WASHINGTON (AP) -Mike Green scored 3:41 into overtime after posting two assists in regulation, Joe Motzko had his first two goals of the season, and the Washington Capitals beat the New York Rangers 5-4 Wednesday night.
The winning goal came after New York’s Brendan Shanahan stumbled and fell to the ice in the Capitals zone, allowing Brooks Laich to steal the puck and head the other way on an odd-man rush.
That blunder ruined a good night for Shanahan, who had a goal and two assists. Martin Straka scored twice for New York, and Jaromir Jagr had an assist.
It was quite a display of offense from two of the four lowest-scoring teams in the 30-club NHL, and the result gave Washington its first three-game home winning streak. The last-in-the-league Capitals also have won four of five overall.
Alex Ovechkin scored his 22nd goal, and enforcer Donald Brashear added his first two assists this season.
Sabres 5, Islanders 3
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) – Ales Kotalik had a goal and assist, Ryan Miller made 28 saves, and Buffalo scored three goals in the second period to beat the New York Islanders.
Nolan Pratt, Toni Lydman, Derek Roy and Jochen Hecht also scored for the Sabres, who have won two of three. Buffalo beat the Islanders for the first time in three meetings this season.
Miroslav Satan, Richard Park and Mike Sillinger scored for New York, which has lost six of seven, dating to Nov. 29.
Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro, making his fifth consecutive start, finished with 36 saves. His three-game winning streak against the Sabres was snapped.
Bruins 5, Thrashers 3
ATLANTA (AP) – Milan Lucic scored the go-ahead goal off a rebound with 3:47 remaining and Alex Auld won his third straight start for Boston.
Mark Recchi scored twice in his first game with the Thrashers, and Ilya Kovalchuk added his NHL-leading 24th goal as the Thrashers overcame an early 2-0 deficit.
Marc Savard added an open-net goal with 3.5 seconds left.
Auld, acquired from Phoenix last week after Tim Thomas was injured, stopped 23 shots to improve to 3-0 with the Bruins.
Petteri Nokelainen’s goal late in the first period put Boston ahead, and Peter Schaefer’s deflection 6 minutes into the second extended the lead.
Recchi, a 19-year veteran acquired off waivers from Pittsburgh over the weekend, brought the Thrashers back with goals 1:01 apart.
Blue Jackets 4, Avalanche 1
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Fredrik Norrena stopped 15 shots, and Columbus relied on defense to beat Colorado.
It was the second time in a week the Blue Jackets defeated the Avalanche, a first for the franchise that was 2-21-2 against Colorado before the back-to-back wins.
Kris Beech, Jared Boll, Manny Malhotra and Sergei Fedorov scored, but the Blue Jackets went more than 14 minutes without a shot and mustered only one in the second period. The teams finished with 16 each.
Columbus coach Ken Hitchcock earned his 450th NHL victory in his 850th career game. He is 450-289-111 with Dallas, Philadelphia and Columbus, including 42-40-11 in slightly over a season with the Blue Jackets.
Senators 6, Hurricanes 0
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – Dany Heatley had two goals and an assist, leading Ottawa to a rout of Carolina.
Ray Emery and Martin Gerber teamed to post Ottawa’s second shutout of the season. Jason Spezza had a goal and two assists, Dean McAmmond added a goal and an assist, and Mike Fisher, and Shean Donovan also scored.
The Eastern Conference-leading Senators had a 2-0 edge before the game was 5 1/2 minutes old, scored three first-period goals and added three more in the third for their third straight victory.
Emery stopped the only shot he faced before leaving due to soreness in his right hip, and was replaced early in the first by Gerber, a former Hurricanes goalie who stopped 31 shots.
Cam Ward allowed goals on two of the first four shots he faced and finished with 20 saves for the Southeast Division-leading Hurricanes.
Blackhawks 6, Kings 3
CHICAGO (AP) – Martin Havlat scored twice, and Patrick Sharp and rookie Jonathan Toews each had a goal and two assists to help Chicago end a season-high, four-game losing streak.
Tuomo Ruutu and Duncan Keith also scored for Chicago. Patrick Kane, the NHL’s leading rookie scorer, added two assists.
After missing 22 games with a shoulder injury, Havlat has five goals and three assists in seven games.
The Kings’ Michal Handzus scored and assisted on a goal by Patrick O’Sullivan. Anze Kopitar also scored for Los Angeles, extending his point streak to eight games (six goals, six assists).
Chicago’s Nikolai Khabibulin made 25 saves.
Jean-Sebastien Aubin started in goal for Los Angeles, but was replaced by Jonathan Quick late in the first period after allowing three goals on nine shots. Quick permitted three on 27 shots.
Canucks 3, Ducks 2
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) – Injury fill-ins Mason Raymond and Jason Jaffray assisted on each other’s first NHL goals and Vancouver – without forward Brendan Morrison – beat Anaheim.
Morrison’s 542-game playing streak, the longest current run in the NHL, ended when the center was forced out of the lineup by a wrist injury that will require surgery. The streak that began on Feb. 27, 2000 is the 11th-longest in league history.
Brad Isbister sat out because of a groin injury, and goalie Roberto Luongo missed his second straight game because of a rib injury.
Daniel Sedin ha the other goal for the Canucks, and Curtis Sanford stopped 34 shots.
Chris Pronger and Todd Bertuzzi scored for the Ducks.
Add A Comment