Buffalo's Chris Drury scored on a rebound in overtime and Martin Biron became the first NHL goalie in eight years to win 12 consecutive starts, helping the Sabres ruin Michel Therrien's debut as the Pittsburgh Penguins' coach with a 4-3 victory on Friday.
Drury and Ales Kotalik each had a power-play goal and two assists as the Sabres won their fifth in a row and 13th in 15 games despite allowing Ziggy Palffy's tying goal with 2:17 left in regulation.
Biron stopped 24 shots. The Sabres' eight consecutive road wins are two short of the club record 10 in 1983-1984 that set an NHL record and has been matched twice. Biron's streak is the NHL's longest since New Jersey's Martin Brodeur won 12 in a row in 1997-1998.
PHOTO: AP
Even with a new coach and a new defense-first system in place, the Penguins lost their ninth in 10 games and their 24th in 32 games, counting overtime.
Blackhawks 5, Blues 1
At Chicago, Mark Bell, Martin Lapointe and Andy Hilbert each had a goal and an assist, and Nikolai Khabibulin stopped 32 shots to lead Chicago over St. Louis.
Jim Dowd added a goal, and Pavel Vorobiev scored into an empty net with 1:37 left.
Among Khabibulin's saves was a blocker deflection of Doug Weight's penalty shot at 8:22 of the second period.
Dean McAmmond scored for the Blues, who have won just one of their last five games and two of nine.
St. Louis forward Keith Tkachuk left the game with a hand injury after skating two shifts in the second period and didn't return. Tkachuk's five-game goal streak and seven-game point run were snapped.
Sharks 4, Capitals 1
At San Jose, California, Joe Thornton had a goal and an assist in his sixth straight multipoint performance, and San Jose remained unbeaten in six games since his arrival.
Jonathan Cheechoo, Alyn McCauley and rookie Milan Michalek also scored for the Sharks, who returned from five days off with the same flair and passion they've shown ever since Thornton was acquired from Boston on Nov. 30.
Thornton set up Cheechoo's team-leading 13th goal and then scored one of his own in the first period, and the Sharks weathered Washington's strong third period to finish their ninth consecutive victory over the Capitals.
Thornton has 14 points in his six games in teal -- and so does Patrick Marleau, who also extended his scoring streak to six games.
Evgeni Nabokov stopped 25 shots to remain unbeaten in seven meetings with the Capitals. He lost his bid for his first shutout of the season on Ben Clymer's deflection goal with 12:12 to play.
Kings 4, Mighty Ducks 3, SO
At Anaheim, California, Petr Kanko scored the tying goal in his NHL debut and Los Angeles beat Anaheim in a shootout.
Derek Armstrong and Dustin Brown scored power-play goals in the first period for the Kings.
Pavol Demitra and Alexander Frolov scored the only goals in the shootout. Mathieu Garon made 42 saves and stopped Teemu Selanne and Scott Niedermayer in the NHL's new tiebreaker -- the first between the Southern California rivals
Joffrey Lupul had a goal and an assist for the Ducks, who also got goals from Todd Marchant and Petr Sykora. Jean-Sebastien Giguere stopped 34 shots, including a breakaway by Demitra with 33 seconds left in the third period.
Kanko was recalled from Manchester of the AHL on Friday and was inserted into the lineup in place of Luc Robitaille, who was benched.
With Olympic teams set to announce their rosters next week, the past few days have been filled with more talk about who won't be going to Turin than who will make the trip.
Canada lost two veteran leaders when Detroit captain Steve Yzerman and Pittsburgh owner-captain Mario Lemieux announced they were withdrawing from consideration.
The 40-year-old stars, who played on Canada's 2002 gold-medal Olympic team, have been bothered by injuries this season and decided to step aside for younger players. That has Sidney Crosby and Jason Spezza in the running to make the team.
Team Canada executive director Wayne Gretzky also has to decide whether to add Todd Bertuzzi, who is three months into his comeback from a 17-month suspension for his blindside punch to the head of Colorado's Steve Moore.
Through 31 games, the rugged Vancouver right wing had nine goals and 18 assists.
"That's probably the last thing on my mind. It's not something I have even thought about," Bertuzzi said. "If I get picked, obviously I'll be extremely excited and happy, but if not then I'll just continue to move on."
Bertuzzi said he doesn't need to be included on the team to feel like he's back in ice hockey's warm embrace.
"I feel accepted already," he said. "I've played against the majority of teams already and I've spoken to a lot of the guys. It's a dead issue with everyone."
Another notable withdrawal this week was Columbus forward Sergei Fedorov, who took himself out of the running for Russia's team because of a groin injury that has troubled him this season.
Team USA also has decisions to make before announcing its roster tomorrow.
One player who appears to be on the brink is Boston defenseman Brian Leetch, a three-time Olympian. The 37-year-old veteran of 18 NHL seasons had four goals and 10 assists in his first 22 games this season. Leetch missed 10 contests after spraining a knee in the Bruins' 14th game.
Tampa Bay goalie John Grahame has entered the American mix. Ty Conklin, who was invited to USA Hockey's Olympic orientation camp in September, has been limited by injury to six games this season with Edmonton and isn't expected to be picked.
Grahame wasn't at the camp, but his 14 wins and 2.73 goals-against average put him in competition with Philadelphia's Robert Esche and Buffalo's Ryan Miller for the two spots behind New York Islanders netminder Rick DiPietro.
Miller has played only 10 games because of a broken thumb and began an AHL rehab assignment last week.
Esche has battled injuries and inconsistent play this season and likely has lost the No. 1 status he held in last year's World Cup to DiPietro.
The 24-year-old Islanders goalie was 11-10-2 with a 3.15 GAA in his first 25 games this season.
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
The San Francisco Giants signed 18-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Yang Nien-hsi (陽念希) to a contract worth a total of US$500,000 (NT $16.39 million). At a press event in Taipei on Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Giants’ Pacific Rim Area scout Evan Hsueh (薛奕煌) presented Yang with a Giants jersey to celebrate the signing. The deal consisted of a contract worth US$450,000 plus a US$50,000 scholarship bonus. Yang, who stands at 188 centimeters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, is of Indigenous Amis descent. With his fastest pitch clocking in at 150 kilometers per hour, Yang had been on Hsueh’s radar since playing in the HuaNan Cup
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia yesterday advanced to the women’s doubles final at the Australian Open after defeating New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 in their semi-final. Hsieh has won nine Grand Slam doubles titles and has a shot at a 10th tomorrow, when the Latvian-Taiwanese duo are to play Taylor Townsend of the US and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the championship match at the A$96.5 million (US$61 million) outdoor hard court tournament at Melbourne Park. Townsend and Siniakova eliminated Russian pair Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva 6-7
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