Three nights after the Rangers posted their most thrilling win of the season with a late comeback against the Boston Bruins, they looked flat from the start without second-leading scorer Ryan Callahan.

New York leads ninth-place Carolina by two points for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, but the Hurricanes have two games remaining and own the tiebreaker over the Rangers.

The Rangers have one game left — a home matchup against New Jersey on Saturday.

Ondrej Pavelec made 29 saves for the Thrashers, who beat New York for the third time in the four-game season series.

At Dallas, Loui Eriksson and Brad Richards each had a goal and an assist as Dallas beat Colorado to stay alive in the Western Conference playoff race.

Brenden Morrow and Tom Wandell added goals for the Stars, who’ve won three straight and are now only two points behind Chicago and Anaheim for the final Western Conference playoff berth.

Dallas plays at Colorado on Friday night and at Minnesota on Sunday.

Brandon Yip and Mark Olver scored for Colorado.

In Vancouver, British Columbia, Ryan Kesler scored three goals and Mason Raymond had two as NHL-leading Vancouver closed out its regular-season home schedule with a win.

Daniel Sedin added two assists to push his NHL-leading point total to 102 and Roberto Luongo made 29 saves for his fourth shutout of the season and 55th overall.

Niklas Backstrom stopped 18 shots but was replaced by Jose Theodore after Kesler’s third goal on a wrist shot 2:18 into the third period.

In Ottawa, Filip Kuba scored 1:16 into overtime to lift Ottawa past Montreal.

Michael Cammelleri drew Montreal even at 2 with 10.1 seconds left in regulation before Kuba’s drive from the point that got past Montreal backup Alex Auld. Jason Spezza also scored for Ottawa, and Craig Anderson made 26 saves. The Canadiens fell short in their first attempt to give coach Jacques Martin his 600th career victory. They clinched their fourth straight trip to the playoffs with a 2-1 win over Chicago on Tuesday.