SCOREBOARD
Thursday, Feb. 14
Pittsburgh at Carolina (7 p.m. EST). The Penguins visit the Hurricanes in a matchup of first-place teams.
STARS
Wednesday
-Ryan Miller and Paul Gaustad, Sabres. Miller stopped 35 shots and Gaustad scored the lone goal in Buffalo’s 1-0 win over Toronto.
-Brian Gionta, Devils, converted a rebound 2:14 into overtime to give New Jersey a 3-2 win over Ottawa.
-Alexei Kovalev, Canadiens, scored on a shot from the right circle 1:43 into overtime and Montreal edged Florida 2-1.
-Dustin Byfuglien, Blackhawks, scored twice in the first period to lead Chicago to a 7-2 rout at Columbus.
-Eric Perrin and Slava Kozlov, Thrashers, scored on the first two shootout opportunities and Atlanta beat Washington 3-2.
ANOTHER SCARY MOMENT
Sergei Gonchar near the end boards when Gonchar got either his forearm or his stick up and accidentally struck Ward in the neck. The injury came only three days Florida right wing Richard Zednik’s neck was accidentally cut by teammate Olli Jokinen’s skate, cutting his carotid artery and stopping close to his jugular vein.
SABRE DANCE
Buffalo is 8-0-2 in its past 10 games after holding off Toronto 1-0 on Wednesday night. The surge helped the Sabres move into seventh place in the Eastern Conference standings, a point ahead of the idle New York Rangers.
STRONG IN DEFEAT
Alex Ovechkin scored his league-leading 48th goal with 1:21 left in regulation, but Washington went on to lose to Atlanta 3-2 in a shootout on Wednesday night. He has 28 goals in his last 30 games.
SNAPPED
Montreal ended a three-game losing streak and moved within four points of first-place Ottawa in the Northeast Division standings with Wednesday night’s 2-1 overtime at Florida. The Panthers are the only team to have a winning all-time record in regular-season games against the Canadiens (27-17-6-5).
SLUMPING
ington. … Columbus has lost five straight home games after a 7-2 defeat to Chicago.
GOING HOLLYWOOD
Entertainment, which has owned the Tampa Bay Lightning since 1999, announced Wednesday that it has been sold to OK Hockey LLC, a group controlled by Los Angeles TV and movie producer Oren Koules. The NHL still has to approve this deal, which is expected to be completed in 3 1/2 months.
EXTENSION
Left wing Tomas Fleischmann signed a $1.45-million, two-year contract extension with Washington on Wednesday. The 23-year-old Fleischmann has six goals and 15 assists in 53 games this season.
WELCOME BACK
Fredrik Modin was activated from injured reserve by Columbus on Wednesday and scored a goal in a 7-2 loss to Chicago. Modin has missed 47 games this season because of broken bones in his back and, most recently, a muscle tear in his leg.
SPEAKING
“I’m best friends with a lot of guys in the league the last few weeks.” – Atlanta general manager Don Waddell on the numerous inquiries he’s received about the trade availability of All-Star winger and potential unrestricted free agent Marian Hossa.