Michael Ryder beat goalkeeper Vesa Toskala with a high wrist shot in the fourth round of a shootout to give the Boston Bruins a 4-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday.
Blake Wheeler and Martin St. Pierre also scored for Boston in the shootout.
Wheeler, Dennis Wideman, Zdeno Chara scored in regulation to help the Bruins (34-8-5) tie San Jose for the overall NHL lead entering the All-Star break.
Jason Blake, Lee Stempniak and Brad May scored for Toronto.
DEVILS 5, CANADIENS 2
At Newark, New Jersey, Paul Martin scored on a breakaway goal and added an assist as New Jersey downed Montreal for its fifth straight victory.
The Devils entered the All-Star break in first place in the Atlanta Division, a seemingly unreachable goal when star goalie Martin Brodeur tore his biceps on Nov. 1.
Scott Clemmensen, Brodeur’s replacement, made 26 saves, to improve to 19-9-1, and Travis Zajac, Johnny Oduya, Zach Parise and Patrik Elias added goals for the Devils, one point ahead of the New York Rangers in the Atlantic. Josh Gorges and Matt D’Agostini scored for Montreal.
FLYERS 5, THRASHERS 3
At Philadelphia, Mike Knuble scored twice for Philadelphia and Antero Niittymaki made 28 saves to improve to 12-0 against Atlanta.
Niittymaki is one of only two active goalies with a perfect mark in at least 10 decisions against one team. Detroit’s Chris Osgood is 17-0 against Tampa Bay.
Scott Hartnell, Darroll Powe and Randy Jones also scored, and Jeff Carter had two assists. Eric Perrin, Ilya Kovalchuk and Chris Thorburn scored for Atlanta.
In other NHL action on Wednesday it was:
• Blues 2, Blackhawks 0
• Flames 5, Blue Jackets 4, SO.
• Kings 6, Avalanche 5
• Stars 4, Panthers 1
• Islanders 2, Ducks 1
• Lightning 5, Sabres 3
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Mohamed Salah’s Egypt knocked reigning champions Ivory Coast out of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) with a 3-2 win in the quarter-finals on Saturday, while Victor Osimhen starred as Nigeria beat Algeria 2-0 to set up a clash with hosts Morocco. In Agadir, Morocco, a thrilling last-eight tie saw Omar Marmoush and Ramy Rabia net in the first half for the Pharaohs before an own goal by Ahmed Aboul-Fetouh brought the Ivorians back into it. Salah then got Egypt’s third early in the second half and they held on after Guela Doue again reduced the deficit. Egypt is to face Senegal
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Brandon Miller scored 18 points, LaMelo Ball had 17 and the Charlotte Hornets built a 47-point lead in the first half of a 150-95 rout against the Utah Jazz on Saturday night. It was the second-biggest win in franchise history for the Hornets and their largest on the road. The Hornets bounced back from a pair of frustrating losses in a big way, having fallen to Toronto by one point and Indiana by two in their last two games. Charlotte pounded the NBA champion Thunder by 27 in Oklahoma City before those defeats, previously the Hornets’ most lopsided victory of the season. Tre
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