Islanders 4 Rangers 3 (shootout): The Islanders clinched at least a share of the Metro Ice Challenge Championship! Unfortunately, the Islanders had to play the majority of their games against teams from outside the tri-state area and they didn’t do as well which is why their season is over. For the Rangers, they got a critical point and that combined with the Devils’ loss (see below) gives them a chance to take over fourth......

Marlins 5 Mets 4 (10 innings): Forget the final score, the biggest news was Pedro Martinez grabbing his left leg after a pitch in the fourth. Pedro later told reporters he felt a “pop” and will head for a MRI shortly. Needless to say, “pop” is not a good thing for a pitcher to feel and it seems very likely that Martinez will be heading to the DL. For how long remains to be seen,......

Phoenix 110 Nets 104: The Nets almost pulled it out in a topsy-turvy game, but the Suns proved to be too much. The Nets jumped out to a 10-point lead after one quarter, but Phoenix came back and took a one-point lead at halftime. The Nets got as close as a three-point deficit in the fourth quarter, but they simply couldn’t get over the hump. Vince Carter had 32 points in the loss.Philadelphia 4 Islanders......

Rangers 3 Devils 2: For a team that went years without being able to beat the Devils, this year’s performance from the Rangers has been startling. Seven games, seven wins, 14 huge points and now both teams are tied with 91 points and five games to play. It was a game of crazy bounces with the puck, benefiting both teams. Tied at one, Christian Backman committed a terrible turnover in his own end that led......

Photograph of the Nets' Vince Carter trying to keep the ball from the Knicks' David Lee by Seth Wenig/AP Nets 106, Knicks 91: At this points, with Knicks fans just assuming defeat, the Nets picked a good time to avoid embarrassment and finally take down their rivals. Vince Carter had 27 points and Richard Jefferson poured in 26. New Jersey has faint playoff aspirations. They probably won't make it, but at least they have......

Flyers 4, Islanders 1: Just one month ago, the Islanders were in the thick of the playoff race. Sunday night, they were officially eliminated from playoff contention. Flyers goalie Martin Biron is a perfect 6-0 against the Islanders and stopped 32 of New York's shots last night. Backup goalie Joey MacDonald made his first start of the season for the Islanders in the loss and allowed three of the Flyers goals on the power play.......

Flyers 4 Rangers 3 (Shootout): Do you judge success by the final score or the effort it took to get there? Clearly, the final score is a disappointment, but when you consider the Rangers were trailing 2-0 with less than 10 minutes left, getting a point is somewhat of a victory. New York got back into the game with goals from Marek Malik and Nigel Dawes, but fell behind 3-2 when Daniel Briere scored at......

Rangers 5, Penguins 2: Sean Avery seems to have a fan club. He scored two goals to earn himself a "Re-sign Avery" chant as the Rangers bounced back from consecutive losses in Florida to down the Sidney Crosby-less Penguins. Now, you may say, isn't beating the Crosby-less Penguins like beating the Jordan-less Bulls? That's almost true. Besides, no one will care when if those two points help the Rangers to a better seed and home-ice......

Tampa Bay 3 Rangers 0: The Rangers decided to truly represent New York and went to Florida this weekend for some rest and recreation. They certainly didn’t play a lot of hockey, losing Friday and then mailing it in on Saturday. They only managed 20 shots and while Henrik Lundqvist made some big saves, he couldn’t bail New York out when they needed him most. The loss leaves the Rangers only four points ahead of......

Knicks 91 Heat 88: Even when they win, they lose. At this point there is nothing left to play for except a better draft pick and the Knicks hurt those chances with a win over the worst team in the NBA. Add it in the fact that it was the one-year anniversary of Isiah Thomas’ contract extension with the team and you probably won’t feel like celebrating anymore. Nate Robinson had 17 points, Jamal Crawford......

Canadiens 4, Devils 0: With a chance to solidify their hold on the top spot in the Eastern Conference, the Devils instead surrendered it in a disappointing loss in the province of Quebec. New Jersey outshot Montreal 33-18 in the first two periods, but when it came time to trudge back to the dressing room for the second intermission, the Devils trailed 3-0. Give credit to Montreal goalie Carey Price. Martin Brodeur has now started......

Portland 120 Knicks 114 (OT): The Knicks went into this game shorthanded, no Zach Randolph, no Eddy Curry, no Jamal Crawford. But, even without three starters they almost pulled out the win thanks to Nate Robinson’s 45-point game. Robinson played an amazing 52 minutes in the game and the Knicks used only eight players, even with the extra period. Mavericks 111 Nets 91: Jason Kidd got his first crack at his old team and he......

Rangers 4, Islanders 1: Two days after having their dramatic rally ruined in a shootout, the Rangers crushed the Islanders, 4-1, and continued their surge at the season's most critical times. They drew Wade Dubielewicz in goal -- Rick DiPietro had missed too much time following the death of his grandmother -- but most goalies would have had trouble Thursday. The Rangers led this one 89 seconds into the game on a Brendan Shanahan goal.......

Photograph of Islanders celebrating a second period goal from Ruslan Fedotenko by Frank Franklin II/AP Islanders 4 Rangers 3 (Shootout): This was not a game for fans of goaltenders. Henrik Lundqvist was terrible, Wade Dubielewicz was too but better when it counted and the Islanders prevailed in a sloppy game. Blake Comeau got things started when he scored by throwing the puck off of Michal Rozsival to put the Islanders in front. The Rangers......

Rangers 5, Flyers 4 (SO): Maybe in the future coach Tom Renney will start backup goaltender Steve Valiquette against the Flyers. He came in relief of Henrik Lundqvist and stopped 17 of 18 shots, then put forth a perfect performance in the shootout. The reserve, who now has three wins against the Flyers this season, stabilized a game that saw both Lundqvist and Flyers goalie Antero Niittymaki yanked by the time two minutes were gone......

Magic 118, Knicks 92: If the Knicks can't get motivated for games when they haven't played the night before, what makes anyone think they would appear energized for the second half of a back-to-back? One night after losing at Atlanta, New York put forth a token effort and even led by five in the second quarter, but it then fell back to Earth and got crushed. Orlando's Dwight Howard dominated the Knicks -- who were......

Photograph of Rangers Brandon Dubinsky and Jaromir Jagr celebrating Dubinsky's first period goal, with Hurricane Bret Hedican looking on, by Karl B DeBlake/AP Rangers 4 Carolina 2: It was the perfect blend of the old and the new for New York on Thursday. Brandon Dubinsky got things started for the Rangers with a great backhand off of the pretty feed from Jaromir Jagr. Sean Avery came off the bench at the right time to......

Penguins 4, Islanders 2: A busy day for the Islanders didn't end with a win. They signed Mike Comrie to a contract extension, shipped off resident thug winger Chris Simon to the Minnesota Wild and also got rid of Marc-Andre Bergeron for a draft pick. Then they faced the depleted Penguins -- who made the biggest deal of the day in adding Marian Hossa -- and lost a bizarre game. They outshot the Pens 52-21,......

Rangers 4, Sabres 3: Not only did the Rangers exact some revenge for their defeat in last season's playoffs, but they improved their chances of qualifying for this postseason. Sean Avery broke a third-period tie and put the Rangers two points ahead of the Sabres in the race for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Jaromir Jagr, Brandon and Nigel Dawes also scored for the Rangers, who have picked up points in their last......

The Islanders keep giving Garth Snow a reason to believe. Thursday it was a 1-0 victory over Tampa Bay that put New York back into a playoff spot. New York welcomed back Chris Simon from his latest suspension, but the Uniondale crowd didn’t exactly welcome Simon. When he skated his first shift the boos were louder than the cheers, but things settled down and Simon ended up with nine uneventful shifts on the night. It......

76ers 124, Knicks 84: For the second time this season, the Knicks got blown out by the second-worst team in the division. How is that possible? Start with nine turnovers in the first quarter alone -- and 23 for the game. Sprinkle in some porous defense and everything should come out just fine. The Knicks lost by 40 despite shooting 46 percent from the floor. Too bad Philadelphia made 57 percent of its shots.Nets 110,......

Photograph of the Devils' Zach Parise battling with the Hurricanes' Scott Walker along the boards of the Prudential Center by Bill Kostroun/APDevils 5, Hurricanes 1: To be fair, Carolina was without three of its best players, but even a full-strength Hurricanes team would have had trouble with the Devils. New Jersey allowed only 22 shots the entire game and blew by Carolina for its seventh win in nine games. That makes them tied for......

Photograph of the Rangers celebrating as Buffalo Sabres player Ales Kotalik skates away by Frank Franklin II/AP Rangers 5, Sabres 1: Five days off, but only 10 seconds to score. Sean Avery got the Blueshirts off to a great start and they finally got the taste of Sunday's overtime loss to Washington out of their mouths. "I don't think we expected that great of a start," said Brendan Shanahan. He has to be telling......

The Islanders survived on Thursday, outlasting the Maple Leafs 5-4 to get their second win in a row. Bryan Berard got things started in the first period with a power-play goal at 16:12 of the period. Berard's goal was wiped out quickly in the second period as Darcy Tucker and Mats Sundin scored back-to-back goals within 1:30 of each other to put Toronto up 2-1. Rusian Fedotenko scored his first of two goals to tie......

Islanders 4 Philadelphia 3: It has been a long three weeks since the Islanders last won. A seven-game losing streak came to a very satisfying end Tuesday night as New York came out firing against the Flyers. Trent Hunter got things going with a goal at 17:42 of the first. The Flyers tied it up in the second, but the Islanders took the lead and built it on two beautiful goals. Jeff Tambellini took advantage......

Rangers 2 Philadelphia 0: Stephen Valiquette certainly likes playing in Philadelphia. Last time he was there he shutout the Flyers and this time he provided the same result. While Valiquette’s play was solid, the game was highlighted by hard hits and a lot of fighting, including a major scrum in the second period. Nigel Dawes got the Rangers on the board near the end of the third period as he converted a power play chance.......

Anaheim 4 Rangers 1: Will they ever wake up? That’s the question Rangers’ fans have to ask after another game where things just didn’t click (again). Anaheim gave up 33 shots, but Jean-Sebastien Giguere only allowed one of them to get through on his way to the win. Former Ranger, Mathieu Schneider scored first and although New York tied things up at 1-1, they never got back in the game. The Ducks scored two times......

Kings 4, Rangers 2: Sometimes teams have quality efforts and still lose. That's what the Rangers put forth Tuesday. They had 41 shots on goal -- including 24 in the second period alone -- but only got two by Jason LaBarbera. Henrik Lundqvist wasn't at his best, and that didn't help. The Rangers had won three straight and five of six, but don't view this as a step backward. They still seem to be headed......

Seattle 86 Knicks 85: Make it a clean sweep, for their opponents that is. The Knicks lost all five games on their west coast swing blowing four second half leads along the way. Nate Robinson had a chance for a game-winning shot with time running out, but he missed and the Knicks will take a long flight home and have only a little time to prepare for Monday’s game with the Clippers. Atlanta 104 Nets......

Rangers 3 Devils 1: Why can’t they play like this all the time? Maybe it’s because the Devils seem to turn and run at the sight of “New York” (winless this season against the Rangers and Islanders) on their opponents jerseys. Whatever the reason, the Rangers need to replicate this effort a lot over the remainder of the season. Chris Drury had two goals, one against an empty net while Brandon Dubinsky got things started......