The surging Detroit Red Wings rallied past the Dallas Stars 5-3 to become the first team to clinch a Stanley Cup play-off spot and post a record-equalling eighth consecutive season with 100 points or more.

After fumbling through a horrendous February that saw them finish the month with just one win in 11 games, the Red Wings have returned to form in March with five successive victories, solidifying their place atop the NHL standings.

The Stars, who had climbed to within three points of the Wings during their February collapse, have slipped 11 points off the leaders.

They must now turn their attention to the charging San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks in an increasingly tight battle for Pacific division honours.

Detroit's 47th win of the season also sealed a seventh consecutive Central division crown their 100 points, matching the Montreal Canadiens' record streak from 1974-75 through to 1981-82.

"We dropped the ball in February and had a lot of injuries but the guys have done a good job battling back," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said.

"I thought it was a good win for us tonight getting down 3-1, we got behind and we were able to battle back. Nice to make the playoffs, it's always your goal at the start to make the playoffs."

With 11 games to play, the Wings moved 22 points clear of Nashville Predators at the top of the Central standings and 10 in front of the Sharks in the race for the Presidents' Trophy, which goes to the NHL's regular season champions.

Trailing 3-1 late in the second period, Pavel Datsyuk sparked the comeback with a pair of goals while Mikael Samuelsson knocked home the winner from a goalmouth scramble to give the Red Wings their first lead of the night 4-3.

The Stars had only five shots in a tight opening period but made their first one count, Trevor Daley scoring 68 seconds after the opening face-off.

Johan Franzen's power-play tally sent the teams into the intermission level at 1-1 but the Stars came flying out of the break Jere Lehtinen and Brenden Morrow beating Chris Osgood to put the visitors in front 3-1.

Datsyuk knocked home his own rebound past Marty Turco to end the second then 36 seconds into the third hammered a shot past the Stars' netminder to level the contest.

Just 25 seconds later, Mikael Samuelsson gave the Wings their first lead of the night and Valtteri Filppula closed out the scoring into an empty net.

* The Ottawa Senators moved ahead of Montreal for the Northeast Division lead, shutting out the Canadiens 3-0.

Both teams have 87 points but the Senators moved into first place in division because they have one more win.

Jason Spezza scored twice on powerplay goals and Martin Gerber stopped 28 shots for the Senators. Antoine Vermette had Ottawa's other goal.

* Ilya Kovalchuk capped a hat-trick by scoring a powerplay empty-netter with 61 seconds left, giving the Atlanta Thrashers a come-from-behind 6-4 home victory over the Calgary Flames.

* Mike Smith's 35 saves sparked the Tampa Bay Lightning's 3-1 road win over the Boston Bruins.

* Two goals by Alexander Frolov led the Los Angeles Kings to a 4-1 road win over the Nashville Predators.

* Pittsburgh Penguins' enforcer Georges Laraque was suspended for three games by the NHL for elbowing Buffalo Sabres Nathan Paetsch in the head.

Laraque, one of the NHL's most feared fighters with 1,024 career penalty minutes, was assessed a major penalty and a game misconduct when he dropped Paetsch with an elbow in the second period of the Penguins' 7-3 win over the Sabres on Wednesday.

Paetsch had to be helped off the ice and remains out indefinitely with a concussion. The three-game suspension will cost Laraque more than £14,000 in salary.

Reuters