Avs Creep Closer To Top – NHL Roundup

UNDATED (AP) — The St. Louis Blues are having a tough time clinching home-ice advantage throughout the NHL's Western Conference playoffs.

The Blues have a season-high three-game losing streak and still lead the West by only one point following a 4-1 setback against Washington. Alex Ovechkin (oh-VEHCH'-kihn) notched his 50th goal and had two assists for the Capitals, who stayed alive in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

Anaheim remains a point behind St. Louis with each team having three games remaining.

Colorado is just two points behind the Blues after Erik Johnson scored the game-winner and had an assist to lead the Avalanche past Edmonton 4-1. Johnson's tally came just 12 seconds after David Perron tied the game with a power-play goal.

Also in the NHL:

— Philadelphia wrapped up an Eastern Conference playoff berth as Claude Giroux (jur-OO') scored twice and Steve Mason stopped 38 shots in a 5-2 win at Florida. Tye McGinn, Sean Couturier (koo-TOOR'-ee-ay) and Vincent Lecavalier (leh-KAV'-ul-yay) also scored for the Flyers.

— Toronto's playoff hopes ended with a 3-0 loss to Tampa Bay as Ondrej Palat (AHN'-dray pah-LAHT') scored twice for the Lightning. Anders Lindback came off the bench to make 25 saves after Ben Bishop left with 14:17 left in the first due to an upper-body injury.

— Brad Richards scored a pair of power-play goals and Martin St. Louis (mahr-TAN' san loo-EE') had three assists as the New York Rangers dumped Carolina 4-1. Henrik Lundqvist made 27 saves as the Rangers beat the Hurricanes for the 11th time in 12 games.

— Darren Helm provided the tiebreaking goal in the third period and Detroit doubled up Buffalo 4-2 to move closer to wrapping up their 23rd consecutive playoff berth. Mike Babcock became the Red Wings' all-time winningest coach with his 414th, one ahead of Jack Adams.

— Ryan Johansen's 32nd goal of the season was the game-winner as Columbus topped Phoenix 4-3 in overtime. The Coyotes picked up an important standings point when Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored with 15 seconds left in regulation, but the Blue Jackets moved a step closer to securing just their second playoff berth in team history.

— Minnesota clinched a Western Conference wild-card berth as Mikko Koivu (MEE'-koh KOY'-voo) set up two goals before netting the lone shootout goal in a 4-3 triumph over Boston. Jason Pominville had two goals and an assist for the Wild.

— Tyler Seguin (SAY'-gihn) scored in the fourth shootout round to lift Dallas past Nashville 3-2. The Stars are two points ahead of the Coyotes for the final Western Conference playoff berth with three games remaining.

— Jason Spezza (SPET'-suh) scored twice and Craig Anderson turned back 45 shots as Ottawa downed the New York Islanders 4-1.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — The Vancouver Canucks have fired president and general manager Mike Gillis. The move came a day after the team was eliminated from playoff contention. Gillis took over the general manager position after the 2007-08 season. The Canucks advanced to the 2011 Stanley Cup final under Gillis before losing to Boston, and have been in a steady decline since.