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NHL roundup: Oilers delay Wild clincher

Corey Potter and Nail Yakupov scored two goals apiece as the Edmonton Oilers prevented the Minnesota Wild from clinching a spot in the Western Conference playoffs with a 6-1 rout on Friday night in St. Paul.

Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle each added a goal and two assists for the Oilers, while Nikolai Khabibulin stopped 38 shots.

Mikko Koivu scored for Minnesota, which could have clinched a playoff berth for the first time in five seasons. Instead, it will enter Saturday’s finale at Colorado tied with Columbus for eighth place in the West, 1 point behind Detroit. Minnesota owns the tiebreaker and can secure a postseason spot with a win.

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If Detroit gets a point in its season finale Saturday at Dallas, Columbus beats Nashville, and Minnesota loses, the Wild would be eliminated.

Sabres 2, Islanders 1 — Thomas Vanek scored the lone goal in the shootout, and Ryan Miller (30 saves) stopped John Tavares’s shot in the third round of the shootout to give host Buffalo a win over New York.

Lynnfield native Brian Flynn opened the scoring for Buffalo at 3:29 of the second period before Waltham’s Keith Aucoin tied the game at 7:26 of the third.

The Islanders are in sixth place in the East and lead the New York Rangers and Ottawa Senators by 1 point, but the Rangers have one game left, and Ottawa has two remaining.

Blackhawks 3, Flames 1 — Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews scored 3:28 apart in the first period, and NHL-leading Chicago held on to beat visiting Calgary.

Marcus Kruger added a goal in the third for the Blackhawks, who are 11-1-2 in their past 14 games.

Corey Crawford made 25 saves for the win, allowing only Chris Butler’s short-handed tally.

Joey MacDonald stopped 35 shots for the Flames.

Avalanche 5, Coyotes 4 — Matt Duchene scored in the shootout and had three assists, helping Colorado beat Phoenix in Glendale, Ariz.

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P.A. Parenteau, Stefan Elliott, Patrick Bordeleau, and Ryan O'Reilly scored for Colorado.

Antoine Vermette scored twice for Phoenix.