Tuesdays National Hockey League Capsules

December 31, 2008

OTTAWA 3, EDMONTON 2

EDMONTON, Alberta Rookie defenseman Brian Lee netted a power-play goal to snap a tie with 8:28 remaining in the third period as the Ottawa Senators avoided a fourth straight loss with a 3-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.

Jason Spezza and captain Daniel Alfredsson both scored a goal and set up another and Martin Gerber made 20 saves for the Senators, who had lost eight of their previous 10 contests.

Captain Ethan Moreau and rookie Liam Reddox tallied and Shawn Horcoff had two assists for the Oilers, who saw their three-game winning streak come to an end.

It was Ottawas third straight stop in Western Canada after falling to the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks over the weekend. The Senators, who have not won away from ScotiaBank Place since October 30, are also halfway through an eight-game road trip.

MONTREAL 2, TAMPA BAY 1 (SO)

TAMPA, Florida Maxim Lapierre netted the decisive goal in the second round of a shootout to help the Montreal Canadiens edge the lowly Tampa Bay Lightning, 2-1.

Alexei Kovalev also tallied in the shootout and Carey Price made 21 saves before denying Vaclav Prospal in the second round and Lightning captain Vincent Lecavalier in final set of the bonus format to secure the win.

Guillaume Latendresse scored his fifth tally of the season 46 seconds into the third period and Lapierre and Tom Kostopoulos notched assists for the Canadiens.

Prospal registered a power-play goal in regulation for the Lightning, who saw their three-game win streak come to an end. Before the streak, they had dropped 17 of 19 contests.

TORONTO 4, ATLANTA 3 (OT)

TORONTO Pavel Kubina scored a power-play goal 33 seconds into overtime to lift the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 4-3 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers.

Rookie Nikolai Kulemin, Lee Stempniak and Jason Blake scored for the Maple Leafs, who snapped their three-game losing streak.

Bryan Little and Jim Slater tallied for the Thrashers before Colby Armstrong netted a power-play goal to forge a 3-3 tie with 6:43 left in the third period.

PHILADELPHIA 3, VANCOUVER 2

VANCOUVER, British Columbia Jeff Carter recorded his league-leading 27th goal and added an assist as the Philadelphia Flyers snapped a two-game losing streak with a 3-2 triumph over the Vancouver Canucks.

Rookie Jon Kalinski netted his first career NHL goal and Scott Hartnell also tallied for Philadelphia, which has 10 wins and four ties since its last loss in Vancouver on January 17, 1989.

Martin Biron finished with 29 saves for the Flyers.

Daniel Sedin and Ryan Kesler scored for Vancouver, which is 1-3-0 in its last four games.

Curtis Sanford stopped seven of nine shots before he was replaced by Cory Schneider, who finished with 19 saves for the Canucks.

WASHINGTON 4, BUFFALO 2

BUFFALO, New York Nicklas Backstrom recorded a goal and an assist as the Washington Capitals posted a 4-2 triumph over the Buffalo Sabres.

Rookie Chris Bourque, who is the son of Hockey Hall of Famer Ray Bourque, netted his first career NHL goal for Washington, which secured its fourth consecutive victory and improved to 9-1-0 in its last 10 games.

Brooks Laich and Boyd Gordon also tallied, Viktor Kozlov notched two assists and Jose Theodore finished with 31 saves for the Capitals.

Adam Mair and Clarke MacArthur scored and Ryan Miller turned aside 27 shots for Buffalo, which fell to 6-4-2 in its last 12 contests.

DETROIT 4, CHICAGO 0

DETROIT Ty Conklin made 36 saves to record his third shutout of the season and Johan Franzen scored two goals as the Detroit Red Wings snapped the Chicago Blackhawks nine-game winning streak with a 4-0 victory.

Pavel Datsyuk netted a goal and set up another while defensemen Niklas Kronwall and Brian Rafalski each had two assists for Detroit, which visits Chicago on Thursday at Wrigley Field in the 2009 Winter Classic.

Tomas Kopecky also tallied for the Red Wings, who avoided their first three-game losing streak of the season.

The 32-year-old Conklin turned aside 16 shots in the first period, eight more in the next and 12 in the third to complete his seventh career shutout. He improved to 6-0-0 against the Blackhawks in his career.

BOSTON 5, PITTSBURGH 2

PITTSBURGH Marc Savard and defenseman Dennis Wideman recorded a goal and two assists apiece as the Boston Bruins posted their ninth straight win, a 5-2 triumph over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Phil Kessel netted his team-leading 23rd goal of the season and defenseman Zdeno Chara and Martin St. Pierre also tallied for Boston, which improved to 23-2-1 in its last 26 games.

P.J. Axelsson notched two assists and Tim Thomas turned aside 32 shots for the Bruins.

Petr Sykora and Pascal Dupuis scored and Marc-Andre Fleury finished with 35 saves for Pittsburgh, which fell to 1-3-0 in its last four games.

NEW JERSEY 4, ST. LOUIS 3

ST. LOUIS Zach Parise scored two goals and continued his torrid play as the New Jersey Devils won their second straight game with a 4-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues.

Parise now has 41 points in his last 31 games, and has scored in 17 of those.

Brian Rolston and Jay Pandolfo also tallied and Scott Clemmensen made 28 saves to help the Devils improve to 14-4-1 in their past 19 games.

Brad Boyes and David Backes each recorded a first-period goal and Alex Steen added another with 28 seconds left in the contest, but the Blues were unable to avoid their fourth loss in five games.