Roberto Luongo made 34 saves, while Jussi Jokinen and Vincent Trocheck each scored a goal and added an assist to lift the Florida Panthers into first place in the Atlantic Division with a 4-1 victory over the Boston Bruins on Thursday.
Reilly Smith and Jonathan Huberdeau also scored for Florida, who passed idle Tampa Bay in the standings and won for the first time in 10 visits to Boston.
Ryan Spooner scored in the first period for Boston, who lost their fifth straight following a seven-game unbeaten streak.
Photo: AP
The Bruins’ lead over fourth-placed Detroit also shrank to one point after the Red Wings beat the Montreal Canadiens.
Trocheck scored a short-handed goal to put Florida ahead 2-1 after wristing a shot past Tuukka Rask with 1 minute, 14 seconds remaining in the second period.
Patrice Bergeron thought he had tied the game just over eight minutes into the third when it appeared the puck went into the corner of the net, but after a lengthy review by the officials, the goal was disallowed.
Jokinen scored an insurance goal moments after the Bruins had killed a penalty for too many men on the ice to put Florida ahead 3-1 with 9:04 remaining.
Huberdeau capped the scoring with an empty-net goal with 21 seconds remaining.
RED WINGS 4 CANADIENS 3
Riley Sheahan scored two goals and the Detroit Red Wings held off the Montreal Canadiens for a 4-3 win Thursday night at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan.
Luke Glendening also scored and Anthony Mantha got his first career goal for Detroit. Mike Green had two assists and Petr Mrazek made 26 saves.
DEVILS 3, PENGUINS 0
Devils goalie Scott Wedgewood stopped 39 shots to shut out the NHL’s hottest team in only his second career game, while Kyle Palmieri scored twice in the first period as New Jersey beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-0 on Thursday night.
Wedgewood, who allowed only one goal in his first two starts, halted two streaks: the Penguins’ six-game winning streak and captain Sidney Crosby’s 12-game scoring run.
HURRICANES 3, BLUE JACKETS 2
The Carolina Hurricanes broke out of a two-period malaise with a flurry of goals early in the third, jumping the Columbus Blue Jackets for a 3-2 win on Thursday in Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
Viktor Rask, Chris Terry and Elias Lindholm scored for the Hurricanes, all in a 98-second span, with Lindholm’s goal giving Carolina a 3-1 lead only 2:30 into the period.
MAPLE LEAFS 6, DUCKS 5 OT
Nazem Kadri scored twice, including the overtime winner, as the Toronto Maple Leafs edged the Anaheim Ducks 6-5 at Air Canada Centre in Toronto on Thursday.
After Toronto blew a 4-1 lead in a 9:23 span and fell behind by a goal, Connor Brown tied the game 5-5 with his first career NHL goal at 15:37 of the third period.
WILD 6, FLAMES 2
Zach Parise ended a monthlong slump with a first-period hat trick, and that was all the offense the Minnesota Wild needed on Thursday.
Minnesota jumped out to an early lead and held off the Calgary Flames, winning 6-2 to gain a critical two points in the race for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
In other NHL action, it was:
‧ Jets 4, Kings 1
‧ Predators 3, Canucks 2, SO
‧ Flyers 4, Avalanche 2
‧ Coyotes 3, Stars 1
‧ Oilers 6, Sharks 3
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