Travis Green scored twice to lead the Boston Bruins past the Philadelphia Flyers 5-2 on Thursday.
Patrice Bergeron, Marco Sturm and Wayne Primeau also had goals, and rookie Tim Thomas made 35 saves for Boston, the last-place team in the Northeast Division.
Sami Kapanen and Simon Gagne scored for Atlantic Division-leading Philadelphia. The suddenly struggling Flyers have lost four straight and five of six and trail NHL-leading Carolina by four points. They've lost three in a row at home since returning from an 8-2-1 road trip.
PHOTO: EPA
The Bruins scored three goals on just five shots in the second period and needed only 12 shots to get their first four goals. They finished with a season-low 18 shots.
Hurricanes 4, Islanders 3
At Raleigh, North Carolina, Kevyn Adams scored the go-ahead goal seconds after he inadvertently caused one to be waved off and Eric Staal added his 30th of the season, helping Carolina earn its ninth straight victory by beating New York.
The winning streak ties the franchise record set earlier this season -- the previous best of seven came about 21 years ago when the team was the Hartford Whalers. And Carolina improved the NHL's best home record to 21-4-1.
Backup Cam Ward won his third straight start spread over nearly two weeks by stopping 36 shots.
The Islanders finished with a 39-25 edge in shots, including 29-12 through the opening two periods. Arron Asham, Radek Martinek and Mark Parrish had goals as New York was trying to win consecutive road games for the first time since early December.
Capitals 5, Blues 4, SO
At Washington, Matt Pettinger scored in the fourth round of a shootout, giving Washington its season-high third straight victory.
Alexander Ovechkin had a goal and an assist, and scored in the shootout for the Capitals. His 33 goals are a team record for a rookie, breaking the mark set by Bobby Carpenter in 1981-1982. In his last six games, the 20-year-old Russian has eight goals and five assists.
Dean McAmmond tied the game at 4 with 4:29 left in regulation, but the Blues lost their eighth straight.
Mike Sillinger, Young and Dennis Wideman scored power-play goals for the Blues.
The Capitals trailed 3-2 before Chris Clark and Brian Willsie scored on successive shots.
Rangers 4, Penguins 2
At Pittsburgh, Michal Rozsival scored the winning goal late in the third period after accidentally creating Pittsburgh's first goal, and New York ran the Penguins' losing streak to eight games.
Rozsival had a goal and an assist as the Rangers won for the first time in three games. He scored with 4:12 remaining and Michael Nylander added his 11th goal exactly a minute later
Rangers rookie Petr Prucha scored two goals, each of which gave the Rangers a one-goal lead. He has 23 on the season, the same number as Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby, who scored for the second straight game.
Dick Tarnstrom also scored for the Penguins.
Mighty Ducks 4, Senators 3, SO
At Ottawa, Chris Kunitz scored the only shootout goal, lifting Anaheim over Ottawa.
Andy McDonald and Jonathan Hedstrom failed to beat Dominik Hasek, but Mighty Ducks goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere turned aside Dany Heatley, Daniel Alfredsson and Patrick Eaves to give Anaheim just its second win in 11 overtime games.
Teemu Selanne had a goal and an assist as Anaheim scored three unanswered goals in the second after falling behind 2-0. Selanne reached 20 goals for the 12th time in 13 seasons.
Todd Marchant scored his seventh midway through the period to put the Mighty Ducks up 3-2.
Bryan Smolinski and Eaves scored in the first for Ottawa.
Devils 4, Predators 3, SO
At Nashville, Tennessee, Viktor Kozlov and Brian Gionta scored in a shootout and New Jersey beat Nashville for its eighth straight win.
New Jersey was 16-18-5 after a loss to Toronto on Dec. 31, but the Devils are perfect in the new year and have their longest winning streak since a 13-game run in the 2000-2001 season.
Steve Sullivan and Paul Kariya both missed in the shootout for the Predators.
Patrik Elias, Jamie Langenbrunner and Grant Marshall scored for New Jersey, which trailed 1-0.
Sullivan, Kimmo Timonen and Martin Erat had Predators goals.
Blackhawks 4, Avalanche 2
At Chicago, Kyle Calder scored two goals, Nikolai Khabibulin made 37 saves in his first game back following a groin pull, and Chicago snapped Colorado's eight-game winning streak.
Jim Dowd and Mikhail Yakubov also scored for Chicago, which won for just the third time in 16 games and only the second time in 12 home contests.
In their last six games, however, the Blackhawks are 3-1-2.
Marek Svatos and Antti Laaksonen had goals for the Avalanche, who hadn't lost since Dec. 30 at San Jose. The streak was the third longest in franchise history.
Coyotes 6, Panthers 3
At Glendale, Arizona, Shane Doan scored two of Phoenix's five power-play goals and Ladislav Nagy and Keith Ballard each had four assists.
Zbynek Michalek, Dave Scatchard, Geoff Sanderson and Paul Mara also scored for the Coyotes, who won for the third time in four games. Phoenix converted five of seven power-play opportunities.
Martin Gelinas and Jozef Stumpel scored for the Panthers, who lost in regulation for just the fifth time in 17 games (9-5-3). Joe Nieuwendyk also was credited with a goal midway through the third period when Michalek slid the puck under Joseph's left leg off a faceoff.
Flames 3, Canadiens 2
At Calgary, Alberta, Jarome Iginla scored twice and added an assist as Calgary handed Montreal interim coach Bob Gainey his first loss in three games.
Iginla's 20th goal tied the game 1-1 in the first period. His second of the night at 10:51 of the second was the eventual winner.
Daymond Langkow also scored for Calgary, which has won five in a row at home.
Miikka Kiprusoff made 16 saves to record his NHL-leading 24th win.
Saku Koivu and Alex Kovalev scored for Montreal, which started a difficult six-game road trip. The Canadiens have lost five straight away from home and have won just once on the road in 15 tries (1-11-3).
Canucks 4, Sabres 1
At Vancouver, British Columbia, Nolan Baumgartner's power-play goal broke a tie 4 minutes into the third period, lifting Vancouver past Buffalo for its third straight win.
Brendan Morrison added an insurance goal on a rebound with 7 minutes left. Jarkko Ruutu scored into an empty net in the final minute, giving the Canucks their sixth win in seven games.
Alexandre Burrows also scored and Alex Auld made 22 saves as Vancouver kept pace with the Calgary Flames atop the Northwest Division with 59 points.
Jason Pominville scored for the Sabres, and Ryan Miller made 22 saves, losing for just the third time in 10 games since returning from a broken thumb.
Oilers 3, Sharks 2, SO
At San Jose, California, Michael Peca and Ryan Smyth each scored shootout goals to help Edmonton beat San Jose and snap a three-game losing streak.
Rookie goalie Mike Morrison turned back Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau to give the Oilers the win.
Morrison saved 25 shots for Edmonton, which has defeated the Sharks in a shootout in both meetings this season.
It was Edmonton's fourth overtime win of the season and San Jose's sixth overtime loss.
Thornton extended his point streak to 10 games with a goal, and Milan Michalek also scored for the Sharks.
The Oilers grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first period when Shawn Horcoff and Steve Staios scored 2:35 apart.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB