NEW YORK — Jaromir Jagr showed impatience all night.

The New York Rangers' captain wanted to wrap up this first-round playoff series in a sweep to avoid a trip back to Atlanta. He even did the work of the referee to try to speed things along.

When officials and the NHL office in Toronto took a long time debating whether Matt Cullen's hard drive off the crossbar crossed the goal line before popping out in the third period, Jagr took matters into his hands.

"Our trainer said it's a goal. That's why I went for the puck and put it in the middle. I don't know if you guys saw that," Jagr said through a sheepish grin after the Rangers' 4-2 win over the Thrashers on Wednesday night. "I think some guy from Atlanta didn't agree with me. He shot it back."

After a delay that lasted several minutes, everyone agreed with Jagr. Cullen's goal snapped a third-period tie and sent the Rangers on the way to a win that wrapped up a four-game sweep of the Thrashers and sent New York into the second round for the first time in a decade.

Jagr, who hadn't gotten this deep in the postseason since 2001 — his final season with Pittsburgh — and the rest of the Rangers will have about a week off before facing their next opponent.

Although Rangers coach Tom Renney was pleased with the totally unexpected sweep of the Southeast Division champions, he repeatedly pointed out that this was just the first step of what he called New York's "business trip."

"One thing that you have to be careful about is that you don't decompress to the point where you are just frozen," he said after his first NHL series win. "I think that is something we have to pay attention to over the next few days."

Devils 4, Lightning 3Scott Gomez zipped the winning goal past Johan Holmqvist with 7:06 left in overtime and visiting New Jersey tied the series 2-2. Zach Parise scored his fifth and sixth goals of the series for the Devils.

Sabres 4, Islanders 2At Uniondale, N.Y., Chris Drury scored twice and Ryan Miller made 24 saves to push Buffalo to the brink of the second round. Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville also scored for the Sabres, in position to end the series Friday at home.

Sharks 3, Predators 2Milan Michalek scored two goals, Evgeni Nabokov made 23 saves and host San Jose took a commanding lead in the series.Rookie Joe Pavelski also scored his first playoff goal for the Sharks, and Joe Thornton and Jonathan Cheechoo had two assists apiece.