Marek Malik scored his first goal in regulation and fellow defenseman Maxim Kondratiev netted his first in the NHL to lead the New York Rangers to their sixth straight victory, 2-1 over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night.
It is New York's longest winning streak since a six-game run from Nov. 3-14, 2001. The Rangers are 11-3 in their last 14 games while the slumping Penguins (7-13-6) dropped their fourth straight, including three road contests.
Rookie goalie Henrik Lundqvist, filling in for injured regular Kevin Weekes, made 35 saves to earn his 10th victory (10-3-2).
Penguins rookie defenseman Ryan Whitney scored his first NHL goal 1:54 into the second period. Fellow rookie Sidney Crosby was held pointless for a season-high third straight game and for only the eighth time in 26 contests.
Bruins 3, Senators 0
At Boston, Marco Sturm had a goal and an assist in his first game for the Bruins and Hannu Toivonen handed first-place Ottawa its first shutout of the season.
Toivonen stopped 26 shots to earn his first career shutout and give Boston just its second victory in 11 games. The slump that forced the desperate team to trade its captain to the San Jose Sharks for Sturm, Wayne Primeau and Brad Stuart.
Sturm made an immediate impact, scoring 77 seconds into his Boston debut and then assisting on Patrice Bergeron's goal with 11:13 left in the first period.
Dan LaCouture made it 3-0 at the 6:13 mark of the third on a pass from Alexei Zhamnov.
Dominik Hasek made 21 saves for the Senators.
Maple Leafs 4, Thrashers 0
At Atlanta, Mikael Tellqvist stopped 28 shots for his first career shutout, Darcy Tucker scored twice and Toronto stretched its winning streak over Atlanta to six games.
Tellqvist, giving regular starter Ed Belfour a night off as the Maple Leafs were playing back-to-back games, earned Toronto's first shutout of the season. Alexei Ponikarovsky had a short-handed goal and Alex Steen also scored for the Maple Leafs.
With two assists, Bryan McCabe has 34 points and the NHL scoring lead for defensemen.
Panthers 3, Capitals 2
At Sunrise, Florida, Nathan Horton scored in his first game back after missing 10 games due to injury, and Roberto Luongo stopped 36 shots for Florida, which won for the second time in four games after losing 12 straight.
Stephen Weiss and Olli Jokinen also scored for the Panthers.
Bryan Muir and Andrew Cassels scored for Washington, which lost its fifth straight.
Washington's Brent Johnson, making his sixth start of the season in place of Olie Kolzig, stopped 33 of 36 shots.
Sabres 3, Canadiens 2, OT
At Montreal, Brian Campbell scored 2:15 into overtime and Tim Connolly had a goal and two assists as Buffalo extended its season-high winning streak to five with a victory over Montreal.
Campbell took a pass from Connolly and beat Jose Theodore with a shot into the top of the net. Campbell also assisted on Connolly's power-play goal in the second period as Buffalo improved to 8-0-1 since a 6-1 loss in Ottawa on Nov. 12.
Chris Drury scored the Sabres' second power-play goal 15:45 into the third to tie it at 2.
Michael Ryder scored his team-high 11th goal and assisted on linemate Pierre Dagenais' second of the season for Montreal. The Canadiens lost their fourth in a row, extending their longest losing streak of the year. Montreal has dropped six of seven.
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