BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Christopher Higgins scored twice and
Cristobal Huet made 42 saves, leading the surging Montreal
Canadiens to a 5-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday
night.
Alex Kovalev, Maxim Lapierre and Francis Bouillon also scored
for Montreal, which won its fourth straight and moved within five
points of first-place Buffalo in the Northeast Division. Sheldon
Souray and Sergei Samsonov each had two assists for the Canadiens.
Ales Kotalik and Jaroslav Spacek scored for Buffalo, which has
lost consecutive games for the first time this season. Ryan Miller
stopped 24 shots.
Montreal has not lost in regulation since Dec. 4.<
^Hurricanes 2, Flyers 1=
PHILADELPHIA -- Justin Williams and Anton Babchuk scored,
and Carolina beat Philadelphia to hand the Flyers their
franchise-record seventh straight loss.
Simon Gagne scored for the Flyers, who had dropped six in a row
five times in their 40-year history -- including twice this season.
The Flyers have the fewest points in the NHL (20) and have only
three victories at home, also a league low.
Cam Ward stopped 29 shots as the Hurricanes won their second
consecutive game after snapping their season-high five-game losing
streak with a 3-2 win at Tampa Bay last Saturday.
Philadelphia goalie Antero Niittymaki stopped 40 of a
season-high 42 shots allowed by the Flyers.<
^Islanders 4, Rangers 3=
NEW YORK -- Jason Blake scored three goals and the New York
Islanders took advantage of the depleted and tired Rangers before
holding on for a one-goal victory.
Blake's fourth NHL hat trick helped the Islanders take a 4-1
lead. He already has 19 goals, nine shy of his career best set last
season.
Alexei Yashin also scored for the Islanders, who won for the
third time in four games and earned their second road victory of
the season over the Rangers. Rick DiPietro gave up two goals to
Jaromir Jagr but finished with 30 saves to win for the fifth time
in seven decisions.
The Rangers have dropped three straight since a season-high
five-game winning streak, getting outscored 19-6. Brendan Shanahan
also scored for the Rangers, who played their eighth game in 13
days.
Rangers backup goalie Kevin Weekes was forced into action for
the fifth time in six games because Henrik Lundqvist called in sick
just hours before the opening faceoff.<
^Blues 4, Penguins 1=
PITTSBURGH -- Doug Weight and Dan Hinote each had a goal and
an assist, and St. Louis beat uninspired Pittsburgh to stop an
11-game losing streak that was threatening a franchise record.
The Blues began the game with an NHL-low seven victories and a
losing streak that was two short of last season's franchise-worst
13 in a row, only to dominate the Penguins for the second season in
a row.
Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was pulled early in the
second after Ryan Johnson scored short-handed. Fleury allowed three
goals on 12 shots.
The Penguins had won four of five.
Blues goalie Manny Legace also was lifted, with flulike
symptoms, after stopping all nine shots he saw in the first period.
Jason Bacashihua replaced him to start the second and allowed one
goal in 17 shots, rookie Evgeni Malkin's 17th of the season early
in the third period on a power play.
Penguins star Sidney Crosby ran his scoring streak to nine games
(six goals, 15 assists) by setting up Malkin's goal.
St. Louis, which had been winless since beating Detroit on Nov.
24, answered about 90 seconds later when Bill Guerin scored.<
^Lightning 5, Capitals 4=
WASHINGTON -- Vincent Lecavalier scored his 200th career
goal and assisted on Martin St. Louis' 21st and 22nd of the season,
helping Tampa Bay build a big lead it nearly gave away before
beating Washington.
Defenseman Filip Kuba added a goal and two assists, and Nikita
Alexeev also scored for Tampa Bay, which snapped a four-game losing
streak. The Lightning outshot the Capitals 29-9 through two periods
while taking a 5-2 lead, bringing loud boos from an announced crowd
of 10,417.
Washington's Kris Beech and Bryan Muir scored in the third
period to make it a one-goal game with about 7½ minutes left, but
Lightning goalie Marc Denis held on for his second win in his last
12 starts.
Alex Ovechkin scored his 23rd goal and had an assist for the
Capitals, who had won seven of nine. Jamie Heward scored
Washington's other goal.<
^Bruins 7, Senators 2=
OTTAWA -- Marco Sturm scored three times and Marc Savard had
two goals and two assists, leading Boston past Ottawa.
Patrice Bergeron had five assists, and Glen Murray and Paul Mara
also scored to help Bruins captain Zdeno Chara win his first game
in Ottawa since leaving the Senators last offseason for a
five-year, $37.5 million contract.
Christoph Schubert scored Ottawa's first goal at 19:55 of the
second -- with the Senators already trailing 5-0. Antoine Vermette
added a 4-on-4 goal midway through the third.
Boston has won all three meetings between the Northeast Division
rivals this season. The last-place Bruins are one point behind the
fourth-place Senators.<
^Panthers 7, Maple Leafs 3=
TORONTO -- Gary Roberts scored twice against his former team
and Ed Belfour made 33 saves in his first game in Toronto since he
was cut by the Maple Leafs, leading Florida to a rout.
Ville Peltonen, Rostislav Olesz, Martin Gelinas, Joel
Kwiatkowski and Nathan Horton also scored for the Panthers, who won
back-to-back road games for the first time this season. They lost
their previous five in Toronto.
The 41-year-old Belfour had two good years with the Maple Leafs
before struggling last seasons. The team bought out his contract
after acquiring Andrew Raycroft, who allowed six goals on 26 shots
before being replaced to start the third.
Raycroft made several impressive saves, but defenseman Hal
Gill's two turnovers led to breakaways that deflated his team.
Jeff O'Neill, Tomas Kaberle and Carlo Colaiacovo scored for the
Maple Leafs, whose three-game winning streak ended.<
^Thrashers 4, Devils 3, SO=
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Marian Hossa scored two
short-handed goals, then connected in the shootout to help Atlanta
end a season-high five-game losing streak with a victory over New
Jersey.
Slava Kozlov and Hossa, the first two shooters for Atlanta, beat
Martin Brodeur. At the other end, Kari Lehtonen stopped Zach Parise
and Brian Gionta.
In regulation, Hossa broke out of a mild scoring slump by
setting an Atlanta record for short-handed goals in a game. Jon Sim
also scored, and the Thrashers extended their winning streak over
the Devils to five.
The Devils got power-play scores from Sergei Brylin and Jamie
Langenbrunner, and the first NHL goal by defenseman Johnny Oduya.<
^Wild 5, Canucks 2=
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Branko Radivojevic scored twice and Brian
Rolston had a goal and an assist to lead Minnesota past Vancouver
for a split of their home-and-home series.
Pavol Demitra and Mark Parrish also scored for the Wild, who won
in regulation for only the second time in 21 games. Minnesota has
five other wins during that stretch.
Trevor Linden and Kevin Bieksa scored for Vancouver, which lost
for the first time in four games.
Coming off a winless three-game swing through western Canada in
which it scored just four goals, Minnesota improved to 13-3-1 at
home with its fourth straight win in the Xcel Energy Center.<
^MORE