NHL-Highlights of Monday's NHL games

April 4 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights of Monday's National Hockey League games. Islanders 5, Lightning 2 The New York Islanders responded to a rare public scolding from head coach Jack Capuano -- and moved closer to clinching a playoff spot -- Monday night, as Matt Martin, Brock Nelson and John Tavares scored in a span of less than six minutes in the second period of a 5-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning at Barclays Center. The rebuke by the usually protective Capuano came two days after a 5-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, a defeat that dropped the Islanders to 5-6-2 since March 9 and left a playoff spot in peril. Rangers 4, Blue Jackets 2 After whiffing in two previous tries to secure a spot in the NHL playoffs, the New York Rangers punched their ticket to the postseason Monday night with a 4-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets in Nationwide Arena. The Rangers (44-26-9) were 0-2-1 and had lost to non-playoff qualifiers Carolina and Buffalo in the past week before taking care of the business on the road against the Blue Jackets. Columbus (31-40-8) is another opponent that will not be advancing past the regular season. Panthers 4, Maple Leafs 3 Rocco Grimaldi scored two goals and the Florida Panthers held on to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 Monday for their third straight victory. Grimaldi potted both of his goals in the second period. The center entered the game with one goal for the season, which he scored on Nov. 4. Blues 5, Coyotes 2 Kyle Brodziak scored twice and Vladimir Tarasenko scored one third-period goal and assisted on another to give the St. Louis Blues a 5-2 win over the Arizona Coyotes Monday night that pulled the Blues into a first-place tie with the Dallas Stars in the Central Division. Both teams have 105 points with two games remaining in the regular season. If the two teams end the season tied, Dallas would win the tiebreaker. The win also moved the Blues six points ahead of the third-place Blackhawks. Canucks 3, Kings 2 Jared McCann scored the winning goal and Ryan Miller recorded 40 saves -- including 20 in the third period -- as the Vancouver Canucks beat the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 Monday night. McCann's goal on a breakaway at 19:27 of the second period stood up as the winner as the Canucks (30-36-13) posted their third consecutive win. Before Monday, Vancouver failed in eight attempts to record a three-game win streak.