BOSTON (AP) -Alex Kovalev had two goals and an assist, and Carey Price made 34 saves to lift Montreal to a 4-2 victory over the Boston Bruins and push the Canadiens back into first place in the Eastern Conference on Thursday night.
Montreal beat the Bruins for the 10th straight time, including all seven meetings this season, and tied a franchise record for the most consecutive wins against Boston. That mark was set in the 1944-45 season.
The Canadiens moved one point ahead of the idle New Jersey Devils in the race for the top seed in the East playoffs. The seventh-place Bruins are clinging to a playoff position but are only two points ahead of Buffalo, which is on the outside of the postseason race.
Senators 3, Blues 2
OTTAWA (AP) – Jason Spezza scored his 31st goal and Martin Gerber stopped 24 shots to lead Ottawa over St. Louis.
Antoine Vermette and Christoph Schubert also scored for Ottawa, fifth in the Eastern Conference with 89 points, two more than the New York Rangers.
The Senators remained three points behind Montreal, the leader in the Northeast Division and the East.
Jamal Mayers and Jeff Woywitka scored 2:44 apart midway through the first period to give St. Louis a short-lived 2-1 lead.
Penguins 4, Lightning 2
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Evgeni Malkin had a goal and an assist, and Pittsburgh moved into a tie for first place in the Atlantic Division with a win over Tampa Bay.
Jarkko Ruutu, Jordan Staal and Petr Sykora also scored for the Penguins, who have won four of five and beat Tampa Bay at home for the first time since Nov. 2, 2002 – a span of eight games.
Pittsburgh and New Jersey both have 91 points, one fewer than Eastern Conference-leading Montreal.
Filip Kuba and Vincent Lecavalier each had a goal and an assist and Jussi Jokinen had two assists for the Lightning, who have the conference’s worst record.
Hurricanes 2, Panthers 1, SO
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) – Sergei Samsonov and Eric Staal scored in the shootout for Carolina, which snapped Florida’s team-record tying, seven-game winning streak.
Carolina won the shootout 2-0, sealing the victory when Staal’s wrist shot trickled through the Tomas Vokoun’s pads.
Trevor Letowski scored in the first period for Carolina, which won for the 10th time in 13 games. The Southeast Division-leading Hurricanes have 87 points, seven more than second-place Washington.
Stephen Weiss scored Florida’s only goal in the third period. The 11th-place Panthers are four points behind seventh-place Boston and three behind eighth-place Philadelphia.
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