Penguins rookie Sidney Crosby beat Jose Theodore with a backhander for the only goal in the first shootout in Montreal Canadiens history and Pittsburgh recovered after losing a two-goal lead for a 3-2 victory Thursday.
Crosby got a goal that counted in regulation and so did Mario Lemieux on the next shift after he lay prone on the ice after being hit by a stick. Jocelyn Thibault -- previously winless -- turned aside 30 shots in easily his best game of the season.
Thibault, facing wave after wave of shooters in the third period and overtime, also stopped Michael Ryder, Alex Kovalev and Alexander Perezhogin in the shootout to deny Montreal an Eastern Conference-leading 13th victory.
PHOTO: AP
Pittsburgh ended Montreal's five-game winning streak and earned its second victory in seven home games.
Montreal tied it on goals from Craig Rivet and rookie Chris Higgins.
Senators 5, Bruins 2
PHOTO: AP
At Boston, Dany Heatley scored two goals and set a franchise record for the longest consecutive point streak, leading Ottawa over Boston.
Heatley has scored in all 14 games for Ottawa this season, and has 13 goals and 26 points.
The Senators won their fourth straight and improved to 9-0 against Northeast Division teams.
Bryan Smolinski, Peter Schaefer and Martin Havlat scored in a 4:55 span in the second period to give Ottawa a 4-1 lead. The Bruins lost in regulation for the first time since Oct. 20 against Buffalo. Boston had recorded a point in nine straight games.
Brad Boyes and Glen Murray scored for Boston, 1-6-1 against division teams and 7-6-5 overall.
Flyers 3, Islanders 2
At Philadelphia, Patrick Sharp scored two goals, including the tiebreaker early in the third period, and Philadelphia overcame a two-goal deficit to beat New York for its fifth straight win.
Jeff Carter had a goal and two assists, and Antero Niittymaki made 38 saves for the Flyers, who have won eight straight at home.
Miroslav Satan and Mike York scored power-play goals 37 seconds apart in the first period to give the Islanders a 2-0 lead.
Rangers 5, Lightning 2
At Tampa Florida, Dominic Moore scored twice during New York's four-goal third period and the Rangers sent defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay to its fifth straight loss.
Henrik Lundqvist had 23 saves for the Rangers, who have won four consecutive road games, including a shootout victory Wednesday at Florida.
Jason Ward ended a 14-game goal scoring drought to give New York a 2-1 lead at 4:40 of the third. Marcel Hossa added an empty-net goal in the final minute, helping the Rangers (10-5-3) go five games over .500 for the first time since Dec. 31, 2001.
Dan Boyle pulled Tampa Bay within 3-2 on a power-play goal with 8:47 left. The Lightning's losing streak is their longest since they dropped six straight from March 24-April 3, 2002.
Ville Nieminen put the Rangers ahead 1-0 at 11:14 of the first and Vincent Lecavalier tied it at 5:13 of the second.
Predators 5, Stars 3
At Nashville, Tennessee, Steve Sullivan scored three goals, two on the power play, and had a chance at a fourth with a penalty shot in Nashville's victory over Dallas.
Sullivan scored twice in the third period to earn the hat trick. He failed on a penalty shot in the second period. Martin Erat and Marek Zidlicky also scored for the Predators, who were 4-for-10 on the power plat.
Brendan Morrow, Nathan Perrott and Philippe Boucher scored for Dallas.
Nashville answered with a power-play goal at 18:46 when Martin Erat scored in traffic in front of the net.
Sullivan made it 4-3 at 10:11 of the third period and finished his hat trick at 17:10.
Blackhawks 4, Blues 2
At St. Louis, Jim Vandermeer scored two goals, one tapped in by a hapless opponent, to help Chicago run St. Louis' franchise-record losing streak to 10.
Mark Bell also scored for the Blackhawks, who have won two straight for the first time in 41 games. They're near the bottom of the NHL with 12 points, five more than the league-worst Blues, including an overtime victory in St. Louis on Nov. 2.
The losing streak for the Blues is two games longer than the previous worst. Their 2-11-3 start is their worst since 1977-1978 when they were 2-10-2.
Mark Rycroft, who accidentally tapped the puck past surprised Blues goalie Patrick Lalime, had a goal. Doug Weight also scored to end St. Louis' 2-for-26 power-play slump.
Flames 4, Coyotes 3
At Glendale, Arizona, Jarome Iginla had two assists and scored the winning goal on a penalty shot, lifting Calgary over Phoenix.
The loss snapped Curtis Joseph's three-game winning streak and left him in a tie with Grant Fuhr, his goaltending coach, for eighth on the NHL list with 403 victories. Joseph made 39 saves.
Robyn Regehr, Chuck Kobasew and Steven Reinprecht also had goals for the Flames, who won their fifth straight.
Oleg Saprykin, Mike Johnson and Ladislav Nagy scored for Phoenix, but the Coyotes put only 23 shots on Philippe Sauve.
Avalanche 5, Canucks 3
At Vancouver, British Columbia, Ian Laperriere, Joe Sakic, Marek Svatos and Antti Laaksonen scored first-period goals as Columbia snapped Vancouver's perfect home record.
Karlis Skrastins added a short-handed goal for the Avalanche, who moved two points behind the Northwest Division-leading Canucks despite playing two fewer games.
Ed Jovanovski, Todd Bertuzzi and Richard Park scored for the Canucks, who lost for the first time in eight home games. They have dropped five of seven overall.
Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Rostislav Klesla was expected to miss six weeks with a broken hand, and was placed on injured reserve Thursday.
He was hurt in a 3-1 victory Wednesday night against St. Louis.
The 23-year-old Klesla missed the first 12 games of the season after he was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his right leg on Sept. 26. He returned Nov. 1 and scored a goal in the Blue Jackets' 5-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers. Klesla was the first draft pick in franchise history, and was chosen fourth overall in 2000. He has 15 goals and 33 assists in 206 career games.
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