National Hockey League Game Capsules

Boston, MA (SportsNetwork.com) – Brian Gionta and Danny Briere scored crucial goals in the second period, helping Montreal take down Boston, 4-1, at TD Garden. Alexei Emelin and Max Pacioretty also lit the lamp for the Canadiens, who have won two in a row after dropping four straight. Brendan Gallagher picked up a pair of assists, while Peter Budaj backed up his teammates with 34 saves. Dougie Hamilton supplied the lone offense for the Bruins, who were denied a fifth straight win by their oldest rivals. Tuukka Rask allowed three goals on 18 shots in 27-plus minutes. Chad Johnson filled in and gave up one score on 15 shots for the remainder of the contest.

Final Score: Toronto 6, Florida 3

Toronto, ON (SportsNetwork.com) – Mason Raymond and James van Riemsdyk scored 31 seconds apart early in the second period to give the Toronto Maples Leafs the lead for good in a 6-3 win over the Florida Panthers on Thursday. Toronto scored five straight goals after going down 2-0 in the first period and picked up its eighth win in 10 games. Jonathan Bernier had 35 saves in the victory, including 15 in the second period. Cody Franson, Nikolai Kulemin, Joffrey Lupul and Tyler Bozak also scored for the Maple Leafs, who pushed their home winning streak to five games. Lupul and van Riemsdyk both added an assist and Nazem Kadri had three helpers. Nick Bjugstad, Sean Bergenheim and Dmitry Kulikov scored for the Panthers, who have lost three of their last four. Scott Clemmensen gave up all six goals on 32 shots.

Final Score: Columbus 5, Washington 2

Columbus, OH (SportsNetwork.com) – Ryan Johansen had two goals, Sergei Bobrovsky made 30 saves and Columbus got back to its winning ways, beating Washington 5-2 on Thursday. Brandon Dubinsky, Cam Atkinson and Derek MacKenzie also scored for the Blue Jackets, who snapped a three-game losing streak. They had won a club-record eight straight prior to the slide. Joel Ward and Eric Fehr supplied the goals for Washington, which has dropped eight of its last 10 games. Braden Holtby stopped 24-of-29 Columbus shots, while Washington captain Alex Ovechkin was a frosty minus-5.

Final Score: Ottawa 5, Tampa Bay 3

Ottawa, ON (SportsNetwork.com) – Bobby Ryan and Kyle Turris each had a goal and an assist in the Ottawa Senators’ 5-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning. Marc Methot, Erik Karlsson and Zack Smith also lit the lamp for the Senators, who have won two in a row. Craig Anderson made 35 saves. Victor Hedman, Tyler Johnson and Alex Killorn scored for the Lightning, who lost No. 1 goaltender Ben Bishop (upper body) and forward Valtteri Filppula (lower body) to injuries. Anders Lindback stopped 23-of-27 shots in relief of Bishop.

Final Score: New Jersey 3, Dallas 2 (OT)

Dallas, TX (SportsNetwork.com) – Patrik Elias scored the game-winner on the power play just 40 seconds into overtime, as the New Jersey Devils edged the Dallas Stars, 3-2, on Thursday at American Airlines Center. Dallas forward Tyler Seguin tied the game with 51.5 ticks left in regulation, but teammate Jamie Benn took a tripping minor 28 seconds into the extra session to put the Stars down a man. With plenty of room to work on the 4-on-3 power play, Jaromir Jagr threw a low shot on net from atop the right circle that Kari Lehtonen padded away, but Elias, who drew the penalty on Benn, was there on the low left side to pound the puck home for the victory. Travis Zajac and Dainius Zubrus each lit the lamp in regulation, while Cory Schneider stopped 14 shots to help the Devils snap a two-game slide. Benn and Seguin recorded Dallas’ markers, while Lehtonen allowed all three goals on 24 shots for the Stars, who wrapped up a five-game homestand at 3-1-1.

Final Score: Colorado 5, Minnesota 4

Denver, CO (SportsNetwork.com) – Rookie Nathan MacKinnon’s breakaway goal with 2:25 remaining in the third period wound up being the game-winner as the Colorado Avalanche fended off the Minnesota Wild 5-4 at Pepsi Center. The Avalanche entered the third with a 4-1 lead, but the Wild got two goals before MacKinnon beat Minnesota netminder Niklas Backstrom on the glove side. Jason Pominville then crashed the crease and directed in Mikael Granlund’s pass to make it a one-goal game again 11 seconds later. The Wild, however, couldn’t complete the comeback as Colorado held on to finish 4-0-1 against its Central Division rival this season. Ryan O’Reilly, Paul Stastny, John Mitchell and Maxime Talbot also scored for the Avalanche, who prevailed in a matchup of two teams that entered play Thursday with identical 9-3-1 records in January. On a day he signed a five-year, $29.5 million contract extension, Colorado goalie Semyon Varlamov made 31 saves. Zach Parise registered two goals and two assists for Minnesota, while Granlund had a goal and two helpers. Backstrom stopped eight shots in relief of Darcy Kuemper, who was yanked from the game after allowing four goals on 23 shots.

Final Score: Calgary 4, San Jose 1

Calgary, AB (SportsNetwork.com) – Karri Ramo is just the latest goaltender to give the San Jose Sharks fits. Ramo made 27 saves and the Calgary Flames beat San Jose 4-1 on Thursday for their first four-game winning streak in almost two years. Lee Stempniak, Mark Giordano, Sean Monahan and Jiri Hudler scored for the Flames, who remained perfect on a five-game homestand that ends Saturday against Minnesota. It’s Calgary’s first four-game winning streak since a five-gamer from March 6-15, 2012. The Sharks had gone without a goal for 160 minutes and 36 seconds before Eriah Hayes scored the first of his career 36 seconds into the third period. They were shut out in two straight games, culminating in Wednesday’s 3-0 loss to Edmonton, when Ben Scrivens stopped 59 San Jose shots to set an NHL record for saves in a regular-season shutout. Alex Stalock allowed three goals on 29 shots against the Flames.

Final Score: Buffalo 3, Phoenix 2

Glendale, AZ (SportsNetwork.com) – Zemgus Girgensons netted the game winner while his club was shorthanded early in the third period, as Buffalo slipped past Phoenix, 3-2. Tyler Ennis and Steve Ott also supplied offense for the Sabres, who swept the two-game season series from their Thursday foes. Ryan Miller collected his second win in three starts thanks to 38 saves. Antoine Vermette and David Moss tallied for the Coyotes, who have dropped six of their last 10. Thomas Greiss took the loss despite 25 stops.

Final Score: Anaheim 5, Philadelphia 3

Anaheim, CA (SportsNetwork.com) – Saku Koivu set up Daniel Winnik’s short- handed goal in the third period before adding an empty-netter in his 1,100th career NHL game, helping the Anaheim Ducks top the Philadelphia Flyers 5-3 at Honda Center. Ryan Getzlaf also had a goal and one assist for Anaheim, which rebounded from Tuesday’s 4-2 home loss to Minnesota. Rookie Frederik Andersen made 27 saves to improve to 14-2-0 this season. The Flyers began a daunting three-game sojourn through California with their fifth loss in six games. Steve Mason surrendered four goals on 27 shots in defeat.

Final Score: Pittsburgh 4, Los Angeles 1

Los Angeles, CA (SportsNetwork.com) – Jussi Jokinen had a hand in all three of Pittsburgh’s first-period goals and the Penguins notched a 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday at Staples Center. Jokinen assisted on Evgeni Malkin’s marker 57 seconds into the game, then picked up the primary helper on Chris Kunitz’s power-play goal at 10:50 before potting a power-play tally of his own 57 seconds later to help the Penguins grab a two-goal lead. Tanner Glass scored Pittsburgh’s other goal in the second and Jeff Zatkoff stopped 30 shots for the Eastern Conference-leading Penguins, who have won four of their last five games. Anze Kopitar registered LA’s lone goal, while starting goaltender Jonathan Quick was chased after giving up three goals on seven shots in the first period. Martin Jones made 14 saves in relief for the Kings, who have dropped seven of their last eight games.

Categorized in: NHL