PITTSBURGH (AP) -Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves for his ninth career shutout, and Jordan Staal and Colby Armstrong ended long goal droughts in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 5-0 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers on Saturday night.
Sidney Crosby added a goal and an assist, and Ryan Malone and Ryan Whitney also scored for the Penguins, who had lost six of their previous seven at home. Sergei Gonchar had three assists, and Gary Roberts and Tyler Kennedy each added two assists.
Staal hadn’t scored since Oct. 20, while Armstrong, a healthy scratch for several games earlier this month, hadn’t scored since the home opener Oct. 6.
Atlanta, coming off a 3-0 loss to New Jersey on Friday night, has gone 132 minutes, 12 seconds without scoring.
Fleury was solid, but did not have to make many spectacular saves to earn his second shutout of the season. Perhaps his best stop came on Todd White’s deflection 1:28 into the third period.
About the only drama late in the game was whether the Penguins’ Evgeni Malkin would extend his 15-game scoring streak. Malkin was held without a shot and went scoreless for the third time this season, ending a run that was the longest in NHL history by a Russian player, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Islanders 2, Bruins 1
UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) – Andy Hilbert and Richard Park, who came in with one goal between them this season, both scored as the punchless New York Islanders pulled out a victory over the Boston Bruins.
One day after dropping a 2-1 decision in Boston, the Islanders returned the favor at home despite not scoring more than two goals for the eighth straight game. New York is 4-4 in that stretch with a total of 13 goals.
Hilbert tied it in the second with his first of the season, and first in 27 games, dating to March 24. Park put the Islanders ahead with his second at 7:30 of the third when he converted a rebound of Ruslan Fedotenko’s shot past Tim Thomas, the winning goalie Friday.
Rick DiPietro earned his split of the home-and-home and had to make only 20 saves to do it. He also earned an assist on Hilbert’s goal.
Sabres 3, Canadiens 0
MONTREAL (AP) – Jocelyn Thibault made 24 saves for his first shutout for Buffalo, and Jaroslav Spacek and Thomas Vanek scored second-period goals for the Sabres.
Thibault, who played for Montreal from 1995-98, recorded his 38th career shutout – his first since March 14 for Pittsburgh in a 3-0 win in New Jersey. It was just his third start of the season for Buffalo, which signed him as a free agent in the offseason.
Spacek scored on a power play midway through the second, and Vanek made it a two-goal lead later in the period as the Sabres extended their winning streak to four, including three against the Canadiens.
Jochen Hecht scored into an empty net with 26.3 seconds remaining as Buffalo beat Montreal for the second night in a row.
Blue Jackets 3, Red Wings 2, SO
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Nikolai Zherdev scored the winning shootout goal to lead the Columbus Blue Jackets past the Detroit Red Wings.
Michael Peca and Rick Nash also scored in the shootout for Columbus, which won despite allowing Detroit to tie it with two goals in a team-record 5 seconds. The game was the second shootout in a week between the teams, with Detroit winning last Sunday.
Manny Malhotra and Zherdev scored in regulation for Columbus, which has won two straight. Pascal Leclaire made 23 saves and had a big stop on Henrik Zetterberg in the shootout.
Pavel Datsyuk had a goal and an assist, and Tomas Holmstrom also scored for Detroit, which has lost five of seven. Chris Osgood made several spectacular saves to keep the Red Wings in the game.
The two goals in 5 seconds bettered Detroit’s previous mark of 7 seconds, done in both 1936 and 1987. It was also the quickest two goals allowed in Columbus’ short history. The Blue Jackets gave up goals 8 seconds apart in 2006.
Flames 5, Avalanche 2
DENVER (AP) – Miikka Kiprusoff stopped 21 shots and Matthew Lombardi had a goal and an assist in the Calgary Flames’ win over the struggling Colorado Avalanche.
Daymond Langkow, Adrian Aucoin, Stephane Yelle and Craig Conroy also scored for Calgary, which has split its last four games. Jarome Iginla and Cory Sarich each had two assists.
Joe Sakic and Brad Richardson scored for Colorado, which managed only 23 shots in losing for the fifth time in six games. The loss denied Colorado of its 500th regular-season victory since moving to Denver for the 1995-96 season, and left coach Joel Quenneville one shy of his 100th win with the Avalanche.
Coyotes 5, Maple Leafs 1
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) – Ilya Bryzgalov made 25 saves for his fourth straight victory since joining Phoenix after being claimed off waivers from Anaheim, leading the Coyotes past the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Phoenix’s four-game winning streak is its longest since a seven-game run last Dec. 26-Jan. 9. Toronto has lost four of its last five games.
The Coyotes scored four goals in the first period, two in an 18-second span. Daniel Winnik opened the scoring at 4:16, and Peter Mueller then beat Andrew Raycroft to the short side at 8:24. At that point, Toronto coach Paul Maurice pulled Raycroft for Vesa Toskala.
Kyle Wellwood had the lone goal for Toronto.
Flyers 4, Senators 3
OTTAWA (AP) – Daniel Briere had a goal and two assists as the Philadelphia Flyers topped the Ottawa Senators.
R.J. Umberger, Scott Hartnell and Mike Richards also scored for the Flyers, while Antero Niittymaki stopped 29 shots in a rare start.
Playing without Daniel Alfredsson, their captain and leading scorer, the Senators got goals from Wade Redden, Dany Heatley and Christophe Schubert.
Ray Emery took over in goal in the second period in relief of Martin Gerber, who allowed three goals on 25 shots. Emery surrendered the final goal and made 16 saves as the Senators have lost three straight games for the first time since last March.
Devils 3, Lightning 2
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Brian Gionta scored twice during New Jersey’s three-goal second period, and Martin Brodeur made 34 saves to lead the Devils past the Tampa Bay Lightning.
David Clarkson also scored for the Devils, who went 4-0 on a four-game road trip. New Jersey left wing Patrik Elias missed his second straight game with flulike symptoms.
Tampa Bay got goals from Vincent Lecavalier and Jason Ward. The Lightning have dropped four in a row after a five-game winning streak.
Capitals 5, Hurricanes 2
WASHINGTON (AP) – Alexander Ovechkin scored twice, Michael Nylander had a goal and two assists, and the Washington Capitals won their second straight under interim coach Bruce Boudreau.
Mike Green and Boyd Gordon also scored for Washington, which is 2-0 since Glen Hanlon was fired Thursday. The consecutive victories are the Capitals’ first since Oct. 6-8, the end of a three-game winning streak that opened the season.
Washington’s first three goals came on the power play, a welcome departure for a team which hadn’t scored more than two in a game this season.
Erik Cole and Ray Whitney scored for Carolina, which has dropped two straight and three of five.
Wild 4, Predators 3
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Branko Radivojevic scored the go-ahead goal with 1:53 remaining, leading the Minnesota Wild past the Nashville Predators.
Aaron Voros, Matt Foy and Marian Gaborik also scored for Minnesota, which took a 3-2 lead into the third period.
Vernon Fiddler scored the tying goal for the Predators in third period at 10:16 when Alexander Radulov found him low in the slot and Fiddler shot the puck between Niklas Backstrom’s legs.
Radivojevic scored what proved to be the winning goal when he beat Chris Mason high over his left shoulder on a 3-on-2 breakaway at 18:07.
Martin Erat and Martin Gelinas also scored for Nashville.
Oilers 3, Blackhawks 2, SO
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) – Sam Gagner scored the winning goal as the Edmonton Oilers won their sixth shootout this season.
Ales Hemsky and Marty Reasoner scored in regulation for Edmonton, which improved to 2-3 on their six-game homestand.
Jim Vandermeer and Duncan Keith had goals for the Blackhawks, who had their two-game winning streak snapped.
Edmonton took a 2-1 lead six minutes into the third period as Kyle Brodziak fed a puck to Reasoner at the left circle and his quick shot beat Nikolai Khabibulin.
Chicago tied it just past the halfway point of the third as the Oilers were caught scrambling in their own zone, and Keith was able to put a point shot past a completely screened Dwayne Roloson.
Kings 2, Sharks 1
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) – Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar each scored first-period goals and the Los Angeles Kings ended a five-game losing streak.
Jason LaBarbera stopped 26 shots as the Kings won their first road game since beating the Sharks at San Jose three weeks ago.
Milan Michalek scored and Evgeni Nabokov made 15 saves, including a penalty shot, as the Sharks lost for the first time in seven games despite playing their first game in six days.
Add A Comment