NEW YORK - Oscar Lindberg and Chris Kreider scored 2:09 apart midway through the third period, and the New York Rangers held on to beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 Sunday night for their first win at home in six weeks.

Mika Zibanejad and Brendan Smith scored in the first period, and Henrik Lundqvist stopped 20 shots to help the Rangers win at Madison Square Garden for the first time since beating Washington on Feb. 19. New York was 0-5-3 on home ice since.

The Rangers are guaranteed to fall no lower than the first wild card in the Eastern Conference. They are fourth in the Metropolitan Division, trailing third-place Columbus by six points. New York has three games remaining and Columbus has four.

Valtteri Filppula had two goals and Brayden Schenn also scored for Philadelphia, which was eliminated from postseason contention. Anthony Stolarz finished with 20 saves.

Mats Zuccarello had three assists to become the first Rangers player to have at least 44 since Marian Gaborik in 2009-10.

Leading 2-1, New York appeared to put the game away in a span halfway through the third. Lindberg scored from in front for his eighth at 7:01, and Kreider made it 4-1 with his 28th at 9:10.

However, Schenn scored with 2:06 remaining and Filppula's second of the game - and fourth in his last five games - pulled the Flyers within one 51 seconds later.

Following a scoreless opening period, Filppula gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead with his 11th of the season just 33 seconds into the second. Philadelphia's trade deadline acquisition curled around New York defenseman Marc Staal before lifting a backhander over Lundqvist.

Zibanejad drew New York even with a power-play goal 3:24 later. The New York center fired an end-over-end shot from the top of the left circle over Stolarz's stick.

The Rangers were 1 for 4 on the man advantage and dating back to Mar. 9, are 12 for 35. New York also killed all three Philadelphia power plays.

It took just 3:13 for the Rangers to strike again as Smith's backhander over Stolarz's glove put New York ahead 2-1. The goal was his third of the season and his first since being acquired from Detroit on Feb. 28.

NOTES: Prior to the game, Flyers GM Ron Hextall said G Michal Neuvirth was ''released from Pennsylvania Hospital and is at home resting,'' in a statement. Neuvirth collapsed in his crease and was carted off the ice on a stretcher during the first period of Philadelphia's 3-0 win over New Jersey Saturday night. ''He will be reevaluated (Monday) afternoon,'' Hextall said. ... Flyers RW Matt Read missed his second straight game with an upper body injury. ... Philadelphia scratched D Radko Gudas, C Nick Cousins, LW Roman Lyubimov and RW Mike Vecchione. Philadelphia signed Vecchione to an entry level contract Friday after he finished his college career at Union. ... New York D Ryan McDonagh missed his second straight game with an undisclosed injury. Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said McDonagh ''will come back when he's 100 percent.'' ... The Rangers scratched D Adam Clendening, D Steven Kampfer, LW Pavel Buchnevich and LW Matt Puempel.

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TAMPA, Fla. - Adam Erne scored twice and Ondrej Palat added a power-play goal and two assists as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Dallas Stars 6-3 on Sunday night.

Brayden Point scored the go-ahead goal in the third period to break a 2-2 tie, and Braydon Coburn and Anton Stralman also had goals for Tampa Bay. Backup Peter Budaj made 23 saves to help the Lightning move within three points of the idle Ottawa Senators, who hold the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

Gemel Smith, Jason Spezza, and Brett Ritchie scored for Dallas, and Esa Lindell assisted on all three goals.

Erne opened up the scoring at 11:47 in the first. Erne, who had just one goal entering the game and hadn't scored since March 3, added a power-play goal in the third.

Dallas answered quickly in the second with Smith's goal less than two minutes into the period.

Smith nearly had a short-handed goal after that, but it was overturned on an offsides call after a Lightning challenge and official review. Dallas did take the lead at 10:57 in the second when Spezza scored his 14th of the season. Spezza also assisted on Smith's goal.

With just 18 seconds left in the second, Tampa Bay tied it on Coburn's goal with assists from Stralman and Palat, who has 32 assists this season.

Point's tiebreaking goal was his 14th of the season, while Palat's power-play goal was his 17th.

Ritchie scored Dallas' third goal late in the third. Stralman had an empty-netter with 2 seconds remaining.

NOTES: Tampa Bay C Steven Stamkos, out since right knee surgery in November, did not play Sunday and remains day to day. ... Lightning C Tyler Johnson returned Sunday after sitting out 11 games with a lower-body injury. ... Lightning D Jason Garrison returned after missing four games due to a lower-body injury. Garrison would later leave during the second intermission with another lower-body injury. ... Stars LW Patrick Sharp missed his fifth game with a hip injury. ... Stars LW Antoine Roussel missed his 15th game with an upper-body injury.

UP NEXT

Stars: Wrap up the season with a three-game homestand, beginning with Arizona on Tuesday.

Lightning: Begin a three-game road trip, starting with a key game at Boston on Tuesday.

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BUFFALO, N.Y. - Anders Lee scored third-period goals a little more than five minutes apart, and the New York Islanders overcame the absence of captain John Tavares to stay in the playoff hunt with a 4-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday.

Cal Clutterbuck and Joshua Ho-Sang also scored and Jaroslav Halak stopped 35 shots to improve to 3-1 since being recalled from the minors.

With four games left, New York earned its 86th point to inch within five of Ottawa and Toronto, and remain six behind Boston in the race for the Eastern Conference's final three playoff berths.

It was the Islanders' first game since Tavares was sidelined by a left hamstring injury in a 2-1 win over New Jersey on Friday.

He's listed week to week and, before the game, coach Doug Weight said there is no chance Tavares will play before New York closes the season against Ottawa on April 9.

Evander Kane, with his team-leading 27th goal, and Zemgus Girgensons scored for Buffalo in a game the Sabres never led. Robin Lehner stopped 22 shots.

Both of Lee's goals were unassisted, and came off Sabres turnovers.

With the score tied at 2, Lee put the Islanders ahead for good with 10:41 remaining.

Lehner inadvertently began the play by casually swatting a shot directed at the Buffalo goal. The puck bounced into the high slot, where Lee snapped a shot, beating Lehner under the left arm.

Lee scored again with 5:27 left after Sabres defenseman Jake McCabe misplayed a puck to the left of his own net. The puck squirted into the lower left circle, from where Lee backhanded a shot in for his team-leading 31st goal.

The Islanders continued their dominance over Buffalo by improving to 8-1-5 in their past 14 against the Sabres.

The Sabres tied the game at 2 on Girgenson's goal 5:17 into the third period. By gaining the Islanders blue line, Girgensons dished off to Matt Moulson and then broke to the net where he deflected in Moulson's return pass.

The Sabres came out flat, resembling a team coming off a four-day break. Buffalo managed just three shots first 17 minutes and six overall through the opening period and gave up the opening goal to Clutterbuck 9:31 into the game.

The Sabres found their legs in the second period, during which they outshot the Islanders 9-0 at one point when Kane tied to convert a two-on-one break midway through the second period.

Kane was set up by C.J. Smith, who was making his NHL debut three days after forgoing his senior season at UMass-Lowell by signing a two-year contract with Buffalo.

It took 56 seconds after Buffalo tied the score on Kane's goal 10:08 into the second period for the Islanders to regain the lead.

New York defensive Dennis Seidenberg forced Jack Eichel to commit a turnover along the left boards of the Islanders zone, and sprung Ho-Sang on a breakaway.

Driving directly at the net, Ho-Sang faked left and then put on the breaks before slipping a shot inside the right post.

NOTES: Sabres D Rasmus Ristolainen returned after serving a three-game suspension for a blindside hit that led to Pittsburgh forward Jake Guentzel sustaining a concussion. ... Islanders C Connor Jones made his NHL debut a day after being called up from AHL Bridgeport. ... Sabres RW Kyle Okposo missed his second game due to illness and has already been ruled out from playing against Toronto on Monday.

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DETROIT - Auston Matthews scored twice to lead the Toronto Maple Leafs past the Detroit Red Wings 5-4 on Saturday night.

Matthews' second goal of the night at 18:51 of the third period gave Toronto a 5-3 lead, but proved to be the winner when Detroit's Mike Green tallied with 44.2 seconds left in regulation.

With two goals and an assist, Matthews tied Peter Ihnacak's Leafs rookie points record of 66, set in 1982-83.

James van Riemsdyk scored with 2:36 left in the third period to snap the 3-3 tie and put the Leafs ahead for good. Van Riemsdyk slipped a backhander past Detroit's Jimmy Howard.

Mitch Marner and William Nylander also scored for the Leafs, who moved into a second-place tie in the Atlantic Division with Ottawa.

Gustav Nyquist, Nick Jensen, and Niklas Kronwall had the other goals for the Red Wings.

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RALEIGH, N.C - Jason Spezza scored, Kari Lehtonen earned his third shutout of the season and the Dallas Stars beat the Carolina Hurricanes 3-0 on Saturday night.

John Klingberg and Devin Shore added empty-netters and Lehtonen stopped 25 shots in his second shutout in six starts to help the Stars snap a two-game losing streak and deal a serious blow to the Hurricanes' already slim playoff chances.

Cam Ward stopped 21 shots for Carolina, which began four points behind Boston for the East's final playoff spot with six games left and Tampa Bay between the teams.

The Hurricanes failed to earn a point for the first time since losing at Colorado on March 7 - a club-record stretch of 13 straight games with either a win or an overtime loss. They fell to 2-4-2 against the bottom four teams in the Western Conference: Dallas, Vancouver, Arizona and Colorado.

Dallas scored more than two goals for just the third time since March 6 in earning just its 12th road win of the season.

Carolina, which scored an NHL-best 54 goals in March, was shut out for the first time since a 4-0 loss to Toronto on Feb. 19.

Spezza scored the game's first goal 4:46 into the second with a wrist shot from the circle that beat Ward high to his glove side. That gave Spezza 19 career goals against the Hurricanes.

Meanwhile, the Hurricanes missed a prime chance earlier in the game. Dallas - and its league-worst penalty-kill unit - drew a minor midway through the first, but the Hurricanes came up empty on a 3-on-nobody rush after they caught the Stars on a line change.

NOTES:

The Hurricanes reassigned G Alex Nedeljkovic to their ECHL affiliate in Florida. Nedeljkovic was brought up Tuesday, one day after Eddie Lack was hurt at the end of an overtime loss to Detroit. ... Dallas LW Curtis McKenzie was back in Texas after a high stick he took near his eye two nights earlier at Boston caused him to bleed profusely on the ice.

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BOSTON - David Krejci scored after a poor clearing attempt by Florida goaltender Reto Berra, lifting the Boston Bruins over the Panthers 5-2 Saturday and helping them maintain an edge for a playoff spot heading into the regular season's final week.

Patrice Bergeron scored twice, Brad Marchand got his team-leading 39th goal and Noel Acciari also scored for the Bruins, who moved one point ahead of Toronto for third in the Atlantic Division. The Maple Leafs play later Saturday.

Boston entered the day with a three-point lead over Tampa Bay for the Eastern Conference's last wild-card spot.

Jaromir Jagr recorded his 765th career goal and Thomas Vanek also scored for the Panthers, who lost for the 11th time in 15 games and were eliminated from playoff contention earlier this week.

Krejci capitalized on the gaffe by Berra, moving Boston ahead 3-2 with 5:30 left in the second period. The goalie came far out of the crease, but his clearing pass from the right circle caromed off the boards directly to Krejci, who fired the puck into the empty net.

Tuukka Rask, coming off a career-tying seventh shutout this season in his last start, stopped 24 shots.

Marchand sealed it with a power-play score in the final two minutes. Bergeron added an empty-netter.

The Bruins had moved ahead 2-1 on Bergeron's reviewed goal midway into the second. The center scored off the rebound of Zdeno Chara's one-timer while Marchand was inside the crease. The goal stood even though it appeared Berra couldn't get across the crease on the shot with Marchand there.

Florida tied it 2-all on Jagr's goal. The 45-year-old forward beat Rask over his glove with a wrist shot from the slot.

Acciari stole the puck from defenseman Jakub Kindl, broke in while he was being hooked by Kindl for a delayed penalty and took a wrister that slipped into the net off Berra to make it 1-0.

Florida tied it early in the second when Nick Bjugstad's shot from the point caromed in off the leg of Vanek.

NOTES: Florida defenseman Keith Yandle played his 629th consecutive game, moving one behind Andy Hebenton for eighth on the NHL's all-time list... Boston forward Frank Vatrano missed his second straight with an undisclosed upper body injury... Panthers forward Jussi Jokinen turned 34-years old on Saturday, and teammate Reilly Smith 26... Interesting hit: Forty-year-old Chara kocked down Jagr... Panthers forward Shawn Thornton, a member of Boston's 2011 Cup winning team, played his last game in TD Garden. He's retiring after the season and has a job waiting for him in Florida's front office.

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CHICAGO - Artemi Panarin had two goals, Corey Crawford made 32 saves and the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-1 on Friday night to reach the cusp of clinching the Central Division.

Panarin scored in the opening minute, then added an empty-netter with 44 seconds left for his 28th goal of the season. Marian Hossa also scored in the first period for Chicago, and Patrick Kane assisted on all three goals as Chicago extended its division lead to nine points over idle Minnesota.

The Wild have five games remaining and the Blackhawks have four.

Nick Foligno scored his 25th goal to end an eight-game drought and Sergei Bobrovksy made 21 saves, but the Blue Jackets lost for the second time in two nights.

Panarin and Hossa put Chicago ahead 2-1 after 20 minutes in a matchup of the teams with the NHL's second- and third-best records. The Blackhawks and Crawford played a smart, tidy game to deny the Blue Jackets a chance to gain ground on first-place Washington in the Metropolitan Division.

Bobrovsky got his first regulation loss since Feb. 19 against Nashville. He had been 10-0-2 during the run and entered leading the NHL in wins, goals-against average and save percentage.

Coming off a 2-1 overtime loss at Carolina on Thursday night - with backup Joonas Korpisalo in net - the Blue Jackets didn't arrive at the their hotel in Chicago until about 1:30 p.m. on Friday.

The team left Raleigh-Durham International Airport on a chartered jet shortly after Thursday's game, but the plane was forced to turn back about 30 minutes into the flight because of a faulty generator. The Blue Jackets returned to the hotel they stayed at on Wednesday, then flew to Chicago on Friday.

Chicago took advantage by striking fast.

Panarin got a power-play goal 32 seconds in and four seconds after Columbus' Brandon Dubinksy was sent off for cross-checking Niklas Hjalmarsson.

After Jonathan Toews won a faceoff in the Blue Jackets' zone, Kane slipped the puck to Panarin in the slot. He beat Bobrovsky just over his glove with a quick shot.

The teams exchanged goals 22 seconds apart during a 4-on-4 late in the first period.

Foligno tied it 1-all with 2:45 left in the first from the left side of the crease. After taking Sam Gagner's pass from behind the net, he slipped the puck under Crawford.

Finishing a 2-on-1 break with Kane, Hossa's 26th goal put Chicago back in front 2-1 moments later. The 38-year-old faked Bobrovsky to the ice, cut across the crease and scored on a slick backhander.

Both goalies made a handful of alert saves in the scoreless second period, but neither was heavily tested.

Bobrovksy denied Hossa on a prime chance early in the third, then Crawford was sharp when needed - including on Gagner's deflection at 9:30 during a Columbus power play.

NOTES: Blackhawks C Artem Anisimov missed his ninth game (lower body), but coach Joel Quenneville said he hoped the 22-goal scorer would return for the playoffs. ... C Vinnie Hinostroza, recalled from Rockford of the AHL on Thursday, was among Chicago's scratches. ... Columbus coach John Tortorella said the team's flight turnaround was ''very nerve-wracking,'' but otherwise joked about the incident before Friday's game and hoped it might rally his team. ''When you hear the announcement: `It's an emergency, but we're OK,' where do you go with that?'' Tortorella said.

UP NEXT:

Blue Jackets: Host league-leading Washington on Sunday in a showdown of the top teams in the rugged Metropolitan.

Blackhawks: Host Boston on Sunday in their final regular-season home game. Chicago closes out the schedule with three road contests.

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. - James van Riemsdyk and Auston Matthews each scored a power-play goal, and Frederik Andersen made 29 saves to help the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Nashville Predators 3-1 on Thursday night.

Connor Brown added an empty-net goal with 58.4 seconds left as the Maple Leafs started a three-game road trip by sweeping the season series with Nashville. They also won their second straight and fifth in six games to remain in third place in the Atlantic Division.

Filip Forsberg scored his 30th of the season for Nashville. The Predators have lost two straight after a four-game winning streak.

Toronto is trying to hold off Boston, while the Predators needed a win to leapfrog St. Louis into third place in the Central Division. Nashville came in three points shy of its third straight playoff berth under coach Peter Laviolette.

It was the 1,000th game behind the bench for Laviolette, making him the 28th coach overall and just the second born in the United States to reach that mark in the NHL.

A quiet first period ended when Austin Watson took exception to a clean hit on teammate Mattias Ekholm and roughed Maple Leafs forward Matt Martin. That put the NHL's second-best power play on the man advantage, and Toronto needed only 13 seconds to convert as van Riemsdyk redirected a shot by Nikita Zaitsev past goalie Pekka Rinne at 18:42 for a 1-0 lead.

The Predators had three power plays in the second - a period in which they have outscored opponents by the biggest margin in the NHL (95-63). Yet they couldn't beat Andersen, who had a nice stop on a backhander by Kevin Fiala just before the third penalty on the Maple Leafs nearly midway through the period.

The Maple Leafs got their second man advantage when Nashville captain Mike Fisher slashed Tyler Bozak, and Toronto scored again. This time, Matthews added to his Toronto rookie record with his 36th goal of the season off a wrister as he skated up the slot just inside the left circle with 1:17 left in the second.

Andersen preserved the shutout with several nice saves in the third, including one in front from Fisher. The goaltender also killed off one last penalty when Roman Polak went in the box for holding - Andersen needed Morgan Rielly's help after the puck went off his arm and trickled near the goal line.

NOTES: Predators forward James Neal went to the locker room midway through the third period after taking a puck to the face in the neutral zone. ... Among the top 30 in games coached, Laviolette came into his 1,000th game ranked seventh in points percentage at 57.8 percent and one of 17 to win the Stanley Cup. ... It was the 10th time this season Toronto scored multiple power-play goals. The Maple Leafs had just six such games last season. ... Predators forward Craig Smith was scratched with an upper-body injury. Fisher returned after missing four games with an injury.

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BOSTON - Tuukka Rask made 27 saves for his seventh shutout of the season and the Boston Bruins beat the Dallas Stars 2-0 on Thursday night.

Boston won its third straight and stayed three points ahead of Tampa Bay for the second wildcard spot with one game in hand.

Rask has won two straight since struggling for a stretch. He had allowed 18 goals during a four-game losing streak.

Brad Marchand gave Boston a 1-0 lead when he jammed a shot past goalie Antti Niemi at 15:14 of the first period.

Niemi had 22 saves and is winless in his last five appearances.

Torey Krug added an insurance goal early in the second period when he converted a perfect feed from David Pastrnak.

Marchand added an assist and moved into third place in the scoring race, passing Washington's Nicklas Backstrom and Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby.

Dallas had its best opportunity at 11:08 of the third period when Boston's Kevan Miller got a double-minor for high-sticking Curtis McKenzie.

Dallas has three goals in its last three games.

NOTES: David Krejci played in his 700th game for the Bruins. ... Former Bruin Tyler Seguin played in his 300th game for the Stars and has two goals over the last 10 games. ... Boston F Frank Vatrano missed the game with an upper-body injury. ... McKenzie bled profusely and was helped off the ice.

UP NEXT

Stars: Travel to Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday.

Bruins: Host the Florida Panthers on Saturday.

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PHILADELPHIA - Wayne Simmonds got his 30th goal of the season as the Philadelphia Flyers scored five times in a fight-filled first period on the way to a 6-3 victory over the New York Islanders on Thursday night.

Dale Weise, Radko Gudas, Jordan Weal, Sean Couturier and Valtteri Filppula also scored for the Flyers, who won their third straight. Philadelphia began play six points out of a playoff spot but needing to jump four teams.

Cal Clutterbuck, Jason Chimera and Andrew Ladd had the goals for the Islanders, who lost their third in a row and seventh in the last 10 games. They fell into a tie with the Flyers with 82 points.

New York has six games remaining, while the Flyers have five.

Weise started the scoring 4:30 into a wild, record-setting first period for the Flyers by finishing a good pass from Couturier with a forehand from in front that went high over Thomas Greiss.

Couturier scored on a rebound 1:19 later to make it 2-0, and Greiss was pulled after allowing Gudas' slap shot from the point to get past him with 11:54 left in the first period.

Greiss slammed his stick into the side boards as he exited the ice in frustration.

Weise had an assist on Gudas' goal and became the fastest player in Flyers history to record a ''Gordie Howe hat trick'' - with a goal, an assist and a fight - when he dropped the gloves with Travis Hamonic with 11:32 remaining the period.

The Flyers were far from done.

Weal netted his team-leading sixth goal in March, and seventh since being called up from Lehigh Valley of the AHL on Jan. 25, when he followed his own miss and scored past Greiss' replacement, Jaroslav Halak.

Simmonds finished the dominant period with his milestone goal on a power play when Shayne Gostisbehere's slap shot deflected off his knee and then off Islanders defenseman Johnny Boychuk's left hip before crossing the goal line.

Simmonds then joined Weise with a Gordie Howe hat trick when he won a one-sided fight with Anders Lee with 6.3 seconds left in the period, marking the first time in the history of the franchise once known as the Broad Street Bullies that two players had Gordie Howe hat tricks in one period.

The five first-period goals were the most this season in one period for Philadelphia.

Clutterbuck shot high over Steve Mason early in the second to get the Islanders on the board. But that was the only goal New York could manage despite outshooting Philadelphia 22-3 in the period.

Chimera netted his 18th of the season 40 seconds into the third period on a wrister from in front after the puck caromed hard off the back boards from Calvin de Haan's slap shot. Ladd made it 5-3 with 3:58 remaining with a wrist shot that deflected off Mason's back and in.

Filppula's empty-netter with 1:41 left completed the scoring. Simmonds picked up his second assist on that goal.

NOTES: Philadelphia won three of four in the season series. . Boychuk returned after missing the previous 12 games with a foot injury. . Simmonds scored 32 goals last season and has 119 over the last four seasons. . De Haan had two assists. . Chimera bettered Brandon Manning in a third-period fight.

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