Sean Avery scored twice within three minutes of the second period and Michael Cammalleri got the winner on a power play with 5:55 remaining in the Los Angeles Kings' 3-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday.
The Kings' tied a season best with their fourth straight victory after losing seven consecutive. All the wins were decided by one-goal. Los Angeles survived a Columbus power play during the final 1:20, after Avery was sent off for high-sticking Duvie Westcott.
Down 2-0, the Blue Jackets rallied with Nikolai Zherdev's 20th and 21st goals.
PHOTO: AP
But Cammalleri regained the lead for the Kings while Columbus captain Adam Foote was serving an interference penalty.
Sabres 3, Bruins 2
At Boston, Jean-Pierre Dumont scored the go-ahead goal with 4:58 left in the second period and Buffalo goaltender Martin Biron made it stand up with 20 saves in the third.
Jochen Hecht had a goal and two assists, and Daniel Briere added a goal and an assist for the Sabres, who rallied from a 2-0 deficit.
Sergei Samsonov had a chance to tie it for Boston but his shot hit the crossbar from the right circle late in the period.
The Bruins built their lead in the opening 7:05 on goals by Marco Sturm and Glen Murray.
Canadiens 6, Lightning 2
At Tampa, Florida, Richard Zednik, Mike Ribeiro, and Alex Kovalev scored in a six-minute span of the third period to lift Montreal past Tampa Bay.
Jan Bulis closed the scoring with a breakaway goal with 3:03 remaining.
Rookie center Christopher Higgins scored two goals for the Canadiens, who moved within two points of seventh-place Tampa Bay in the Eastern Conference. Cristobal Huet made 27 saves for Montreal, 6-0-2 in its last eight games.
Ruslan Fedotenko and Vincent Lecavalier scored for the Stanley Cup champion Lightning, who are 0-2 since returning from the Olympic break. Tampa Bay has been outscored 14-4 in the two losses.
Devils 2, Rangers 1
At East Rutherford, New Jersey, Martin Brodeur made 26 saves and became the first goalie to win 30 games in 10 straight seasons.
Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta scored for New Jersey, which snapped New York's seven-game winning streak. Martin Rucinsky scored the only goal for the Rangers, who had won six straight on the road.
Brodeur, the only NHL goalie to have more than eight straight 30-win seasons, was lucky and good in the third period to preserve the victory. He made 12 saves in the frame and was helped when Darius Kasparaitis hit the post and when Petr Sykora's deflected shot struck the crossbar.
Senators 4, Maple Leafs 2
At Toronto, Dany Heatley scored the go-ahead goal in the third period and Ottawa beat Toronto for the seventh time this season.
Patrick Eaves, Brian Pothier and Zdeno Chara also scored for the Senators, who have outscored the Maple Leafs 40-14.
Alex Steen and Alex Ponikarovsky had goals for the Maple Leafs, who have lost five straight.
Toronto -- 4-14-2 since Jan. 6 -- is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time in coach Pat Quinn's seven-year tenure.
The Maple Leafs suffered another blow as Eric Lindros didn't play in the third period after reinjuring his wrist.
Hurricanes 7, Penguins 5
At Pittsburgh, Erik Cole scored two goals for the second night in a row before getting hurt in the third period, and Carolina chased both Pittsburgh goalies.
Cole left the ice in visible pain with 14 1/2 minutes remaining, clutching his right arm, after being driven into the boards by the Penguins' Brook Orpik. Orpik drew a five-minute boarding major and a game misconduct.
Eric Staal had a goal and three assists, giving him four goals and eight assists in four games against Pittsburgh this season.
Mark Recchi had the Penguins' first three-goal game since Alexei Kovalev did so on Jan. 25, 2003, but it wasn't enough to prevent their fifth consecutive home loss and 10th in 11 games in Pittsburgh. They are 7-18-6 at home.
Thrashers 3, Capitals 2, OT
At Atlanta, Marian Hossa scored 1:49 into overtime, wristing a shot past Olaf Kolzig as the Washington goaltender was face down.
Ilya Kovalchuk handed the Thrashers their first lead at 7:08 of the third period with a wrister from the left side of the slot, but Washington rookie Alex Ovechkin forced the extra period with 25.2 seconds left in regulation.
Ovechkin and Kovalchuk each scored their 39th goals to remain tied for second in the NHL behind New York Rangers forward Jaromir Jagr.
Marc Savard had three assists, and Kari Lehtonen made 30 saves for Atlanta, which won for the fifth time in seven games and moved into a ninth-place tie in the Eastern Conference following Boston's 3-2 loss to Buffalo.
Washington has lost 10 of 13.
Islanders 4, Flyers 2
At Uniondale, New York, Chris Campoli scored a power-play goal with 8:39 left in New York's victory over Philadelphia.
US Olympians Mark Parrish and Jason Blake each registered their 23rd goals of the season for New York, and American goalie Rick DiPietro stopped 19 shots for his 21st win. Trent Hunter sealed the win with an empty-net goal.
Petr Nedved and Mike Knuble scored for the Flyers, who are winless in four games. Antero Niittymaki, Finland's top Olympic goalie, finished with 22 saves.
New York excelled on special teams, scoring two power-play goals and holding Philadelphia to one goal in six advantages.
Stars 5, Avalanche 3
At Dallas, Mike Modano had two goals and an assist, and Dallas snapped a three-game losing streak by scoring three times on the power play.
Modano and Philippe Boucher converted on two of Dallas' first three power-play chances after the Stars had gone 1-for-17 with the advantage in their previous three games.
Brenden Morrow added a power-play goal in the final minute to seal the win for Dallas after Colorado narrowed a three-goal deficit to 4-3.
Jussi Jokinen had a goal and two assists, and Sergei Zubov added two assists for the Stars, whose three-game skid matched their longest of the season.
Brett McLean, Milan Hejduk and Rob Blake scored for Colorado, which had won five of six.
Red Wings 7, Coyotes 3
At Glendale, Arizona, Nicklas Lidstrom had a goal and two assists to lead Detroit's four-goal second period against Phoenix.
Lidstrom also had a first-period assist to match a career high with four points. Henrik Zetterberg had two goals and an assist, and Brendan Shanahan also scored twice for the Red Wings, who remained one point behind Carolina atop the NHL standings.
Steve Yzerman and Mark Mowers added goals for Detroit, which has won 12 of 16 (12-2-2).
Shane Doan and Steven Reinprecht had first-period, power-play goals. Mike Ricci also scored for the Coyotes, who went 3-5-2 in their season-high 10-game homestand.
Flames 2, Sharks 0
At Calgary, Alberta, Miikka Kiprusoff made 26 saves for his NHL-leading seventh shutout as Calgary blanked San Jose.
Kiprusoff's best stop was a spectacular effort against Marcel Goc halfway through the second period that protected the Flames' 1-0 lead. He also leads the NHL with 31 victories.
Jarome Iginla and Chris Simon scored for Northwest Division-leading Calgary, which holds a two-point lead over Vancouver.
The Sharks have been shut out only three times this season, but the blankings have all come in their last 13 games.
Lost in the excitement of the Olympic hockey tournament in Turin, Italy, was the toll it took on NHL teams, the Ottawa Senators in particular.
Dominik Hasek, Ottawa's 41-year-old goaltender, sustained a serious injury to his abductor muscle, just below the groin, in the Czech Republic's first game of the tournament. He remains out indefinitely.
Hasek announced his retirement after winning the 2002 Stanley Cup with Detroit, then returned for an injury-plagued season with the Red Wings in 2003-4.
He was enjoying a renaissance this season. Entering Friday's games, Hasek was tied for second in the NHL in goals against average (2.09) and in shutouts (5), and was second in save percentage (.925).
Ottawa General Manager John Muckler said Friday in a telephone interview: "I feel the Olympic experience is very important for the NHL, but I don't think it's all positive. I understand why we go to the Olympics, and I guess I'm for that. But I don't like when my goaltender gets hurt. And I don't like the lack of communication."
Muckler was referring to the difficulty he and the Senators had in contacting Hasek during the Olympics and determining the extent of the injury.
"There was no communication from the Czech Republic team," Muckler said. "You can't get near a player if he's injured. There should be a liaison-type of person" between the league and the International Ice Hockey Federation.
Muckler was not alone in expressing frustration about the players' isolation in the Olympic Village. Vancouver General Manager Dave Nonis was reportedly upset with the Finnish federation's unwillingness to pass along medical updates on defenseman Sami Salo, who sustained a serious shoulder injury in a quarterfinal victory over the United States.
Vancouver's Mattias Ohlund injured a rib during the Olympics, and Philadelphia's Simon Gagne (bruised knee) and the Devils' Patrick Elias (ribs) have also missed time with injuries after the Olympic break. Los Angeles lost two players, Pavol Demitra (eye) and Alexander Frolov (shoulder).
The Rangers' Jaromir Jagr, who had two goals and an assist in Thursday's 6-1 thrashing of the Flyers in Philadelphia, left the game midway through the third period after aggravating a groin injury he sustained in the bronze-medal game in Turin.
Hasek's injury could prove to be the most costly. Muckler's gamble in signing him before the lockout was paying off this season.
With a 39-14-5 record and 83 points through Friday's games, the Senators were second in the Eastern Conference and a favorite to advance to the Stanley Cup finals. If Hasek is healthy, that is. He is considered a contender for his seventh Vezina Trophy, given to the most valuable goaltender. That would tie him with Jacques Plante for the most in league history.
"It's going to be OK," Muckler said of Hasek's injury. "He's going to be able to play. But we're not going to put a date on it. We want Dom to come back when he's able to play."
FLYERS INJURIES
The Philadelphia Flyers lost nearly 300 man-games to injury in their first 60 games this season, a whopping total considering that about a quarter of the 82-game regular season remains.
Despite losing their captain, Keith Primeau, to postconcussion syndrome and their best player, Peter Forsberg, for 16 games because of a groin injury, the Flyers have contended for first place in the Atlantic Division all season.
"I think we've had to remake ourselves about four times this year, and the players have done a tremendous job at adjusting and yet not lowering the bar," Coach Ken Hitchcock said Thursday.
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