Canadiens shoot blanks

Simon Gagne and Michal Handzus scored, and Philadelphia strengthened its hold on first in the Atlantic Division with a 2-0 victory over the slumping Canadiens last night in Montreal.

The victory gave the Flyers (40-20-14-6) 100 points, two more than second-place New Jersey in the division. Both teams have two games left.

The Canadiens lost a fifth straight game and missed a chance to clinch seventh place in the Eastern Conference.

They have 91 points, three more than the New York Islanders, who have two games left. Montreal ends its season tomorrow night at home against Buffalo.

Lightning 4, Panthers 3 -- Martin St. Louis scored twice in the third period, helping Tampa Bay clinch the top seed in the Eastern Conference.

St. Louis scored his second goal of the game and 37th overall from just below the left circle off a pass through the slot by Cory Stillman to put the Lightning ahead with 2:20 remaining.

Red Wings 3, Blues 2 -- Marc Lamothe won in his second start of the season and Chris Chelios had two assists, helping visiting Detroit clinch first place overall in the NHL.

The Blues missed a chance to clinch their 25th straight playoff berth, which would extend the longest current streak in professional sports. Instead, the loss in their regular-season home finale put them in a three-way tie with the Oilers and Predators for seventh in the Western Conference with two games to go.

Predators 3, Blackhawks 1 -- Steve Sullivan and Jeremy Stevenson had a goal and an assist each as visiting Nashville moved into a tie for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Sullivan, traded Feb. 16 to Nashville after four seasons with Chicago, opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 11:34 of the first period. Adam Hall had the other Nashville goal and Scott Walker added two assists. Tuomo Ruutu scored for last-place Chicago.