Captain Saku Koivu will rejoin the Montreal Canadiens for their game tonight, completing a comeback from stomach cancer that was diagnosed in September.
Koivu, 27, said in February the cancer was in full remission and he hoped to return by the end of the season. He has been practicing with the Canadiens in recent weeks, and the team said he will be in the lineup at home against Ottawa.
The Canadiens hold the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Koivu had chemotherapy treatment to combat non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He had 17 goals and 30 assists in 54 games last season.
Noteworthy
* Roger Neilson, sidelined by cancer two games shy of becoming the ninth person to coach 1,000 NHL games, will take over the Ottawa bench for the last two games. The former Flyers coach will coach home games Thursday against Boston and Saturday against Toronto. He has been an assistant with Ottawa the last two seasons. Ottawa coach Jacques Martin will serve as associate coach for those games.
In games last night:
* At Uniondale, N.Y., Rod Brind'Amour's goal lifted Carolina over the New York Islanders, 2-1. Carolina needs one point to win the Southeast Division title.
* At Toronto, Alexander Mogilny had a goal as the Maple Leafs beat Columbus, 4-1.
* At New York, Pavel Bure scored two goals and Eric Lindros added another as the Rangers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-2.
* At St. Paul, Minn., Pascal Dupuis, Richard Park and Sergei Zholtok scored as the Minnesota Wild beat San Jose, 3-1.
* At Los Angeles, Felix Potvin made 21 saves as the Kings blanked the Dallas Stars, 3-0. *
