Jimmy Howard made 30 saves, Darren Helm, Andreas Athanasiou and Kyle Quincey scored for Detroit, and the Red Wings took a step toward a 25th consecutive playoff appearance with a 3-0 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday night at Detroit.

The Red Wings (93 points) lead the Bruins (91) in the race for third place in the Atlantic Division. Philadelphia (91) is tied with the Bruins for the second wild-card spot.

Helm scored in the first period and Athanasiou added a shorthanded goal in the second for Detroit, which hasn’t missed the postseason since 1990. Quincey’s goal was an empty-netter.

Howard held on for his second shutout of the season.

Detroit took a 1-0 lead on Helm’s goal in the first. Philadelphia’s Shayne Gostisbehere was trying to help clear the puck, but instead it went toward the goal and bounced in front, where Helm was able to flip it past Flyers goalie Steve Mason for his 13th goal of the season.

An even more glaring mistake led to the second goal. Philadelphia’s Jakub Voracek let the puck get past him near the boards with the Flyers on the power play. There was nobody back to prevent Athanasiou from going in alone on a breakaway.

Oilers 6, Canucks 2 — Patrick Maroon scored twice and Edmonton won at Rexall Place for the final time before the team moves to a new dowtown arena in the fall.

Blue Jackets 5, Maple Leafs 1 — Brandon Dubinsky scored two goals for visiting Columbus.

Now solely alone in last place after Edmonton’s win, Toronto will have either the best odds of landing the No. 1 overall pick (20 percent) or the second-best odds (13.5 percent).