Ilya Kovalchuk scored on a first-period penalty shot and assisted on David Clarkson’s goal minutes later as the New Jersey Devils defeated the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1 in an Eastern Conference matchup on Saturday.
Kovalchuk’s penalty shot, after Pittsburgh’s Brooks Orpik was penalized for covering the puck in the crease, gave the Devils a 1-0 lead 14 minutes into the first before Clarkson made it 2-0 on a power play 24 seconds before the end of the first period.
The Devils added an empty netter by Zach Parise with less than a minute left in the game after Pittsburgh had pulled to 2-1 on Chris Kunitz’s third period power play goal.
Photo: AFP
Martin Brodeur made an impressive 29 saves as the Devils won for the ninth time in 12 games. Pittsburgh’s Marc-Andre Fleury produced 18 stops.
Clarkson’s goal came 70 seconds after the Penguins’ Jordan Staal was sent to the penalty box for two minutes for slashing Parise.
LIGHTNING 5, HURRICANES 2
In Tampa Bay, Florida, Steven Stamkos had his second hat-trick this season and fifth overall on Saturday to lift Tampa Bay to a 5-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes.
Stamkos scored his third goal of the game and 26th of the season from the left circle on a power-play 43 seconds into the third. Just 22 seconds later Tampa Bay went up 4-2 on a goal by Teddy Purcell.
Carolina got goals from Justin Faulk and Jay Harrison. Eric Staal had two assists, giving him three assists and five points in his last two games.
Steve Downie scored a third--period goal at 6:51 and also had two assists for the Lightning.
STARS 4, BRUINS 2
In Dallas, Texas, Michael Ryder and Loui Eriksson scored power-play goals in the first period as Dallas ended Boston’s seven-game winning streak.
Trevor Daley contributed a goal and two assists, Tom Wandell also scored and Kari Lehtonen made 18 saves for the Stars, 2-4 in their previous six games.
Tyler Seguin and Milan Lucic scored for Boston, and Tim Thomas stopped 23 shots.
SENATORS 3, SABRES 2, OT
In Buffalo, New York, Bobby Butler scored the decisive goal in the fifth round of the shootout to lift Ottawa over slumping Buffalo.
Chris Neil and Matt Carkner scored and Erik Condra had two assists for the Senators, who improved to 5-1-1 in their past seven games. Craig Anderson stopped 26 shots.
Brad Boyes and Paul Gaustad scored and Jordan Leopold had two assists for the Sabres.
CAPITALS 4, BLUE JACKETS 2
In Columbus, Ohio, Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin and Dennis Wideman scored in a 2 minutes, 53 seconds span of the third period, erasing a 2-0 deficit and leading Washington to victory.
Ovechkin also added an insurance goal — making it four in 4:34 — and Wideman added two assists for the Capitals, who have scored 12 third-period goals in their last six games. They have 46 in the final period this season — among the most in the NHL.
John Moore and Samuel Pahlsson scored for the Blue Jackets, who have been outscored 52-26 in the final period this year.
RED WINGS 3, BLUES 0
In Detroit, Michigan, Jimmy Howard stopped 31 shots for his ninth career shutout to lead Detroit to victory.
Johan Franzen, Justin Abdelkader, Jiri Hudler scored for the Red Wings, who won their 12th consecutive home game, two short of the team record. It was their second win over the Blues at Joe Louis Arena in five days.
PANTHERS 3, CANADIENS 2
In Sunrise, Florida, Tomas Fleischmann scored two goals, including an empty-netter with 40.2 seconds remaining that ended up being the game-winner after Erik Cole scored for Montreal with 30 seconds left.
Panthers goaltender Scott Clemmensen bounced back from his worst outing of the season the night before against the New York Rangers by stopping 17 of -Montreal’s last 18 shots. He replaced Jose Theodore 4:16 into the second period after Theodore left with a lower body injury.
JETS 3, MAPLE LEAFS 2
In Winnipeg, Manitoba, Zach Bogosian and Blake Wheeler scored power-play goals as Winnipeg won their third straight.
Andrew Ladd also scored for Winnipeg and the crowd gave the players a standing ovation after the victory.
James Reimer stopped 32 shots for Toronto, which has lost three straight.
Clarke MacArthur and Phil Kessel scored for Toronto, which fired 24 shots at Ondrej Pavelec.
In other NHL play, it was:
‧ Avalanche 4, Ducks 2
‧ Coyotes 4, Wild 2
‧ Islanders 4, Oilers 1
‧ Kings 4, Canucks 1
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