Oilers Rally Past Senators

NHL

The Edmonton Oilers scored three unanswered goals in the third period to pull out a 3-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Sunday night in Kanata, Ontario.

Kelly Buchberger scored the winner short-handed at 10:39, converting a breakaway set up by goalie Curtis Joseph’s backhanded pass from his own goalmouth. The puck landed just beyond center ice and Buchberger picked it up on the fly.

The victory kept Edmonton’s playoff hopes alive. The Oilers, 28-38-7, are 10th in the West, just two points behind Anaheim and Winnipeg for the final playoff berth.

Oilers 3, Senators 2

Edmonton 0 0 3 - 3

Ottawa 1 1 0 - 2

First period-1, Ottawa, Chorske 12 (Bonk, Demitra), 9:01. i

Second period-2, Ottawa, Chorske 13 (Neckar, Yashin), 7:44.

Third period-3, Edmonton, Oliver 20 (Weight, Marchant), 2:00. 4, Edmonton, Marchant 14, 4:29 (pp). 5, Edmonton, Buchberger 11 (Joseph), 10:39 (sh).

Shots on goal-Edmonton 10-9-6-25. Ottawa 5-5-7-17.Power-play opp.-Edmonton 1 of 5; Ottawa 0 of 5.Goalies-Edmonton, Joseph 14-14-1 (17 shots-15 saves). Ottawa, Rhodes 11-22-4 (25-22).A-13,188 (18,500).

Penguins 8, Rangers 2

New York

Sergei Zubov scored twice in a six-goal second period as explosive Pittsburgh took over first place in the NHL’s Eastern Conference.

The Penguins played without Mario Lemieux, who rested following Saturday night’s 7-5 loss to Buffalo. But they didn’t need the league’s leading scorer as Zubov and Petr Nedved, two former Rangers traded in the off-season, took up the slack.

Pittsburgh 1 6 1 - 8

N.Y. Rangers 0 0 2 - 2 First period-1, Pittsburgh, Jagr 58 (Francis, Nedved), 4:47 (pp).

Second period-2, Pittsburgh, Zubov 10 (Nedved), 4:33 (pp). 3, Pittsburgh, Zubov 11 (Nedved, Francis), 7:21. 4, Pittsburgh, Nedved 39 (Francis, Jagr), 8:56. 5, Pittsburgh, Stojanov 1 (McLlwain), 10:19. 6, Pittsburgh, Wells 2 (Wilkinson, Nedved), 14:22. 7, Pittsburgh, Miller 25 (Zubov, Smolinski), 19:15 (pp).

Third period-8, New York, Nemchinov 14 (Robitaille, Karpovtsev), 8:38. 9, Pittsburgh, Jagr 59 (Francis, Joseph), 10:33. 10, New York, Nemchinov 15 (Lacroix, Curry), 15:06.

Shots on goal-Pittsburgh 11-13-6-30. New York 12-14-10-36.Power-play opp.-Pittsburgh 3 of 6; New York 0 of 2.Goalies-Pittsburgh, Barrasso 26-13-2 (36 shots-34 saves). New York, Healy 17-12-11 (30-22).A-18,200 (18,200).

Avalanche 5, Jets 2

Winnipeg, Manitoba

Joe Sakic scored twice in the first period, leading Colorado past Winnipeg.

Claude Lemieux, Peter Forsberg and Troy Murray also scored for Colorado. Craig Janney scored twice for the Jets.

Winnipeg and Anaheim are tied for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference with 65 points each.

Colorado 2 1 2 - 5

Winnipeg 0 1 1 - 2

First period-1, Colorado, Sakic 44, 14:41 (sh). 2, Colorado, Sakic 45, 16:42.

Second period-3, Colorado, Lemieux 37 (Forsberg, Leschyshyn), 8:40. 4, Winnipeg, Janney 16 (Numminen, Tkachuk), 12:06.

Third period-5, Winnipeg, Janney 17 (Tkachuk, Manson), 7:01. 6, Colorado, Forsberg 28 (Deadmarsh, Corbet), 8:22. 7, Colorado, Murray 7 (Corbet, Wolanin), 16:44.

Shots on goal-Colorado 12-11-11-34. Winnipeg 9-13-13-35.Power-play opp.-Colorado 0 of 3; Winnipeg 0 of 5.Goalies-Colorado, Roy 18-13-1 (35 shots-33 saves). Winnipeg, Roussel 2-2-1 (34-29).A-15,518 (15,393).

Red Wings 2, Blues 2 (OT)

St. Louis

Goaltender Grant Fuhr made 37 saves as St. Louis snapped Detroit’s nine-game winning streak.

It was the 73rd consecutive start for Fuhr, who is two games shy of tying his wn record for most games in a season by a goalie. Fuhr established the mark in 1987-88 when he was with the Edmonton Oilers.

Detroit 1 0 1 0 - 2

St. Louis 1 0 1 0 - 2

First Period-1, Detroit, Fedorov 33 (Kozlov, Fetisov), 13:27. 2, St. Louis, Gretzky 21, 15:55.

Second Period-None.

Third Period-3, Detroit, Larionov 20 (Fedorov), 10:58. 4, St. Louis, Creighton 9 (Noonan, Wells), 12:57.

Overtime-None.

Shots on goal-Detroit 11-19-8-1-39. St. Louis 8-8-9-2-27.Power-play opp.-Detroit 0 of 3; St. Louis 0 of 2.Goalies-Detroit, Osgood 35-5-4 (27 shots-25 saves). St. Louis, Fuhr 30-26-13 (39-37).A-20,708 (19,260).

Mighty Ducks 2, Blackhawks 2 (OT)

Chicago

Alex Hicks scored with 12:36 left in regulation and Guy Hebert sustained his excellence in goal as Anaheim won its sixth in a row.

Ed Belfour made 17 saves for Chicago, which clinched a playoff berth.

Anaheim 1 0 1 0 - 2

Chicago 2 0 0 0 - 2

First Period-1, Chicago, Suter 19 (Chelios, Amonte), 6:09 (pp). 2, Anaheim, J.Sacco 11 (Kariya), 12:38. 3, Chicago, Black 2 (Murphy, Carney), 18:21.

Second Period-None.

Third Period-4, Anaheim, Hicks 10 (Karpov, Baumgartner), 7:24.

Overtime-None.

Shots on goal-Anaheim 7-5-6-1-19. Chicago 12-13-11-2-38.Power-play opp.-Anaheim 0 of 5; Chicago 1 of 5.Goalies-Anaheim, Hebert 22-20-4 (38 shots-36 saves). Chicago, Belfour 19-4-9 (19-17).A-21,633 (20,500).

Chemistry test

The buzz around the New York Rangers is that late-season trades designed to build toward the playoffs may instead have ruined the team chemistry.

General manager Neil Smith picked up lots of muscle when he acquired Bill Berg, Sergio Momesso, Marty McSorley and Shane Churla along with Jari Kurri for the stretch run. But the Rangers were struggling through a 2-7-3 slump that had dropped them behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed in the playoffs.

But Smith insisted that “I’m comfortable with our team on paper. We have the best team defense since I’ve been here. Offensively, we have the capability and the size. I think we’re going to make it very interesting when we start to play like we’re capable of playing.”

How much longer?

With Dave Gagner, Shane Churla and Doug Zmolek all gone in trades, Mike Modano is the only Dallas Stars player left from the team that went to the Stanley Cup finals in 1991 when they were still in Minnesota.

“If they’re cleaning house I guess I’m next,” said Modano before last week’s trade deadline.

That was never a consideration, of course. Modano, the cornerstone player of the franchise, is one stick of furniture the Stars knew they’d better hold onto.