Dany Heatley scored his 50th goal in the third period to help Ottawa to a 5-1 victory over the New York Rangers on Tuesday night that gave the Senators the top seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
The loss knocked the Rangers out of first place in the Atlantic Division on the final day of the regular season. They wound up sixth in the East and will play New Jersey in the first round.
One-timers
President and general manager Dave Taylor was among those dismissed by the Kings on Tuesday during a major housecleaning. The entire coaching staff, including interim head coach John Torchetti, will not have their contracts renewed. . . . The Penguins will send starting goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury — the No. 1 pick in the 2003 draft–to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for the team’s first AHL playoff game Thursday night.
TUESDAY’S GAMES
RESULTS, SYNOPSIS
St. Louis 2 at HAWKS 3
Complete Blackhawks coverage, Page 7
Philadelphia 4 at NY Islanders 1
Jeff Carter’s goal with 7:22 left broke 1-1 tie and Simon Gagne and Michal Handzus added empty-netters for Flyers, in playoffs for 11th straight year.
Ottawa 5 at NY Rangers 1
Dany Heatley, in 1st season with Senators, reached 50-goal mark. Andrej Meszaros and Mike Fisher scored 3rd-period goals to break open tight game.
Buffalo 4 at Carolina 0
Chris Drury scored to reach 30 goals for 1st time in NHL career and Martin Biron (33 saves) earned 1st shutout of season. Win was Sabres’ 5th straight.
Atlanta 1 at Florida 2
Mike Van Ryn scored twice for Panthers, including winner at 1:34 of OT. Steve McCarthy scored for Thrashers, who had franchise-best 90 pts.
Dallas 4 at Columbus 5
Sergei Fedorov’s one-timer 35 seconds into OT gave Jackets win. With 6-on-3 advantage, Jackets tied game on Mark Hartigan’s goal with :56.6 left.
Pittsburgh 3 at Toronto 5
Mats Sundin had 2 goals, 2 asts and finished season with 78 pts for Leafs. Sidney Crosby scored 39th goal and ended with 102 pts for Penguins.
New Jersey 4 at Montreal 3
Jamie Langenbrunner scored winning goal with 2:23 left after Brian Gionta had scored twice in 3rd as Devils clinched Atlantic Division title.
Washington 4 at Tampa Bay 1
Jeff Halpern scored twice and goalie Brent Johnson stopped 42 shots for Capitals. The defending-champion Lightning finished as the No. 8 seed.
Detroit 3 at Nashville 6
Paul Kariya’s 9th career hat trick led Predators. Red Wings could have matched 1979-80 Canadiens’ streak of at least 1 point in 21 straight games.
