Power play goals help St Louis

The St Louis Blues moved to within a point of a play-off berth in the Western Conference standings with a 5-3 win over the Minnesota Wild on Sunday. The Blues scored three of their goals on power plays. "We had penalties at the wrong time," the Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said. "We've got to try and play at our best and make the least mistakes possible." The Blues pulled into a tie for 10th in the West with the Wild on 72 points, leaving them just one point behind Edmonton and Nashville for the final play-off spot with 13 games left.

"You hardly see that against a team like Minnesota, giving up that many penalties and us capitalising on them," the Blues' Keith Tkachuk said. "It was huge. We got some quality opportunities. That was nice. "Every game we play is important because of the standings so this was a huge win for us." Meanwhile, Chris Osgood made 23 saves to record his 49th career shut-out as the Detroit Red Wings beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-0 to become the first team in history to top 100 points in nine straight seasons.

In Pittsburgh, the Penguins rallied twice to secure a 6-4 win over Eastern Conference leaders the Boston Bruins. Elsewhere, Sean Avery scored twice to lead the New York Rangers to a 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers. * Agencies