Martin Brodeur made 24 saves for his 111th NHL shutout, and Ilya Kovalchuk scored 53 seconds into overtime to lift the short-handed New Jersey Devils to their first win of the season, 1-0 over the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday.
Brodeur, who came in with just an .859 save percentage, extended his NHL record for shutouts with his third career blanking of the Sabres.
After losing three games to open the year, the Devils (1-2-1) used stingy defense in the first and third periods to secure the victory.
PHOTO: AFP
CAPITALS 2, ISLANDERS 1
At Washington, Nicklas Backstrom deflected in Alex Ovechkin’s drive from the point on a power play with 3:39 left to lift Washington over the New York Islanders.
With New York’s Blake Comeau off for roughing, Ovechkin whistled a shot from long range that Backstrom tipped past goalie Dwayne Roloson for his first goal of the season and Washington’s third straight victory.
Ovechkin also scored for Washington. It was his third straight game with a goal.
Rookie forward Nino Niederreiter scored his first NHL goal for the Islanders (1-1-1).
MAPLE LEAFS 4, PENGUINS 3
At Pittsburgh, Clarke MacArthur scored twice as Toronto withstood Sidney Crosby’s first goal of the season to keep Pittsburgh winless in their new arena.
Francois Beauchemin and Colton Orr also had goals for the Maple Leafs, who scored on four of their 14 shots to improve to 3-0 for the first time since the 1999-2000 season, the last time they won their division. They held on despite being outshot 9-2 in the third period, when Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Mark Letestu all failed to convert good scoring chances.
Pittsburgh is 1-3 overall and 0-3 in the Consol Energy Center, which opened last week as the replacement for the 49-year-old Civic Arena.
LIGHTNING 4, CANADIENS 3, OT
At Montreal, Ryan Malone scored 4:09 into overtime to give Tampa Bay a win over Montreal.
Malone flipped a loose puck past Carey Price for the Lightning, who came back twice for the victory.
Lightning forward Steven Stamkos scored his third goal in two games on a power play late in the third period to force overtime.
Brett Clark and Martin St Louis also scored for the Lightning.
Tomas Plekanec had a goal and an assist for the Canadiens. Maxim Lapierre and Andrei Kostitsyn also scored.
PREDATORS 3, BLACKHAWKS 2
At Chicago, Joel Ward’s power-play goal with 26.7 seconds remaining in the third period snapped a tie and lifted Nashville over Chicago.
With Nick Boynton serving a delay-of-game penalty, Ward took a perfect goal mouth cross-ice feed from J.P. Dumont and ripped a shot past rookie goalie Corey Crawford from the left side of the net.
Steve Sullivan and Colin Wilson also scored for the Predators, (2-0). Wilson’s goal early in the third tied it at 2-2.
Chicago captain Jonathan Toews scored a goal and assisted on Patrick Kane’s power-play tally.
DUCKS 4, CANUCKS 3
At Anaheim, California, Ryan Getzlaf set up Corey Perry’s tying goal and Bobby Ryan’s go-ahead score in the third period and the Anaheim Ducks finally earned their first victory of the season with a 4-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks.
Getzlaf had a goal and three assists in his first home opener as Anaheim’s captain, and Jonas Hiller made 36 saves while keeping the Ducks close before an impressive third period by their talented top line.
Christian Ehrhoff scored a tiebreaking power-play goal for Vancouver early in the third period. After Perry tied it by scoring on an open net, Ryan converted a 3-on-1 break against Roberto Luongo, who stopped 28 shots.
Daniel Sedin had a goal and an assist for the Canucks.
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