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Halak wins goalies' battle

The Phoenix Coyotes center Steven Reinprecht, top, leaps out of the way of the puck as Minnesota Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom of Finland deflects the shot during the third period of their NHL game in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Tuesday. PHOTO: AP

Guillaume Latendresse scored late in the second period and Jaroslav Halak made 30 saves for his first NHL shutout, leading the Montreal Canadiens to a 1-0 win over the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night.

Montreal won its second in a row and tied Carolina for eighth place in the Eastern Conference.

Latendresse scored his 16th goal with 1:00 remaining in the second on the only one of 32 shots to beat Boston goalie Tim Thomas.

Halak topped Thomas' performance with his second straight win, stopping seven shots in the first, nine in the second and 14 in the third. It was his first blanking in nine games since being recalled from Hamilton of the AHL.

Lightning 4, Islanders 3, OT

At Tampa, Florida, Vincent Lecavalier tallied his 49th goal of the season and Filip Kuba scored 55 seconds into overtime as Tampa Bay stopped a three-game losing streak.

Kuba tapped in a perfect pass from Eric Perrin that left New York goalie Rick DiPietro in a defenseless position. DiPietro made his first start after missing most of three games because of injuries sustained in a mid-ice collision with Montreal's Steve Begin one week earlier.

The loss was the fourth straight on a road trip for the Islanders, who rallied from a 2-0 deficit with three second-period goals against Johan Holmqvist,

Maple Leafs 2, Devils 1

At Toronto, Kyle Wellwood and Nik Antropov scored, and enforcer Wade Belak got retribution for Toronto by fighting New Jersey's Cam Janssen.

The last time the teams played on March 2 at New Jersey, All-Star Maple Leafs defenseman Tomas Kaberle sustained a concussion after a late hit from Janssen, who was suspended for three games.

Andrew Raycroft made 24 saves for the Leafs.

Travis Zajac scored for the Atlantic Division-leading Devils, who have lost four of five.

Panthers 4, Flyers 1

At Philadelphia, Olli Jokinen broke a second-period tie, and Nathan Horton and Juraj Kolnik added goals late in the third to lead Florida over Philadelphia, completing the Panthers' first four-game season sweep of the Flyers.

David Booth also scored for Florida, which won for the fourth time in six games. Ed Belfour made 24 saves.

Dimitry Afanasenkov scored for the Flyers, who have lost four of five. Martin Biron was solid throughout for Philadelphia, making 30 saves.

Blue Jackets 5, Blackhawks 2

At Columbus, Ohio, Fredrik Modin scored twice in the second period to lead Columbus past.

Gilbert Brule added a goal and an assist for Columbus, which had lost four of five. Derrick Walser and Ole-Kristian Tollefsen scored their first goals of the season and David Vyborny had two assists.

Wild 3, Coyotes 2

At St. Paul, Minnesota, Marian Gaborik and Pavol Demitra each had a goal and an assist in Minnesota's franchise-record seventh win in a row.

Todd White also scored for the Wild, who set the team record for victories in a season with 43 and pulled within one point of Vancouver in the Northwest Division race.

The Coyotes made things interesting when Brendan Bell and Bill Thomas scored power-play goals in the first 10 minutes of the third period to cut Minnesota's lead to 3-2, but never threatened again and lost their fourth straight.

Senators 4, Blues 2

At St. Louis, Antoine Vermette scored a short-handed goal to lift Ottawa over St. Louis. The winner came moments after the Blues thought they had taken the lead.

Brad Boyes put the puck in with 16:46 left and moments before play was stopped when Senators goalie Martin Gerber took possession of the puck. Replays showed that the puck went about a foot past the goal line before Gerber pulled it back with his stick and smothered it. The goal light wasn't turned on and the officials didn't look at replays until after play resumed.

According to Rule 78.6, once a game has restarted following a stoppage of play -- in this case when Gerber held onto the puck -- a replay can't award or disallow a goal.
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