NHL Last Night: Bruins Keep Top Spot in East, Beat Sens

David Krejci scored a power-play goal off the leg of Capitals defender Shaone Morrisonn with 3:05 left in overtime Tuesday night and the Boston Bruins beat Washington 3-2 in a matchup of the top two teams in the Eastern Conference.

Tim Thomas stopped 34 shots for the Bruins and improved to 12-2-1 over his last 15 games.

Theodore made 25 saves for the Capitals, who remain atop the Southeast Division despite winning just three of their last eight games.

Washington got a scare when reigning MVP Alex Ovechkin crashed into the boards with 5:35 left in the second period after being hooked by Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara. Ovechkin, who hit his right shoulder and head, missed the rest of the second but returned for the third period.

Mike Green and Michael Nylander scored for Washington. Shawn Thornton and Marc Savard also tallied for Boston.

Sharks 3, Avalanche 0
Evgeni Nabokov stopped 31 shots for his 43rd career shutout and Milan Michalek scored two goals for San Jose, which won for the sixth time in seven games.

It was Nabokov's third shutout of the season, and first in just over a month. Patrick Marleau scored an empty-net goal with 37.2 seconds remaining.

Nabokov made several sensational saves, including one by the seat of his pants in the first period, thwarting Ryan Smyth's potential score by landing on top of the puck as Nabokov slowly drifted inside the net.

However, the puck never crossed the line, just a sprawled out Nabokov. The play was reviewed and the ruling of no goal upheld.

Sabres 10, Oilers 2
Drew Stafford scored his first of three goals 10 seconds into the game, and Buffalo handed the Oilers their worst home loss in franchise history.

Thomas Vanek and Derek Roy had a goal and two assists apiece for the Sabres, who also got goals from Nathan Paetsch, Jochen Hecht, Jaroslav Spacek and Tim Connolly with a pair.

Buffalo (25-18-5) has won four of five and eight of 11 games.

Erik Cole and Robert Nilsson tallied for the Oilers, who snapped a three-game winning streak. The loss on home ice eclipsed a 9-2 defeat to Chicago earlier this season.

Dwayne Roloson was replaced with rookie backup Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers after allowing three goals on eight shots.

Rangers 3, Hurricanes 2
Scott Gomez and Lauri Korpikoski scored first-period goals, and Steve Valiquette made 33 saves for the Rangers.

Brandon Dubinsky pushed the Rangers' lead to 3-1 with 7:50 left, but Tuomo Ruutu answered 25 seconds later to tighten it up again.

Ryan Bayda also scored for Carolina, and Cam Ward was solid after a shaky start. He stopped 28 shots in his 14th straight start.

Devils 4, Senators 1
Jamie Langenbrunner scored twice and Brendan Shanahan added his second goal in three games for New Jersey, which extended its winning streak to six.

Patrik Elias scored his 21st goal in the first and Scott Clemmensen made 21 saves for the Devils.

Alexandre Picard scored a power-play goal in the second for Ottawa, which had recorded points in each of its four previous games (3-0-1).

Lightning 5, Canadiens 3
Vincent Lecavalier, Vinny Prospal and Steve Downie scored second-period goals to lead Tampa Bay past Montreal.

Ryan Malone and Martin St. Louis also scored for the Lightning, who have won six of eight.

Montreal got goals from Maxim Lapierre, Alex Kovalev and Guillaume Latendresse. Andrei Markov had an assist to extend his point streak to nine games (nine assists, two goals).

Panthers 3, Flyers 2
Michael Frolik had a goal and two assists and Tomas Vokoun stopped 33 shots.

David Booth and Bryan McCabe also scored as Florida won for the first time in three games.

Simon Gagne and Claude Giroux scored for Philadelphia. Martin Biron made 24 saves.

The Panthers killed off a penalty in the final 1:23.

The Flyers had a goal disallowed when Kimmo Timonen was called for goaltender interference at 6:33 of the third.

Blue Jackets 3, Red Wings 2, OT
Rick Nash's third goal of the game came on a rebound 3:27 into overtime and gave Columbus a victory over Detroit.

The Red Wings were without stars Nicklas Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk, who did not attend the All-Star game because of injuries and were forced by the NHL to sit out their first game back after the break for not fulfilling their obligations in Montreal.

It was Nash's third career hat trick and the 14th for the Blue Jackets franchise.

Marian Hossa and Brett Lebda had Detroit's goals.

Columbus goaltender Steve Mason finished with 21 saves. Chris Osgood stopped 20 shots for Detroit.

Wild 6, Maple Leafs 1
Pierre-Marc Bouchard had two goals and an assist for the Wild in a rout.

Called up from the AHL for one start following the All-Star break, Justin Pogge made only 15 saves. But he had virtually no chance on all four goals in the second period thanks to sloppy play in front of him, which has plagued Toronto all season long.

Marc-Andre Bergeron, Cal Clutterbuck, Andrew Brunette and Owen Nolan also scored for the Wild, who were last in the NHL in even-strength goals coming into the night. But Minnesota got all six in five-on-five play against the Maple Leafs.

Minnesota native Jason Blake scored for Toronto, which lost for the eighth time in nine games and 12th time in its past 15.

Stars 2, Thrashers 0
Marty Turco made 25 saves for his 35th career shutout, and Jere Lehtinen and Steve Ott scored for the Stars.

The Stars, 10-4-3 in their last 17 games to move into playoff contention, began a stretch of 11 of 16 home games.

The Thrashers, shut out for the fourth time this season, wasted Kari Lehtonen's 31-save performance.

Ducks 7, Coyotes 3
Chris Kunitz and Corey Perry each scored twice, leading Anaheim over Phoenix.

Bobby Ryan scored a goal in his fourth straight game, Rob Niedermayer and Travis Moen also scored for the Ducks, who pulled even with Phoenix for fifth place in the Western Conference playoff standings.

Shane Doan scored twice and Mikkel Boedker also had a goal for the Coyotes, who lost for just the second time in their last seven home games.

Kunitz and Rob Niedermayer scored 45 seconds apart early in the second period to break a 2-all tie.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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