Brian Gionta and the Buffalo Sabres ended their 14-game losing streak — the longest in team history — by beating the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 on Tuesday night.
Gionta, a former Canadiens captain, capped a three-goal first period for the Sabres (15-33-3), who won three of four meetings with Montreal (32-15-3) this season. Drew Stafford and Matt Moulson also scored for Buffalo.
Brandon Prust and David Desharnais had the goals for the Canadiens, who have lost two in a row at home. Montreal outshot Buffalo 34-18.
Photo: USA Today
The Sabres were three losses short of the NHL record for consecutive defeats set by the 1974-1975 Washington Capitals and 1992-1993 San Jose Sharks.
PREDATORS 4, MAPLE LEAFS 3
In Nashville, Tennessee, Mike Fisher had a goal and two assists as Nashville handed Toronto their club record-equaling 10th straight loss.
Seth Jones, Shea Weber and Colin Wilson also scored for the Predators, winners of two straight.
Daniel Winnik, Nazem Kadri and Mike Santorelli scored for the Maple Leafs, who are 0-9-1 in their past 10 games.
Wilson got the go-ahead goal at 11 minutes, 8 seconds of the third.
CAPITALS 4, KINGS 0
In Washington, Troy Brouwer scored two goals and Braden Holtby stopped 27 shots as Washington beat Los Angeles for their second win in eight games.
Playing in his 500th career game, Brouwer staked the Capitals to a 2-0 lead with a goal in each of the first two periods. It was his first multigoal game of the season and only the third with multiple points.
Nicklas Backstrom made it 3-0 at 5:50 of the third following a Los Angeles turnover, and 59 seconds later Eric Fehr converted another Kings miscue into a 4-0 advantage.
Holtby was rarely tested in his sixth shutout of the season and career-high 24th victory.
The Kings dropped to 1-6-2 on the road since Dec. 11. The defending Stanley Cup champions are 21-17-12 overall after opening the season 6-1-1.
BLUES 2, LIGHTNING 1, OT
In St Louis, Vladimir Tarasenko leveled the game late in the third period, then Jaden Schwartz scored in overtime to give streaking St Louis a victory over Tampa Bay.
The Blues (33-13-4) matched a franchise record with points in 12 consecutive games. They have won six straight and are 11-0-1 in their past 12.
St Louis, who got 30 saves from Brian Elliott, improved to 20-4-2 at home this season.
Eastern Conference-leading Tampa Bay (32-15-5) has struggled on the road this season, going 11-12-3 with four straight defeats.
Lightning rookie Cedric Paquette opened the scoring with his sixth goal in four games and 11th of the season.
WILD 3, BLACKHAWKS 0
In St Paul, Minnesota, Devan Dubnyk stopped 24 shots in his third shutout since joining Minnesota in the middle of last month, leading the Wild past Chicago for their fourth straight win.
Mikko Koivu, Jason Zucker and Mikael Granlund scored for the Wild. Since being acquired in a trade with Arizona, Dubnyk is 6-1 with a 1.57 goals-against average. He has four shutouts overall this season.
The Blackhawks, fourth in the Western Conference, spent the previous two days in Las Vegas and were outshot 43-24.
In other NHL action, it was:
‧ Devils 2, Senators 1
‧ Canucks 3, Jets 2
‧ Panthers 4, Islanders 2
‧ Coyotes 4, Blue Jackets 1
‧ Avalanche 3, Stars 2, SO
‧ Ducks 5, Hurricanes 4, OT
Additional reporting by Reuters
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