PHILADELPHIA (AP) -Danny Briere saved the game for the Flyers in regulation and Mike Knuble got them a win away from the second round in a thrilling double-overtime finish.
Knuble poked in his second goal of the series 6:40 into the second OT to give Philadelphia a 4-3 win over the Washington Capitals on Thursday night and a 3-1 series lead.
Jeff Carter scored twice for the Flyers, who can finish off the Caps in Game 5 on Saturday in Washington.
MONTREAL (AP) -Glen Metropolit scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period after Montreal goalie Carey Price made a reckless turnover and the Boston Bruins beat the Canadiens 5-1 Thursday night to avoid elimination in their first-round series.
Tim Thomas stopped 31 shots for the Bruins, who now trail the Eastern Conference quarterfinal 3-2.
Price gloved a puck at the side of his net and dropped it in front of him, but Petteri Nokelainen got his stick on it before Montreal’s Maxim Lapierre and Metropolit batted the puck into an open net 3:31 into the third to put the Bruins up 2-1.
BOSTON (AP) -Patrice Brisebois snapped a scoreless tie late in the second period, rookie Carey Price posted his first playoff shutout and the Montreal Canadiens moved within one game of advancing with a 1-0 win over the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night.
The Canadiens, the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, lead the best-of-seven, first-round series 3-1.
The teams played evenly for much of the hard-hitting, fast-paced game until Brisebois scored on a power play with 42 seconds left in the second period.
DETROIT (AP) -Kris Draper’s tiebreaking goal went off an opponent, Nick Lidstrom scored when one of his teammates could’ve been called for a penalty and the Detroit Red Wings beat the Nashville Predators 4-2 Saturday to take a 2-0 lead in their first-round series.
In Game 1, the Red Wings took advantage of what appeared to be good fortune when offsides wasn’t called just before they scored the game-winning goal.
Detroit’s Dominik Hasek made 25 saves and Dan Ellis had 34 for the Predators in the second playoff game of his career.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -Sidney Crosby scored twice and Evgeni Malkin netted the go-ahead goal for the Pittsburgh Penguins, who clinched their first division title in 10 years with a 4-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday night.
The Penguins secured the Atlantic Division title only two years after they had the Eastern Conference’s worst record and the NHL’s second-worst mark. They also overtook idle Montreal for the East lead by two points.
BOSTON (AP) -Tim Thomas stopped 34 shots for his third shutout of the season, and David Krejci had a goal and two assists Saturday to help the Boston Bruins beat the Ottawa Senators 4-0.
The Bruins have 90 points - one behind Philadelphia and the New York Rangers.
Martin Gerber stopped 27 shots for the Senators, who have won once in their last five games.
P.J. Axelsson and Marco Sturm scored 3 1/2 minutes apart in the second period, and Shane Hnidy made it 3-0 on a short-handed slap shot 73 seconds into the third.
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -Brian Gionta, Patrik Elias and Jamie Langenbrunner scored in the shootout to lead the New Jersey Devils to a 12th straight home victory over the Philadelphia Flyers, 5-4 on Friday night.
New Jersey snapped a season-high, five-game losing streak (0-4-1) and ended Philadelphia’s four-game winning run. Every Devils shooter beat goalie Martin Biron in the tiebreaker.
Johnny Oduya had his first two-goal game for the Devils and Jamie Langenbrunner also scored in regulation.
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -Marc-Andre Fleury had 31 saves and the Pittsburgh Penguins clinched a playoff berth and took a big step toward winning the Atlantic Division title, beating the New Jersey Devils 2-0 on Tuesday night.
Ryan Malone scored a first-period power-play goal and Marian Hossa added one into an empty net for the Penguins, who opened a four-point lead over the Devils in the division and pulled to within a point of Montreal for the best record in the Eastern Conference.
MONTREAL (AP) -Andrei Kostitsyn scored two of Montreal’s three first-period goals and the Canadiens clinched a playoff spot with a 7-5 win over the Ottawa Senators on Monday night.
Chris Higgins also scored in the first as Montreal beat Martin Gerber three times in the opening period while outshooting Ottawa 14-7.
The Canadiens added four goals in the second as Francis Bouillon, Andrei Markov, Mikhail Grabovski and Tom Kostopoulos scored on Ray Emery, who replaced Gerber to begin the middle period.
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -Patrik Elias scored 4:02 into overtime, lifting the New Jersey Devils into first place in the Eastern Conference with a 2-1 victory over the lowly Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday night.
Parise gave the Devils a 1-0 lead in the first period, and Michel Ouellet tied it in the second for Tampa Bay, the last-place team in the East that dropped to 1-7-2 in its previous 10.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Andrew Cogliano scored 1:53 into overtime as Edmonton held off Columbus after the Blue Jackets tied it with less than 1 second left in regulation.
Dan Fritsche scored his ninth of the season to tie it for Columbus with eight-tenths of a second remaining, but made a costly mistake in the extra period. Fritsche turned the puck over in his own zone, resulting in Cogliano’s goal.
