Flyers bump Rangers for playoff spot

While the rest of the NHL wrapped up the regular season, the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers got a jump start on the playoffs.

Sidney Crosby put on a show of his own Sunday and nearly skated off with another scoring title. He settled for a share of his first goal championship.

For Philadelphia, the season will continue through at least one playoff round. The Rangers are done. A late-season surge fell a shootout short.

Both the Flyers and Rangers faced the same Game 7 reality Sunday in Game 82. Win and you’re in. Lose and go home. Henrik Lundqvist starred for New York by making 46 saves through overtime, but he was beaten twice in the shootout and took a 2-1 loss.

“Both teams had to go through it, they are not going to whine about it. That’s how it is,” Rangers coach John Tortorella said. “When we got to that point we thought we had the advantage. No disrespect to their shooters, but with Henrik there we felt good.”

Philadelphia clinched the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference and became the NHL’s last participant to qualify for the playoffs. The Flyers went from early season Stanley Cup contenders to nearly missing the postseason.

One night after the Pittsburgh Penguins’ disappointing 1-0 loss at Atlanta wrecked the defending Stanley Cup champions’ bid for the Atlantic Division title, Crosby gave them something to celebrate. The 22-year-old captain hit the 50-goal milestone for the first time in his brilliant five-year NHL career.

Crosby didn’t stop there. His second goal against the Islanders, scored 55 seconds into the middle period, gave him a league-best 51 goals and his first Maurice Richard Trophy. He is the co-winner with Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos, whose empty-netter in the closing seconds Sunday of the Lightning’s 3-1 win over Florida was his 51st goal.

Ovechkin, the NHL’s top goal scorer the past two seasons, and Crosby finished tied for second in the overall points race behind Vancouver’s Henrik Sedin.

Sedin had four assists to regain the lead Saturday night when the Canucks played their final game and won the Art Ross Trophy with a franchise-record 112 points – including 83 assists. That left him three points ahead of Crosby and Ovechkin, who was shut out in the Capitals’ 4-3 shootout loss to Boston in Sunday’s finale.

Buffalo, the Northeast Division champion, could have moved up to the second seed in the East with a win in regulation at New Jersey on Sunday, but the Sabres lost 2-1 and dropped to No. 3.

Martin Brodeur made 22 saves to earn his 45th win of the season and secure his fifth William Jennings Trophy as the goalie for the team that gives up the fewest goals.

The San Jose Sharks finished first in the West for the second straight year and will try to turn that into postseason success that has often eluded them. Last season they captured their first Presidents’ Trophy, but were knocked out in the first round by No. 8 seed Anaheim.

The West has two surprise playoff teams. The Los Angeles Kings are in the playoffs for the first time since 2002.

Surprising Phoenix, which nearly came out of nowhere to pry the Pacific title and the top seed away from the Sharks, has the tough task of taking on No. 5 Detroit. The dangerous Red Wings have been in the Stanley Cup finals each of the past two years against Pittsburgh, winning the championship in 2008 and falling in seven games last June.