Thursdays National Hockey League Capsules
MONTREAL 5, PHILADELPHIA 2
MONTREAL Sergei Kostitsyn, Steve Begin and Guillaume Latendresse each netted a goal and set up another as the Montreal Canadiens ended the Philadelphia Flyers five-game winning streak with a 5-2 victory.
Matt DAgostini and Alexei Kovalev also scored and Jaroslav Halak made 29 saves for the Canadiens, who snapped a three-game losing streak.
Arron Asham tallied and assisted on defenseman Braydon Coburns goal and Antero Niittymaki turned aside 25 shots for the Flyers, who had posted a 12-1-2 record over their previous 15 contests.
Montreal, which was eliminated by Philadelphia in the Eastern Conference semifinals last season, did not waste any time getting a measure of revenge in this one.
DAgostini opened the scoring exactly six minutes into the game, accepting a long outlet pass from Maxim Lapierre and beating Niittymaki with wrist shot.
Kostitsyn doubled the advantage just over 4 1/2 minutes later with his fourth goal of the season. The 21-year-olds power-play goal with 9:27 left in the first period snapped the Canadiens 1-for-26 skid with the man advantage.
Begin continued the offensive onslaught, tallying his fifth goal of the campaign with 4:34 left in the opening session. But the Flyers answered 32 seconds later with Ashams goal.
Kovalev gave Montreal some breathing room in the second, beating Niittymaki on a breakaway with quick wrist shot to the glove side. Kovalev converted a perfect outlet pass from Begin into his 900th career point.
Halak, who has started five straight games in place of injured starter Carey Price, picked up his second win since October 20.
BOSTON 8, TORONTO 5
BOSTON In a game that featured eight goals in the second period and three goaltender changes, the Boston Bruins outlasted the Toronto Maple Leafs, 8-5, in a battle of Original Six rivals at TD Banknorth Garden.
David Krejci recorded his first career hat trick and Phil Kessel notched two goals and an assist to extend his scoring streak to 16 games, helping the Bruins win their 12th straight on home ice.
Marc Savard had a goal and three assists and Michael Ryder and Marco Strum scored for Boston, which built a four-goal lead before holding on for the win.
Alexei Ponikarovsky, Nik Antropov and defenseman Pavel Kubina each scored a goal and set up another for Toronto, which also netted four goals in the second period.
Jason Blake and Mikhail Grabovski also tallied and defenseman Jeff Finger notched two assists for the Maple Leafs.
WASHINGTON 4, ST. LOUIS 2
WASHINGTON Viktor Kozlov scored two goals and added an assist as the Washington Capitals extended their winning streak to five games with a 4-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues.
Tomas Fleischmann scored, Alex Ovechkin netted his team-leading 20th goal of the season and rookie Simeon Varlamov turned aside 29 shots to notch his second career NHL win in as many games for Washington, which improved to 14-1-1 at home.
Since losing back-to-back games from November 29-December 2, the Capitals are 7-1-0 while outscoring their opponents, 27-15.
David Backes scored his ninth goal of the season and David Winchester added a power-play tally, but the Blues fell for the fifth straight contest.
CAROLINA 2, FLORIDA 1 (OT)
RALEIGH, North Carolina Defenseman Joe Corvo scored the game-winner with 44 seconds left in overtime to lift the Carolina Hurricanes to a 2-1 victory over the Florida Panthers in a battle of Southeast Division rivals.
Corvo also had an assist on Justin Williams power-play goal and Cam Ward made 19 saves for the Hurricanes, who outshot the Panthers by a 37-20 margin.
Cory Stillman netted the lone goal and Tomas Vokoun turned aside 35 shots for Florida.
PITTSBURGH 6, ATLANTA 3
ATLANTA Evgeni Malkin recorded two goals and two assists as the Pittsburgh Penguins scored three times in the second period and cruised to a 6-3 triumph over the Atlanta Thrashers.
Matt Cooke, Miroslav Satan, Jordan Staal and defenseman Philippe Boucher also tallied and captain Sidney Crosby and Petr Sykora notched two assists for Pittsburgh, which improved to 24-0 in its last six games.
Sidelined for over a month, Marc-Andre Fleury returned and finished with 28 saves for the Penguins.
Marty Reason, Bryan Little and former Penguin Colby Armstrong scored for Atlanta, which fell to 3-10-2 record over its last 15 games.
DETROIT 6, SAN JOSE 0
DETROIT Pavel Datsyuk scored two goals and set up two others and Marian Hossa had a goal and an assist as the Detroit Red Wings cruised to a 6-0 victory over the San Jose Sharks.
Ty Conklin made 24 saves to post his second shutout of the season for the Red Wings, who have won six of their last eight contests.
Johan Franzen, Valtteri Filppula and defenseman Brad Stuart also tallied for Detroit, which trails only San Jose in the Western Conference standings.
COLORADO 2, TAMPA BAY 1 (SO)
TAMPA, Florida Andrew Raycroft made 37 saves in regulation and Milan Hejduk scored the decisive goal in the second round of a shootout to hand the Colorado Avalanche a controversial 2-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Hejduks backhanded attempt was initially saved, but the referees promptly conversed and allowed the goal after Tampa Bay goaltender Mike Smith let go of his stick to block the puck while diving to the left side of the net.
Paul Stastny tallied in regulation to help the Avalanche improve to 23-7-0 in their last 30 games against Eastern Conference teams.
Jeff Halpern netted his first goal of the season for the Lightning, who have dropped 11 of their last 12 games.
PHOENIX 2, NASHVILLE 1
GLENDALE, Arizona Rookie Kyle Turris scored twice and helped the Phoenix Coyotes snap a two-game losing streak with a 2-1 triumph over the Nashville Predators.
Ilya Bryzgalov made 30 saves in his eighth consecutive start for the Coyotes, who improved to 10-4-2 at home this season.
Vernon Fiddler tallied and Dan Ellis stopped 25 shots, but the Predators fell for the fourth time in five contests.
DALLAS 6, COLUMBUS 5 (SO)
DALLAS Brad Richards and Mike Ribeiro scored in the shootout and Marty Turco thwarted both attempts as the Dallas Stars outlasted the Columbus Blue Jackets, 6-5.
After recording a two-goal performance one day earlier, Loui Eriksson netted his first career hat trick for Dallas, which improved to 3-1-0 in its last four games.
Richards had a goal and three assists, Matt Niskanen also tallied and Turco finished with 23 saves - and stopped Kristian Huselius and captain Rick Nash in the bonus format.
Joel Lundqvist, Mike Ribeiro and rookie Fabian Brunnstrom notched two assists apiece for the Stars.
Nash had two goals and an assist and R.J. Umberger recorded a goal and two assists for Columbus, which nearly won the contest just 13 seconds into overtime after Manny Malhotra apparently scored.
That tally was disallowed after the officials ruled that Malhotra used a distinct kicking motion on the play.