Martin Brodeur tied Terry Sawchuk’s NHL record with his 103rd shutout to lead the New Jersey Devils to a 3-0 victory over the Buffalo Sabres in the NHL on Monday.
Brodeur was rarely tested in making 22 saves to tie Sawchuk, who played from 1949 to 1970. It was Brodeur’s second shutout of the season after he blanked Carolina on Oct. 17.
Brodeur earned his league-leading 18th victory of the season. He preserved the shutout with a lightning-quick glove stop on Buffalo defenseman Steve Montador’s wrist shot from the slot 5 minutes into the third period.
Brian Rolston, Travis Zajac and Niclas Bergfors scored for New Jersey.
CAPITALS 3, LIGHTNING 0
At Tampa, Florida, Alex Ovechkin scored two goals in his return from a two-game suspension as Washington beat the Lightning for the 12th consecutive time.
Ovechkin was suspended by the NHL following a kneeing penalty during a Nov. 30 game with Carolina. Both of his goals came during the Capitals’ three-goal second.
Eric Fehr also scored for the Capitals. Tampa Bay has lost five of six.
MAPLE LEAFS 5, THRASHERS 2
At Toronto, Vesa Toskala made 22 saves in his first start since Nov. 23 and Alexei Ponikarovsky scored goals 28 seconds apart for the Toronto.
Lee Stempniak, Matt Stajan and Mikhail Grabovski also had goals for the Maple Leafs. It was the first time Toronto won a weekday game at home this season and it came against one of the NHL’s best road teams. Bryan Little and Marty Reasoner scored for Atlanta.
CANADIENS 3, FLYERS 1
At Montreal, Mike Cammalleri notched his team-leading 16th goal after Andrei Kostitsyn scored on Montreal’s third shot of the game in the second period.
Carey Price made 14 saves and Marc-Andre Bergeron also scored for Montreal, which won its second in a row following an 0-3-1 skid despite managing just 13 shots, including one in the opening period.
Daniel Briere scored an unassisted goal in the first for Philadelphia, which lost its fifth in a row, including an 8-2 loss to Washington on Saturday in Peter Laviolette’s debut behind the Flyers’ bench.
AVALANCHE 4, BLUES 0
At St Louis, Missouri, Peter Budaj stopped 35 shots and Chris Stewart had two goals and an assist as Colorado ended a five-game trip with a shutout.
Paul Stastny and Matt Duchene each scored goals, Wojtek Wolski had three assists and John-Michael Liles collected two assists for the Avs.
Budaj earned his seventh career shutout and first this season in his fifth start.
HURRICANES 3, PENGUINS 2
At Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Manny Legace stopped 30 shots and Ray Whitney had the decisive goal and an assist as Carolina won on the road for the first time this season.
Eric Staal and Joni Pitkanen each had two assists and Andrew Alberts and Jussi Jokinen also scored as Carolina ended its 13-game road losing streak (0-10-3).
Sidney Crosby and Mike Rupp scored less than a minute apart in the second.
OILERS 3, PANTHERS 2, SO
At Sunrise, Florida, Shawn Horcoff scored once in regulation and again in the shootout to lead Edmonton over Florida.
Dustin Penner also scored and Jeff Deslauriers made 33 saves for Edmonton. Deslauriers was playing in his ninth straight game while starter Nikolai Khabibulin recovers from a back injury.
Dominic Moore scored two goals for the Panthers and Tomas Vokoun stopped 26 shots.
In other NHL action, it was:
• Coyotes 2, Wild 0
• Kings 2, Flames 1
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