OTTAWA (AP) -Daniel Alfredsson scored his second power-play goal of the game with 2:56 remaining to lift the Ottawa Senators to a 3-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night in a matchup of the NHL’s top two teams.
Alfredsson restored Ottawa’s lead with his 28th goal of the season after the Senators blew a 2-0 advantage earlier in the period. He also scored on a slap shot from the point past former teammate Dominik Hasek to open the scoring just 1:04 in.
Mike Fisher also scored for Ottawa as he and Alfredsson extended their scoring streaks to nine games.
Detroit scored twice in the third, tying it with 7:54 remaining after Senators All-Star Dany Heatley departed earlier in the period with an apparent right shoulder injury.
Brian Rafalski scored on a power play 7:46 into the third to cut it to 2-1. Jiri Hudler evened it at 2 when he jumped on a rebound of Nicklas Lidstrom’s point shot off the end boards left of the net and drove a slap shot past Ottawa goalie Ray Emery.
Emery made 27 saves for his third straight win as the Senators extended their winning streak to four.
Sharks 3, Maple Leafs 2
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) – Joe Pavelski deflected home the go-ahead goal with 9:39 to play, and the Sharks rallied from a two-goal deficit in the third period for their seventh win in eight games.
Craig Rivet tied it for San Jose with a goal during a two-man advantage with 11:29 left as the Sharks scored three times in less than 10 minutes against Vesa Toskala, their longtime teammate.
Patrick Marleau also scored on a power play for the first-place Sharks, who have the NHL’s third-highest point total behind Detroit and Ottawa.
Nik Antropov and Pavel Kubina scored for the Maple Leafs, who wasted two outstanding periods against an elite team, instead sinking further into their nightmare season with their fifth consecutive loss.
Evgeni Nabokov and Toskala rose through the Sharks’ farm system together and shared the starting job in San Jose for much of the last three seasons until the club shipped Toskala to Toronto last summer.
Devils 3, Sabres 2, SO
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) – Patrik Elias and Zach Parise scored shootout goals to help New Jersey extend the Sabres’ winless streak to nine games.
David Clarkson capped the Devils’ two-goal comeback by scoring on a wraparound with 67 seconds left in regulation. In the shootout, Devils goalie Martin Brodeur stopped both Ales Kotalik and Thomas Vanek, allowing Elias to seal the win by sneaking a backhander through Ryan Miller’s legs.
Paul Martin also scored for the Devils, who improved to 8-2 in their past 10 games, and are 19-5-1 in their past 25.
Daniel Paille scored both goals for Buffalo, which dropped to 0-4-5 in its past nine, and lost its third straight game by shootout. The Sabres’ winless streak is now the fourth-longest in team history, and worst since a 12-game skid during the 2002-03 season.
Thrashers 3, Penguins 2, SO
ATLANTA (AP) – Mark Recchi, playing against his former Pittsburgh teammates for the first time with Atlanta, scored the only goal in a shootout to give the Thrashers the win.
Sidney Crosby scored two goals for Pittsburgh, but he and three teammates were denied in the shootout by Kari Lehtonen.
Recchi, claimed off waivers by Atlanta on Dec. 8, also had an assist as the Thrashers snapped the Penguins’ eight-game winning streak.
Recchi was Atlanta’s fourth shooter in the shootout. Slava Kozlov, Marian Hossa and Ilya Kovalchuk were stopped by Ty Conklin, who suffered his first loss in 10 decisions with Pittsburgh.
Conklin stopped 36 shots. He started each of the eight straight wins.
Kovalchuk scored his league-leading 37th goal in the first period for Atlanta.
Rangers 4, Canadiens 1
NEW YORK (AP) – Petr Prucha and Nigel Dawes had a goal and an assist apiece, Henrik Lundqvist got back on track and the Rangers ended their five-game losing streak.
New York had gone 0-4-1 since a home overtime victory against the Canadiens on Dec. 29.
Lundqvist, whose recent slide cost him an invitation to the All-Star game, made 18 saves. He lost his shutout bid 7:10 into the third period on Sergei Kostitsyn’s power-play goal. The Canadiens had scored at least four goals in six of seven.
Lundqvist had been 2-5-2 with a 3.81 goals-against average in his previous nine games after going 16-11-2 with a 1.98 GAA and six shutouts in his first 29.
Chris Drury and Martin Straka scored in the first period for the Rangers.
It was the Canadiens’ first regulation loss since Dec. 23 (5-0-2), despite eight power plays.
Avalanche 5, Hurricanes 4
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – Marek Svatos capped a third-period rally with two goals in about 2 minutes, and Colorado rallied three times from two-goal deficits to beat Carolina.
The late goals gave Svatos nine goals in his past 10 games and helped the Avalanche stop a two-game losing streak. Paul Stastny, Milan Hejduk and Cody McLeod also scored, and McLeod had his first career NHL assist for Colorado.
Erik Cole, Keith Aucoin, Chad LaRose and Cory Stillman scored for the short-handed Hurricanes in their second loss in a row at home. They have only two victories in their past eight games thanks mostly to an injury list that goes six-deep. Those out include Matt Cullen, Justin Williams and Bret Hedican.
Lightning 5, Panthers 3
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) – Nick Tarnasky and Brad Richards each scored two goals to help Tampa Bay get the win.
Tarnasky had his first multigoal effort in 132 career games as the Lightning won for just the third time in 14 games and for the second time in seven on the road.
Jan Hlavac also scored for Tampa Bay, and goalie Johan Holmqvist made 27 saves.
Olli Jokinen, David Booth and Brett McLean scored for Florida, which has lost five straight at home and six of its past eight overall. Tomas Vokoun, who was selected on Friday to play in the NHL All-Star game on Jan. 27 in Atlanta, stopped 24 shots.
Bruins 4, Flyers 3, OT
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Aaron Ward scored 43 seconds into overtime to give the Bruins the victory.
Marco Sturm, Marc Savard and Peter Schaefer also scored for Boston, which snapped a two-game skid.
Daniel Briere, Jeff Carter and Scott Hartnell had goals for Philadelphia, which had won three straight to close out a 5-1 road trip.
Flyers goaltender Antero Niittymaki ranged far out of the crease to poke away a loose puck and prevent a breakaway. But the puck went to Ward near the right boards. Ward easily beat Niittymaki with a slap shot.
Kings 4, Stars 3, SO
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Patrick O’Sullivan scored the deciding goal in a shootout, and Alexander Frolov and Derek Armstrong scored 67 seconds apart in the first period for Los Angeles.
Anze Kopitar also scored and Jason LaBarbera made 23 saves for the Kings, who evened the season series at three games apiece after losing all eight meetings in 2006-07. The Stars visited Staples Center for the first time since their third-period collapse on Nov. 10, when goaltender Marty Turco blew a 4-0 lead and lost 6-5 in overtime.
Jeff Halpern and Matt Niskanen scored for Dallas during 5-on-3 power plays and Loui Eriksson also found the net for the Stars, who have lost six of their last eight games.
Blue Jackets 2, Predators 1, SO
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Nikolai Zherdev scored the lone shootout goal and set up the tying goal in regulation to help the Blue Jackets end a 12-game losing streak against Nashville.
Pascal Leclaire stopped all three shooters in the tiebreaker and made 26 saves in regulation and overtime for Columbus.
Rostislav Klesla pulled Columbus even at 10:45 of the third period with a snap shot from the slot. Zherdev set up the goal with a pass after Dan Hamhuis’ giveaway.
Alexander Radulov scored late in the second period for Nashville.
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