NEW YORK — Scott Gomez's sore ribs held up against pounding from his former team. Nigel Dawes' crease-crashing, sliding goal stood up to a video replay.

Add that together, and suddenly the New York Rangers are tied with the New Jersey Devils in the ever-crowded Eastern Conference playoff race.

Gomez had two assists in his return following a one-game absence, Dawes scored the tiebreaking goal while sliding on his back into goalie Martin Brodeur late in the third period, and the Rangers beat the Devils for the seventh straight time this season, 3-2 Thursday night.

Gomez, the Rangers' leading scorer, was a question mark when he took the ice for the pregame warmup but rejoined the lineup just six days after crashing into the boards at Philadelphia.

"Once you go in the warmup, the adrenaline's going to be going and you're going to go no matter what," he said. "You want to be able to help your team out and get the points."

Dawes made that possible by netting the winner with a whole lot of help.

"As ugly as it was, it was pretty," Rangers coach Tom Renney said.

A pass by Chris Drury, who assisted on every New York goal, hit the skate of Devils defenseman Sheldon Brookbank and caromed in on Brodeur. He steered the puck into the onrushing Dawes, on the ice after being knocked down by Travis Zajac. Both players barreled into the crease, with Dawes pushing the puck over the line with his shoulder with 3:06 left.

It was enough to rally the Rangers, who trailed 2-1 entering the third period, and send the Devils to their fifth straight loss (0-4-1). The teams are tied in the Eastern Conference playoff race with 91 points, but New Jersey is in fifth place because it owns two more wins than New York.

Bruins 4, Maple Leafs 2

Tim Thomas made 30 saves, Phil Kessel and Peter Schaefer each had a goal and an assist and host Boston eliminated Toronto from playoff contention.

The Bruins moved into a seventh-place tie with idle Philadelphia, while Toronto missed the playoffs for the third straight year for the first time since the 1926-28 seasons.

Capitals 4, Lightning 3

Tomas Fleischmann scored with 2:33 left in overtime and visiting Washington remained two points out of eighth place in the Eastern Conference.

Brooks Laich, Matt Bradley and Alexander Semin also scored for the Capitals, who trail Southeast Division-leading Carolina, by two points.

Sabres 4, Senators 3

Jason Pominville and Derek Roy scored in the shootout for visiting Buffalo.

Sabres goalie Ryan Miller stopped Antoine Vermette and Daniel Alfredsson before Jason Spezza scored on Ottawa's third attempt.

Sharks 3, Stars 2

Joe Thornton banked a power-play goal off the Dallas defense with 2:02 left in overtime, and host San Jose inched closer to a Pacific Division titl with the win against the Stars.

Thrashers 3, Panthers 2

Mark Recchi scored with 6:13 left in the third period to help visiting Atlanta snap a five-game losing streak.

Kings 4, Coyotes 0

Anze Kopitar had a goal and two assists and Erik Ersberg made 38 saves and host Los Angeles shut out Phoenix.