Krejci, Savard help Bruins beat Senators 6-4
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Associated Press - Published: January 9, 2009
BOSTON — The NHL-leading Boston Bruins got back to their winning ways — at the expense of the slumping Ottawa Senators.
David Krejci and Marc Savard helped Boston snap a two-game losing streak, scoring 4:16 apart midway through the third period in the Bruins' 6-4 victory over the Senators on Thursday night.
"They played hard and desperate and we sat back a bit," Chuck Kobasew said. "It was big to get a win and we had to find a way to get it done."
Boston had won nine straight before dropping two in a row.
"This was really important and to get over the hump was the toughest thing," Boston goalie Manny Fernandez said. "If it's going to be like this for a while, we have to work twice as hard at limiting our mistakes."
Ottawa lost for the seventh time in its last eight games.
Krejci put the Bruins ahead 4-3 when he stole the puck from Daniel Alfredsson at the side of the net and backhanded a shot toward goalie Martin Gerber. Gerber blocked it back to Krejci, who knocked in the rebound at 10:13 of the third period.
"You try to trust your best guys," Senators coach Craig Hartsburg said. "It's those guys that cost us the game."
Savard gave Boston a two-goal advantage with 5:31 remaining, and P.J. Axelsson scored an empty-net goal with 41 seconds left. Savard also had two assists and leads the Bruins with 52 points.
Brendan Bell tied it at 3 for Ottawa with 5:28 remaining in the second when he converted a pass from Dean McAmmond and beat Fernandez.
Boston avoided losing three straight for the second time this season.
"I guess the win itself was important, although the way we won it wasn't so good," Bruins coach Claude Julien said.
Red Wings 6, Stars 1
DETROIT — Marian Hossa, Dan Cleary, Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg each had a goal and an assist in the Detroit Red Wings' 6-1 victory over the Dallas Stars on Thursday night.
Kirk Maltby and Tomas Holmstrom also scored in Detroit's fifth victory, Niklas Kronwall added three assists, and Chris Osgood made 21 saves.
Trevor Daley had Dallas' lone goal, and Marty Turco stopped 14 shots before being replaced by Tobias Stephan after two periods.
Turco has a 3-11-5 career record against the Red Wings and is 0-8-2 at Joe Louis Arena.
Canadiens 6, Maple Leafs 2
MONTREAL — Andrei Kostitsyn had a goal and two assists, and Jaroslav Halak made 30 saves in the Montreal Canadiens' 6-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night.
Patrice Brisebois assisted on each of Montreal's three first-period goals — by Sergei Kostitsyn, Maxim Lapierre and Guillaume Latendresse.
Alex Kovalev scored his 11th goal 6:20 into the second to put the Canadiens up by three, and Andrei Kostitsyn scored his 12th at 18:53 to make it 5-1 just moments after Toronto's Dominic Moore shot wide of a wide open net on a short-handed opportunity.
Panthers 4, Hurricanes 2
SUNRISE, Fla. — Jay Bouwmeester and Nathan Horton scored early in the third period to break a tie, and the Florida Panthers beat Carolina 4-2 on Thursday night to snap the Hurricanes' winning streak at a season-high four games.
Thrashers 4, Devils 0
NEWARK, N.J. — Ilya Kovalchuk had a goal and an assist, and Kari Lehtonen made 29 saves for his first shutout of the season in the Atlanta Thrashers' 4-0 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night.
Colby Armstrong, Jim Slater and Marty Reasoner also scored for the Thrashers, 2-4-1 in their last seven games.
It was the Thrashers' first shutout of the season. For Lehtonen, it was his 12th career shutout and first against the Devils.
Kovalchuk, added Thursday to the Eastern Conference team for the NHL All-Star game, lived up to the billing with key contributions in Atlanta's three-goal second period.
Flyers 3, Wild 1
PHILADELPHIA — Mike Knuble, Scott Hartnell and Scottie Upshall scored goals and the Philadelphia Flyers returned home from two weeks on the road to beat the Minnesota Wild 3-1 on Thursday night.
Hartnell's tying goal in the second period ended Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom's bid for three straight shutouts. Backstrom, selected to the Western Conference All-Star team this week, stretched his shutout streak to 149 minutes, 9 seconds before Hartnell flipped a loose puck past him early in the second.
Knuble put the Flyers ahead early in the third period on Philadelphia's first power-play opportunity, and Upshall added his sixth goal to help the Flyers win their seventh straight home game.
The win gives the Flyers 53 points and puts them in first place in the Atlantic Division.
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