alex Ovechkin, serving the second of a two-game suspension for his hit on Chicago defenseman Brian Campbell on Sunday. Defenseman Joe Corvo, obtained from the Hurricanes in a March 3 trade and playing his first game back in Raleigh, had Washington’s first two goals.

Maple Leafs 2, Devils 1

TORONTO — Phil Kessel scored in regulation and in a shootout to help the Toronto Maple Leafs win for the fifth time in six games.

Nikolai Kulemin and John Mitchell also scored shootout goals for the Leafs, and Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 24 saves. David Clarkson scored for New Jersey, and Yann Danis stopped 24 shots in place of Martin Brodeur.

Coyotes 4, Panthers 3

SUNRISE, Fla. — Radim Vrbata scored with a minute left in the third period to force overtime, then added the winner in the third round of a shootout in the Phoenix Coyotes’ comeback victory over the Florida Panthers.

Martin Hanzal and Lee Stempniak also scored in the third period to help the Coyotes stretch their winning streak to seven games. The Coyotes also set a franchise record for wins in a season, besting the previous mark set by the 1984-85 Winnipeg Jets — before overtime ties were broken in shootouts.

David Booth and Cory Stillman each scored second-period goals for Florida, and Stephen Weiss had a power-play goal in the first. Tomas Vokoun made 43 saves.

Coyotes 4, Panthers 3

SUNRISE, Fla. — Radim Vrbata scored with a minute left in the third period to force overtime, then added the winner in the third round of a shootout in the Phoenix Coyotes’ 4-3 comeback victory over the Florida Panthers.

David Booth and Cory Stillman each scored second-period goals for Florida, and Stephen Weiss had a power-play goal in the first. Tomas Vokoun made 43 saves.

Sabres 6, Lightning 2

TAMPA, Fla. — Jason Pominville scored three goals and the Buffalo Sabres beat the Tampa Bay Lightning to move within four points of New Jersey for the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.

Pominville scored twice in the first period and Tyler Myers added a goal to help Buffalo take a 3-0 lead. Pominville scored his final goal late in the third period.

Derek Roy had a short-handed goal and an assist, Thomas Vanek also scored, and Ryan Miller made 23 saves for Buffalo.

Steve Downie and Vincent Lecavalier had third-period goals for Tampa Bay. Steven Stamkos had two assists, giving him a 40 goal-40 assist season.

Penguins 3, Bruins 0

BOSTON — Marc-Andre Fleury made 17 saves for Pittsburgh’s first shutout of the season in the Penguins’ victory over the Boston Bruins.

After their much-anticipated retaliation against Matt Cooke, the Bruins showed little passion despite fighting for a playoff berth. They are eighth in the Eastern Conference, three points ahead of the New York Rangers for the final spot.

Cooke, whose blindside hit sidelined Boston’s Marc Savard indefinitely with a Grade 2 concussion in Pittsburgh on March 7, took the ice for the first time 1:53 into the game as fans booed loudly. Just 5 seconds later, he and Shawn Thornton brushed against each other in the faceoff circle to the left of the Penguins net.

They dropped their gloves and, in a brief exchange, traded punches before Cooke’s helmet fell off and he went to the ice. Thornton, who kept swinging while Cooke was crouched in a vulnerable position, was given a 10-minute misconduct. Both also received fighting majors.

NBA Magic 108, Heat 102

MIAMI — Vince Carter scored 27 points, Rashard Lewis added 24 including a huge 3-pointer with 28.4 seconds left, and the Orlando Magic blew a 12-point lead in the final 5 minutes of regulation before beating the Miami Heat in overtime.

Jameer Nelson scored 15, Matt Barnes finished with 13 and Dwight Howard had 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Magic, who’ve won 10 of their last 11 games.

Dwyane Wade had 36 points and 10 rebounds for Miami, which led 100-99 with 3:09 left in overtime, then went scoreless for nearly 2 1/2 minutes. Jermaine O’Neal scored 14 and Carlos Arroyo added 11 for the Heat.

Miami’s last lead came when Michael Beasley hit a pair of free throws after getting fouled by Howard, who then picked up his 15th technical of the season for reacting to the call.