The Montreal Canadiens failed to maintain their dominance over the Boston Bruins, but the Pittsburgh Penguins figured out how to win in overtime yet again.
Marco Sturm and Stephane Yelle each scored two goals and Boston snapped a 12-game losing streak against Montreal with a 6-1 victory at home Thursday night.
“You lose eight in a row in the regular season, you question yourself and take a mental beating,” Bruins coach Claude Julien said. “After the playoffs last season and how we’ve played against them this season, I don’t think there is a complex anymore.”
The Penguins blew a three-goal lead to the Philadelphia Flyers at home, rallied in the third period to force overtime, and then scored the only goal in an extended shootout to earn their second straight stirring extra-time victory, 5-4.
Only two nights earlier, Pittsburgh erased a three-goal hole in the third period at Detroit and then beat the Stanley Cup champion Red Wings 7-6 in overtime.
ot very good (1-for-7) and it gave them an opportunity to get back into the game.”
In other NHL games Thursday night, it was: the New York Islanders 3, Ottawa 1; Detroit 4, Tampa Bay 3; Minnesota 4, Phoenix 0; Los Angeles 3, Dallas 2; Toronto 5, Edmonton 2; and San Jose 6, Calgary 1.
The Canadiens hadn’t been beaten by the Bruins since a 3-1 road loss on March 3, 2007. Boston had gone 0-10-2 against Montreal in that span.
“I think they just wanted it more,” Canadiens goalie Carey Price said. “They had more of a fight and they put in the effort, and we didn’t.”
Manny Fernandez made 27 saves and is 4-0-1 in his last five starts. Boston’s tandem of Fernandez and Tim Thomas has allowed only nine goals in eight games. The Bruins extended their winning streak to five games and won for the eighth time in nine contests.
Boston’s fourth line of Chuck Kobasew, Yelle and Shawn Thornton combined for a season-high seven points.
“Probably one of the better games I’ve seen since I’ve been with this organization,” Sturm said. “It’s great to see we are heading in the right direction, but there is still a long way to go.”
Penguins rookie Alex Goligoski scored on his first career shootout attempt after Sidney Crosby tied it late in the third period with his second goal.
Philadelphia’s Simon Gagne scored twice short-handed during a four-goal second period that put the Flyers up 4-3.
Crosby and Evgeni Malkin scored on bad-angle backhanders less than three minutes apart early in the second before the Flyers surged, only to lose their eighth in a row in Pittsburgh – including three Eastern Conference finals games last spring.
The Penguins won their fifth in a row overall and went into overtime for the eighth time in 16 games. They are 6-2 in extra time, 3-1 in shootouts.
Pittsburgh’s backup goalie, Dany Sabourin, who replaced Marc-Andre Fleury to start the third, stopped 11 shots before turning aside Gagne, Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Kimmo Timonen, Joffrey Lupul and Scott Hartnell in the shootout.
“It’s a tough way to lose a game,” Richards said.
Wild 4, Coyotes 0
At St. Paul, Minn., Niklas Backstrom stopped 24 shots for his second shutout of the season, and the Wild scored four power-play goals.
Marek Zidlicky scored twice and had an assist to help Minnesota beat the Coyotes for the ninth straight time. Eric Belanger and Andrew Brunette also scored, and Marc-Andre Bergeron had two assists.
Backstrom is 8-0 against the Coyotes with a 1.13 goals-against average and three shutouts.
Phoenix was shut out for the second time in five games.
Red Wings 4, Lightning 3
At Tampa, Fla., Henrik Zetterberg, Mikael Samuelsson and Johan Franzen scored third-period goals for the Red Wings.
hampions, and Chris Osgood had 15 saves to improve to 17-0 against Tampa Bay.
Mark Recchi, Jussi Jokinen and Matt Pettinger scored for the Lightning.
Islanders 3, Senators 1
At Ottawa, Kyle Okposo and Trent Hunter scored power-play goals, and Joey MacDonald made 29 saves to lift New York. Bill Guerin also scored for the Islanders.
Islanders rookie Josh Bailey, who made his NHL debut on Tuesday, recorded his first point with an assist on Okposo’s goal.
Filip Kuba scored a power-play goal 1:53 in for the Senators.
Kings 3, Stars 2
At Dallas, Michal Handzus and Kyle Quincey scored power-play goals and Erik Ersberg made 24 saves to help Los Angeles extend its winning streak to four. Jarret Stoll added his sixth goal for the visiting Kings.
Brad Richards and Mike Ribeiro had power-play goals for the slumping Stars, who lost for the fifth time in six games.
Maple Leafs 5, Oilers 2
At Edmonton, Alberta, Tomas Kaberle had a goal and two assists, Matt Stajan added three assists and Toronto won for just the second time in six games.
Nikolai Kulemin, Nik Antropov, Ian White and Mikhail Grabovski also scored to help Toronto move over .500 (7-6-4).
Sam Gagner and Ethan Moreau scored for Edmonton.
Sharks 6, Flames 1
ith nine assists in a rout of Calgary.
Pavelski, Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton scored power-play goals in the four-goal first period of the Sharks’ 10th win in 11 home games this season. San Jose improved the NHL’s best record to 14-3-1.
Defensemen Christian Ehrhoff, Rob Blake and Dan Boyle had three assists apiece.
Brian Boucher made 23 saves in his fourth straight start in place of injured Evgeni Nabokov. Michael Cammalleri scored a power-play goal with 9:47 left to break up Boucher’s shutout bid, but the Flames lost for the fifth time in seven games following a six-game winning streak.
Add A Comment