Wild Reclaim Division Lead

The Minnesota Wild beat the Edmonton Oilers 3-1 last night to take the top spot in the Northwest Division from the Calgary Flames. Minnesota gained revenge for a loss to the Oilers on Monday, and also dealt a blow to the Oilers playoff hopes. Edmonton is now 3 points out of the eighth spot with only four games left on their schedule.

Staying in the Northwest, the Colorado Avalanche beat the Vancouver Canucks to  take over the seventh seed in the West. Vancouver is 2 points back, but has a 5 games left to the Avs 4.

And the final game with playoff  implications ended with the Anaheim Ducks clinching a playoff berth after a 2-1 shootout victory against the Los Angeles Kings.

Celtics Rout Suns

The Boston Celtics snapped their two-game losing streak with a 20-point blowout of the Phoenix Suns. The Suns lost both of their back-to-back games against the two best teams in the Eastern Conference. Kevin Garnett scored 30 and Paul Pierce dropped 27 to improve the Celtics League-leading record to 56-15.

In other NBA games:

David West hit a 17-foot jumper with 0.6 seconds left to help the New Orleans Hornets squeak past the Cleveland Cavaliers 100-99. LeBron James had given Cleveland a 99-98 lead with about 7 seconds to go, but Chris Paul dished his 20th assist of the game to Paul who sank the game-winner.

The 26-45 Charlotte Bobcats beat the 49-23 Los Angeles Lakers 108-95. Kobe Bryant had two technical fouls in the third and was ejected with around 3:40 to play. On the season, Bryant now has 15 technicals. If he gets another one this season, he will be hit with an automatic one-game suspension. The loss resulted in a three-way tie for second in the Western Conference between LA, the Spurs, and the Houston Rockets (Who beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 97-86). The are all are a game behind the Hornets.

The San Antonio Spurs beat the Los Angeles Clippers 97-88, the Washington Wizards beat the Seattle SuperSonics 104-99, the Philadelphia 76ers cruised against the Chicago Bulls 121-99, and the Toronto Raptors defeated the Detroit Pistons 89-82.