e Launchbury, Billy Twelvetrees and Chris Ashton scored tries to

NEW YORK -- The New York Rangers came up short in their first shot at clinching a playoff berth. The Ottawa Senators bounced back from a humbling loss and gave their flickering post-season chances a slight spark. When all was said and done Saturday night, the Senators skated off with a 3-2 win at Madison Square Garden that boosted their hopes and delayed any celebration for the host Rangers. "Were just trying to win games," said Senators captain Jason Spezza, whose second-period goal was the winner. "Were trying to build some momentum, win games and play right. "If were winning games, it will be a more enjoyable end of the season." The Senators shook off a 7-4 loss to Montreal on Friday when a 3-0 lead was wiped out by seven straight goals against them. Ottawa is five points behind the second wild card in the Eastern Conference, but the Senators will have to jump over four teams with only four games left to get into the playoffs. "We wanted to have a response just for the morale of the group," Spezza said. "We know its been a disappointing year, we know that we havent reached expectations, but we still have these games left to play so we want to win them." Robin Lehner made 41 saves and held off a furious late push by the Rangers, who still need one point to secure a playoff spot. They could qualify before their next game if New Jersey loses to Calgary on Monday. The Rangers will host Carolina on Tuesday. "We are still in a good spot," defenceman Dan Girardi said. "Its in our hands to get that win in our next game, and hopefully secure home ice in the first round." New York, with three games remaining, would get that if it keeps its hold on second place in the Metropolitan Division over Philadelphia, which lost at Boston on Saturday. The Flyers trail by four points with five games left. The Rangers, back home after a 2-1-1 Western road trip, started slowly and trailed 2-0 in the first period. Mark Stone and Mika Zibanejad put Ottawa in front, and Spezza made it 3-1 in the second. Mats Zuccarello deflected in two goals in the second to bring the Rangers within a goal each time. Henrik Lundqvist made 31 saves. "I hope our mindset is not to clinch. Its about getting the home advantage," Lundqvist said. "Id rather look ahead than behind me." Ottawa grabbed the lead with 7:15 left in the first off a rush. Clarke McArthur made a pass from the left circle to Stone, who gathered the puck on the inside edge of the right circle and snapped a shot past Lundqvist for his third goal of the season and second in seven games. Less than a minute later, Carl Hagelin had two prime scoring chances near the left post, but was denied by Lehner and then again on the rebound. Rick Nash, who recorded seven shots, then had a breakaway chance, but his in-close stuff attempt was stopped by Lehner with 2:48 left in the first. "We won and Im happy," Lehner said. "(My teammates) were helping me with rebounds, and I saw most pucks. They had some good chances, but I think we played better." Ottawa turned the puck right around and made it 2-0 just 11 seconds later. Zack Smith won a faceoff in the Rangers zone back to Zibanejad, who worked his way into the slot and ripped a shot by Lundqvist for his 16th of the season and second in two nights. Martin St. Louis nearly got the Rangers on the board, but he was stopped on a partial breakaway by defenceman Erik Karlsson, less than a minute after Lundqvist sticked away Chris Neils hard drive. Rangers defenceman John Moore, in his second game following a six-game absence caused by a concussion, fired a hard, rising shot from the left point that sailed into traffic, struck Zuccarello and nestled in the net to make it 2-1 at 5:25. Ottawa restored its two-goal lead 3:02 later after the Rangers couldnt gain control of the puck. Karlsson ripped a drive from the centre of the blue line that disappeared in a huddle of bodies in the crease, but was then poked in by Spezza, who wasnt overly impressed by his 20th goal. "Its nice to get but its pretty insignificant, especially in a year where you dont make the playoffs," he said. New York cut its deficit back to a goal with 8:05 remaining in the second. Zuccarello swung the puck behind the net and around the boards to Marc Staal, who took a shot from above the left circle that Zuccarello deflected in for his 19th goal. The Rangers hurt their comeback chances in the final moments when they retaliated for what appeared to be a late hit by Neil on Staal. New York was short-handed for 2 minutes of the final 2:47. NOTES: Ottawa is 4-7-3 in the second of back-to-back games this season. ... Spezza has eight 20-goal seasons in the NHL. ... New York defenceman Ryan McDonagh (shoulder) missed his second straight game. Custom Oakland Athletics Jerseys . -- Victor Bernardez tied the game with his second goal in the 95th minute and the San Jose Earthquakes drew 3-3 with Real Salt Lake on Saturday night. Chris Bassitt Athletics Jersey . -- When the Los Angeles Kings are on top of their formidable defensive game, they revel in the silence they can create in a frustrated road arena. https://www.cheapathleticsonline.com/ . Even that couldnt slow them down against the New Orleans Hornets. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook scored 31 points apiece and the Thunder overcame injuries to two key backups to beat New Orleans 101-93 Monday night for their 10th straight home win. Stitched Athletics Jerseys . - Steve Kerr of the Golden State Warriors will coach the Western Conference in the All-Star Game on Feb. Oakland Athletics Shirts . Portuguese sides Benfica and Porto also advanced to the last eight while Basel overcame an early red card to win 2-1 at Salzburg and progress from a last-16 second leg that was briefly suspended because of crowd trouble. Lyon, Valencia and AZ Alkmaar will also be in Fridays draw in Nyon, Switzerland, where the team to avoid will be Juventus -- even though the Italian champions made heavy work of their all-Italian last-16 match against Fiorentina.New Zealand and South Africa were made to weather bruising onslaughts by France and Wales before launching their end-of-year European tours with victories as the autumn internationals began in earnest on Saturday. The All Blacks ended a 26-19 win in Paris camped on their own line and thankful for second-half tries by Charles Piutau and No. 8 Kieran Read to maintain their unbeaten record in 2013. The Springboks emerged 24-15 winners in Cardiff after making the most of limited possession to score tries through Jean de Villiers, Bismarck du Plessis and Fourie du Preez in a 14th straight victory over the Welsh since 1999. Australia completed a southern hemisphere sweep by crossing seven times to thrash Italy 50-20, while England blew hot and cold in beating Argentina 31-12 in preparation for the visit of New Zealand next weekend. Ireland outclassed injury-hit Samoa 40-9 in Dublin, and Scotland beat Japan 42-17 in Edinburgh. Also, Fiji defeated Portugal 36-13 in Lisbon, Georgia pipped Canada 19-15 in Tbilisi to remain undefeated against teams from the Americas, and Romania beat visiting Tonga 19-18 in their first meeting to round off an action-packed weekend. France-New Zealand contests rarely disappoint and this one was no exception, with the All Blacks dropping their level sufficiently to give the Tricolors a chance of an upset at Stade de France. The hosts went 12-9 up two minutes into the second half but Piutau raced onto a kick through, hacked on and grounded for a score that knocked the French cold in the 46th. And when Read ran onto Piutaus wonderful offload for a 64th-minute try, it looked all over at 26-12 but Brice Dulins score kept France within a converted try for the final 10 minutes. "Two proud nations, and there was no quarter given today," said New Zealand captain Richie McCaw, whose team need to beat England and Ireland to go through the year with a 100 per cent record. At the end of a full-blooded test in the Welsh capital, it was the same old story for the Six Nations champions. So often they come up short against the southern hemisphere juggernauts -- in Warren Gatlands five-year reign, they have won only once against a SANZAR team. The Springboks were ruthless when they got a sniff of the tryline, with De Villiers finishing off a length-of-the-field move started by Bryan Habana in the 11th minute and Du Plessis crossing from close range six minutes later. Leigh Hallfpenny kept Wales in the game with five penalties in a flawless kicking display but the hosts were hurt by game-ending, first-half injuries to prop Adam Jones and backs Jonathan Davies and Liam Williams.dddddddddddd Du Preez scored the killer try in the 65th following good work by Jaque Fourie and South Africa now heads to Scotland. "They had possession but its important what you do with it," De Villiers said. "Were not happy with the performance, it was a bit iffy, but were happy with the win." Nick Cummins (two), captain Ben Mowen, Tevita Kuridrani, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Joe Tomane and Israel Folau were the tryscorers in Turin for Australia, which scored 33 points without reply after a strong start by Italy. "I think a lot of things are back on track," said Australia coach Ewen McKenzie, whose sides Grand Slam bid was ended by England at the first hurdle. "It was a really good scoreboard for us particularly when we were 10-0 down. The guys worked through that and even in the end there we showed some character." Luke McLean, Lorenzo Cittadini and debutant Tommaso Allan crossed for Italys tries. The All Blacks visit Twickenham next and assessing Englands form going into that match is proving tricky. Following an inconsistent 20-13 win over Australia, Stuart Lancasters side was excellent in the first half against Argentina. Joe Launchbury, Billy Twelvetrees and Chris Ashton scored tries to set up a potential thrashing of a team that came to London with a new coach and off the back of six straight losses in the Rugby Championship. But there were errors aplenty after the interval by England, and the Pumas threatened to get back into the match through Nicolas Sanchezs penalties, only for replacement No. 8 Ben Morgan to crash through for a clinching fourth English try in the 78th. "Second half, we were a bit loose and it wasnt good enough overall. But I would have taken that scoreline this morning," Lancaster said. "Weve got to get that consistency for 80 minutes." Samoa had the opportunity to climb to an all-time high of fifth in the IRB rankings by beating Ireland, but the islanders injury-plagued side was dispatched in a record win in the fixture. The Irish only led 14-6 at halftime thanks to Peter OMahonys try but ran away with it in the final 40 with Sean OBrien, Dave Kearney (two) and Fergus McFadden grabbing tries. ' ' '