TAMPA BAY 3, MONTREAL 1

MONTREAL Martin St Louis scored twice as the Tampa Bay Lightning snapped a nine-game winless streak with a 3-1 triumph over the Montreal Canadiens.

Captain Vincent Lecavalier recorded a goal and an assist and defenseman Lukas Krajicek set up a pair of tallies for Tampa Bay, which entered the game 0-7-2 in its previous nine games and 1-7-4 since firing coach Barry Melrose on November 14.

Olaf Kolzig turned aside 32 shots for the Lightning, who won for the first time since posting a 4-1 victory over the Nashville Predators on November 21.

Defenseman Patrice Brisebois netted a power-play goal and Jaroslav Halak made 18 saves for Montreal, which fell to 4-1-1 on its seven-game homestand.

After Brisebois opened the scoring at 5:34 of the first period, St. Louis leveled the contest just over five minutes later as his sharp-angle wrist shot from the left faceoff circle beat Halak.

Just 74 seconds afterward, Lecavalier gave Tampa Bay a lead it would not relinquish. After gathering the rebound of defenseman Andrej Meszaros backhander, the former Maurice Richard Trophy winner tapped the puck into the net for his team-leading 12th goal of the season.

St. Louis shorthanded tally at 8:31 of the second period closed the scoring.

Krajicek swatted the puck out of his own zone, and St. Louis skated in on Halak and wristed the puck past the netminder for his 10th tally.

St. Louis bid for the hat trick fell short as he was unable to connect from center ice on an empty-net chance with 36 seconds to play in the third period.

FLORIDA 2, EDMONTON 0

EDMONTON, Alberta Craig Anderson stopped all 41 shots he faced and Stephen Weiss snapped a scoreless tie with just over five minutes remaining in the second period as the Florida Panthers recorded a 2-0 triumph over the Edmonton Oilers.

Radek Dvorak capped the scoring with an empty-net goal with one second remaining for Florida, which improved to 5-1-0 in its last six games.

Anderson stopped 13 shots in both the first and third periods and 15 in the second to notch his third shutout of the season and seventh career.

Mathieu Garon made 14 saves for Edmonton, which saw its three-game winning streak come to an end.

COLUMBUS 2, NASHVILLE 1 (SO)

COLUMBUS, Ohio Rookie Jakub Voracek scored the decisive goal in the shootout as the Columbus Blue Jackets edgedthe Nashville Predators, 2-1.

Defenseman Mike Commodore tallied in regulation and rookie Steve Mason made 25 saves for the Blue Jackets, who have won three straight home contests.

Martin Erat netted the lone goal and Dan Ellis turned aside 35 shots for the Predators, who were handed their third straight loss.

After the teams exchanged goals in the second round of the bonus format, Voracek put a backhander between the pads of Ellis. Mason stopped Erat on Nashvilles final chance to preserve the win.

PHILADELPHIA 6, CAROLINA 5 (SO)

PHILADELPHIA Simon Gagne tied the game late in regulation and scored the decisive goal in the shootout as the Philadelphia Flyers rallied from a four-goal deficit in the third period and posted a 6-5 triumph over the Carolina Hurricanes.

Scott Hartnell recorded his fourth career hat trick and Scottie Upshall also tallied for Philadelphia, which improved to 11-1-3 in its last 15 games and 6-0-2 in its last eight at home.

Jeff Carter and defenseman Andrew Alberts notched two assists apiece and Antero Niittymaki made 26 saves for the Flyers, who raised their record against Southeast Division opponents to 6-1-1.

Eric Staal scored two goals and set up another and Tuomo Ruutu collected three assists for Carolina, which has not posted a regulation victory over Philadelphia in the last 11 meetings between the teams.

Matt Cullen, Sergei Samsonov and former Flyers defenseman Joni Pitkanen also tallied and Michael Leighton stopped 32 shots for the Hurricanes, who fell to 2-5-2 in their last nine games.

PITTSBURGH 9, NY ISLANDERS 2

PITTSBURGH Petr Sykora and Pascal Dupuis recorded their first career hat tricks as the Pittsburgh Penguins snapped a three-game losing streak with a 9-2 thrashing of the New York Islanders.

Former Islander Miroslav Satan scored a power-play goal and added two assists, defenseman Philippe Boucher recorded his first tally of the season and Evgeni Malkin netted a goal and set up another to increase his league-leading points total to 48.

Captain Sidney Crosby collected three assists, while Jordan Staal, Matt Cooke and blue-liners Alex Goligoski and Rob Scuderi registered two apiece for the Penguins, who eclipsed their season high for goals in a contest. Their previous high came in a 7-6 overtime victory over the Detroit Red Wings on November 11.

Defensemen Mark Streit and Andy Sutton scored for the Islanders, who have lost five in a row.

PHOENIX 3, MINNESOTA 1

GLENDALE, Arizona Defenseman Zbynek Michalek and Olli Jokinen scored in the final 30 seconds of the second period and the Phoenix Coyotes went on to post a 3-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild.

Joakim Lindstrom netted his first goal of the season and Ilya Bryzgalov made 30 saves for the Coyotes, who snapped a nine-game losing streak to the Wild. Phoenix had not defeated Minnesota since November 14, 2006.

Antti Miettinen tallied and Niklas Backstrom turned aside 28 shots for the Wild, who have lost three in a row.

Michalek opened the scoring with 27 seconds left in the middle session and the Coyotes refused to settle for one as Jokinen doubled the advantage with 1.9 seconds remaining in the period.

SAN JOSE 2, ANAHEIM 0

SAN JOSE, California Captain Patrick Marleau recorded a goal and an assist and Evgeni Nabokov made 31 saves to help the San Jose Sharks top the Anaheim Ducks, 2-0, in a battle of Pacific Division rivals.

Nabokov turned aside four shots in the first period, 13 in the second and 14 in the third to notch his first shutout of the season and 41st career. San Jose improved to 6-0-1 since the 2008 Vezina Trophy finalist returned from an injury that kept him sidelined for seven games.

Devin Setoguchi also scored his team-leading 14th goal for the Sharks, who raised their record to 15-0-2 at home and avoided their second losing streak of the season. Their lone two-game skid occurred from November 9-11, when they suffered consecutive losses to the Nashville Predators and Phoenix Coyotes.

Starting in place of Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Jonas Hiller made 25 saves for the Ducks, who saw their two-game winning streak come to an end.

LOS ANGELES 6, ST. LOUIS 2

LOS ANGELES Captain Dustin Brown notched his first career hat trick on Thursday, leading the Los Angeles Kings to a 6-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues.

Brown scored two of his three goals on the power play for the Kings, who earned only their second victory in six games (2-3-1).

Anze Kopitar netted a pair of tallies and set up another and Alexander Frolov also scored for Los Angeles. Jarret Stoll collected three assists, defenseman Kyle Quincey and Patrick OSullivan recorded two apiece and Erik Ersberg made 26 saves to earn the victory.

Cam Paddock and blue-liner Carlo Colaiacovo scored for the Blues, who were without Manny Legace as the starting goaltender was placed on injured reserve earlier in the day with a concussion suffered in the first period of Wednesdays loss to the Anaheim Ducks.

Posted on December 12th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: NHL hockey news