National Hockey League Capsules for Saturday.
MONTREAL 3, BUFFALO 2
MONTREAL Carey Price helped make sure the Montreal Canadiens opened a key early-season homestand in winning fashion.
Price made 26 saves and three different players scored second-period goals as the Canadiens defeated the Buffalo Sabres, 3-2.
Andrei Kostitsyn, Steve Begin and defenseman Andrei Markov each beat Buffalo goaltender Patrick Lalime in the second session as the Canadiens opened a seven-game homestand with their first home win in four tries.
Thomas Vanek scored both goals and Lalime finished with 31 saves for Buffalo, which dropped its fourth straight road game.
Montreal, which entered the contest 0-1-2 in its previous three games, used a big middle session to get its season-long stretch of home games off to a good start.
Vaneks second goal of the game put Buffalo ahead, 2-1, just 7:39 into the period, but Montreal responded with two goals in a five-minute span to provide the final margin.
Maxim Lapierre fed Begin from the left faceoff circle and the left wing slid his shot just under Lalimes left pad to level
the contest with 6:20 remaining in the session.
While each team had a man in the box on hooking minors, Montreal took advantage of the open ice for the go-ahead tally. Captain Saku Koivu fed a tape-to-tape pass to Markov, who snapped a shot that found the top right corner, giving Montreal its first lead of the game with 90 seconds remaining in the second.
Lalime fell to 1-4-1 on the season while getting the start in place of Ryan Miller.
Price turned aside all eight shots he saw in the third period, including a couple saves during a flurry around the crease with less than a minute to play.
Vanek staked Buffalo to a 1-0 lead with 6:29 remaining in the first, but Kostitsyn pulled Montreal even with his fourth goal of the season just 2:51 into the second.
TORONTO 4, PHILADELPHIA 2
TORONTO Dominic Moore and Nik Antropov recorded a goal and an assist apiece as the Toronto Maple Leafs snapped a five-game losing streak with a 4-2 triumph over the Philadelphia Flyers.
Lee Stempniak and defenseman Pavel Kubina also scored and Vesa Toskala turned aside 28 shots for Toronto, which was 0-3-2 in its previous five games.
Captain Mike Richards tallied twice and Martin Biron finished with 23 saves for Philadelphia, which fell to 7-1-2 in its last 10 games.
The Flyers have lost 11 of their last 14 to the Maple Leafs, including five of seven in Toronto.
EDMONTON 4, ST. LOUIS 2
ST. LOUIS Shawn Horcoff scored a goal and set up two others as the Edmonton Oilers rallied for a 4-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues.
Dustin Penner had a goal and assist and Dwayne Roloson made 26 saves for the Oilers, who avoided their sixth loss in seven games by overcoming a 2-0 deficit after the first period.
Brad Boyes and Patrik Berglund each scored and David Perron had two assists for the Blues, who outshot Edmonton by a 28-22 margin.
CALGARY 3, VANCOUVER 1
CALGARY, Alberta Miikka Kiprusoff made 17 saves and helped the Calgary Flames extend their winning streak to three games with a 3-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks.
Daymond Langkow scored a power-play goal, while David Moss and Matthew Lombardi also tallied for the Flames, who swept their home-and-home series with the Canucks and won for the fifth time in six contests. Calgary handed Vancouver its first regulation loss in 11 contests with a 4-3 win on Thursday.
Kiprusoff was denied of his third shutout of the season when Kyle Wellwood cut Vancouvers deficit to 2-1 with his ninth tally of the season midway through the third period.
Recalled from Manitoba of the American Hockey League on November 22, Corey Schneider turned aside 28 shots in his NHL debut for the Canucks, who fell to 1-2-0 in three contests without injured netminder Roberto Luongo.
NY ISLANDERS 4, OTTAWA 2
UNIONDALE, New York Defenseman Freddy Meyer scored twice and had an assist as the New York Islanders skated to a 4-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators.
Andy Hilbert also tallied and Trent Hunter added an empty-netter with 61 seconds left in the third period for the Islanders, who snapped a two-game losing streak and vanquished the Senators for the third time this season.
Dany Heatley and captain Daniel Alfredsson recorded a goal and an assist apiece as Ottawas two-game winning streak came to an end.
LOS ANGELES 5, CHICAGO 2
LOS ANGELES The Los Angeles Kings recorded their second consecutive victory, defeating the Chicago Blackhawks, 5-2.
The Kings scored 1:18 into the game but had to rally against the weary Blackhawks, who finished their sixth game in 11 days, including a 1-0 loss to Anaheim on Friday. Chicago went 4-1-1 on the trip.
Having to turn around and play another game at the end of the road trip seemed to bother the Blackhawks.
Five different Kings scored and they overcame a 2-1 deficit with four straight goals in the second and third periods.
COLUMBUS 3, WASHINGTON 0
COLUMBUS, Ohio Captain Rick Nash scored twice and rookie netminder Steve Mason made 26 saves as the Columbus Blue Jackets rolled to a 3-0 triumph over the Washington Capitals.
Raffi Torres also tallied in support of the 20-year-old Mason, who turned aside eight shots in the first period, eight in the second and 10 in the third to secure his second shutout of the season.
Washingtons Alex Ovechkin was held scoreless for the first time in his last 11 games. The defending Hart Trophy winner entered with a 10-game points streak, recording 11 goals and 11 assists in that span.
The Capitals season-high losing streak on the road was extended to four games. It was also only the second time this season that they have been blanked.
BOSTON 4, DETROIT 1
BOSTON David Krejci recorded a goal and an assist as the Boston Bruins posted a 4-1 triumph over the Detroit Red Wings.
Rookie Blake Wheeler, Phil Kessel and Chuck Kobasew also tallied and Michael Ryder notched two assists for Boston, which improved to 11-1-1 in November.
Manny Fernandez finished with 29 saves for the Bruins.
Jiri Hudler scored and Ty Conklin turned aside six shots before being relieved by Chris Osgood for Detroit, which fell to 1-2-1 in its last four games after winning its previous five contests.
Osgood made nine saves for the Red Wings.
PITTSBURGH 4, NEW JERSEY 1
PITTSBURGH Captain Sidney Crosby recorded his second career hat trick and added an assist to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 4-1 triumph over the New Jersey Devils.
Petr Sykora scored on the power play for his fifth goal of the season and Dany Sabourin turned aside 28 shots to earn the win.
Crosby, who has now recorded multiple points in four of his last five games, scored just 81 seconds into the first period to put Pittsburgh ahead. He tallied midway through the second and scored an empty-netter with 2:01 left to finish the hat trick.
The hat trick was Crosbys first since he scored three times in an 8-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on October 28, 2006.
Mike Rupp scored his second goal in three games for New Jersey, which saw its five-game winning streak come to an end.
MINNESOTA 6, NASHVILLE 2
NASHVILLE, Tennessee Captain Mikko Koivu recorded two goals and an assist as the Minnesota Wild posted a 6-2 triumph over the Nashville Predators.
Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Andrew Brunette, Owen Nolan and Craig Weller netted a power-play goal apiece for Minnesota, which went 5-for-11 with the man advantage.
Antti Miettinen notched three assists, Brunette set up a pair of goals and Josh Harding finished with 25 saves as the Wild improved to 3-1-0 in their last four games.
Captain Jason Arnott and David Legwand scored and Dan Ellis turned aside 23 shots for Nashville, which fell to 2-3-1 in its last six contests.
SAN JOSE 3, PHOENIX 2
GLENDALE, Arizona Joe Pavelski scored two goals - including one that snapped a tie midway through the third period - and the San Jose Sharks overcame a two-goal deficit in a 3-2 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes.
Defenseman Rob Blake also tallied and Milan Michalek had two assists for the Sharks, who extended their winning streak to seven games. They lead the NHL with 92 goals and matched their season-best win streak, set from October 25-November 8.
Blue-liner Derek Morris scored and Kyle Turris added a tally with the man advantage, but the Coyotes failed to score at least three goals for the 16th time in 23 games this season. They were outshot, 23-20, overall and by a 13-4 margin in the third.
COLORADO 4, TAMPA BAY 3
DENVER Wojtek Wolski scored a pair of goals off rebounds in the first period and Marek Svatos had three assists as the Colorado Avalanche held on to record a 4-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Wolskis performance led the Avalanche to the win despite the absence of captain Joe Sakic, who was scratched with a back injury. He is out indefinitely.
Colorado built a 3-0 lead in the first period and a 4-1 advantage in the third before Tampa Bay made it interesting,
scoring a pair of goals late in the third session to cut Colorados lead to just one goal. The Lightning have lost four
in a row.
Andrew Raycroft started for the Avalanche for the first time since October 30 and had 17 saves and improved to 3-1 this season.