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SPORTSWednesday 6 April 2016

Panthers set franchise record. Rangers secure playoff berth. 

The Associated Press             New York Islanders center Frans Nielsen (51) celebrates a goal by teammate John Tavares as                                            for St. Louis, which shook
TORONTO (AP) — Rocco             Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Ben Bishop (30) reacts in the second period of an NHL hockey game,                                         off the Coyotes’ two-goal
Grimaldi scored twice and        Monday, April 4, 2016, in New York.                                                                                                   first period. St. Louis is 11-0-1
Aleksander Barkov got his                                                                                                                                              in its last 12 games against
27th goal as the Florida                                                                                                                             Associated Press  Arizona, including 3-0 this
Panthers beat the Toronto                                                                                                                                              season. Antoine Vermette
Maple Leafs 4-3 on Mon-          Ryan McDonagh was in-         for Columbus, which pulled  midway through the third                                                    scored his 16th goal and
day night to set a franchise     jured blocking a shot early   within one with 9:15 re-    period was the go-ahead                                                     Anthony Duclair got his
record with their 99th point.    in the first period and left  maining before conceding    score for St. Louis, which                                                  20th for the Coyotes.
Florida clinched its fifth       the game.                     an empty-net goal.          scored five straight goals to                                               ISLANDERS 5, LIGHTNING 2
playoff berth Sunday             Henrik Lundqvist made 27      BLUES 5, COYOTES 2          beat Arizona and tie for first                                              NEW YORK (AP) — John
and then surpassed the           stops for his 34th win.       ST. LOUIS (AP) — Vladi-     place in the Western Con-                                                   Tavares got his 30th goal
98 points reached by the         Nick Foligno scored twice     mir Tarasenko’s 37th goal   ference.                                                                    and two assists as New York
1999-2000 Panthers.                                                                        The Blues and Stars each                                                    scored three times in a 5:15
Nick Bjugstad also scored                                                                  have 105 points, also tied                                                  span to get a crucial 5-2
and Al Montoya made 22                                                                     for the Central Division                                                    victory over Tampa Bay.
saves for the Panthers.                                                                    lead, with two games to                                                     Ryan Pulock, Matt Martin,
Colin Greening had two                                                                     play. Dallas holds the tie-                                                 Brock Nelson and Johnny
goals and T.J. Brennan also                                                                breaker with more regula-                                                   Boychuk also scored for
scored for the Leafs, who                                                                  tion wins.                                                                  the Islanders while Thomas
are tied for last in the NHL                                                               Kyle Brodziak scored twice,                                                 Greiss had 32 saves. New
with 67 points. Jonathan                                                                   Troy Brouwer and Patrik                                                     York holds the Eastern Con-
Bernier made 32 saves.                                                                     Berglund also scored and                                                    ference’s first wild-card
The Panthers lead the                                                                      goalie Brian Elliott won his                                                spot and won for the third
Lightning by four points for                                                               10th consecutive decision                                                   time in four games to re-
first in the Atlantic Division.                                                                                                                                        duce its magic number to
RANGERS 4, BLUE JACKETS                                                                                                                                                two over Boston to secure
2                                                                                                                                                                      a third straight postseason
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Chris                                                                                                                                                 berth. Alex Killorn and Vic-
Kreider and Derek Stepan                                                                                                                                               tor Hedman scored for the
each scored their 20th                                                                                                                                                 Lightning while Ben Bishop
goals and had an assist as                                                                                                                                             gave up five goals on 23
New York hung on to beat                                                                                                                                               shots. Tampa Bay is two
Columbus and earn a sixth-                                                                                                                                             points behind first-place
consecutive playoff berth.                                                                                                                                             Florida in the Atlantic Divi-
Dan Boyle and Mats Zuc-                                                                                                                                                sion.
carello also scored for the                                                                                                                                            The Lightning were without
Rangers, who ended a                                                                                                                                                   star Steven Stamkos, who
three-game losing streak                                                                                                                                               had surgery to remove a
to move three points be-                                                                                                                                               blood clot from near his
hind second-place Pitts-                                                                                                                                               right collarbone Monday
burgh. They remain two                                                                                                                                                 and is expected to miss 1
points ahead of the fourth-                                                                                                                                            to 3 months.
place Islanders in the Met-                                                                                                                                            CANUCKS 3, KINGS 2
ropolitan Division.                                                                                                                                                    VANCOUVER, British Co-
The Rangers clinched play-                                                                                                                                             lumbia (AP) — Jared Mc-
ing down a defenseman                                                                                                                                                  Cann scored the winner
most of the way. Captain                                                                                                                                               in the second period while
                                                                                                                                                                       Ryan Miller made 40 saves
                                                                                                                                                                       as Vancouver beat Los An-
                                                                                                                                                                       geles. Emerson Etem and
                                                                                                                                                                       Jannik Hansen also scored
                                                                                                                                                                       as Vancouver got its first
                                                                                                                                                                       three-game winning streak
                                                                                                                                                                       this season.
                                                                                                                                                                       Tyler Toffoli and Kyle Clifford
                                                                                                                                                                       had a goal each for Los
                                                                                                                                                                       Angeles, which dropped its
                                                                                                                                                                       fifth straight game on the
                                                                                                                                                                       road in regulation and fell
                                                                                                                                                                       to 2-6-0 over its last eight.
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