NHL Hockey Betting

MONTREAL 3, PITTSBURGH 2

PITTSBURGH Andrei Kostitsyn enabled the Montreal Canadiens to feel right at home in the first contest of a four-game road trip.

Kostitsyn snapped a six-game goalless streak by recording his first career hat trick and the Canadiens edged the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-2.

Tomas Plekanec registered two assists and Carey Price made 32 saves for Montreal, which began a stretch of playing 11 of its next 15 contests away from the Bell Centre.

Despite missing Fridays practice with a lingering knee injury, Kostitsyn enjoyed a breakout performance after notching only four points in December until this contest.

The Canadiens improved to 8-5-2 as the visitors, but all five of those regulation losses have come in their last nine road games.

Pascal Dupuis and captain Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist apiece for the Penguins, who failed to notch consecutive victories for the first time in over a month. They have not won two in a row since enjoying a season-high, six-game winning streak from November 1-15.

Pittsburgh netminder Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 16 shots, but had no answer for the scoring prowess of Kostitsyn just one night after posting his first shutout of the season in a 1-0 victory over the New Jersey Devils.

After the Penguins erased two one-goal deficits, Kostitsyn secured the hat trick and gave the Canadiens a lead they would not relinquish with a hard slap shot from the right faceoff circle 2:21 into the third period.

Kostitsyn opened the scoring 75 seconds into the game, converting a pass by Plekanec with a wrist shot in front of the net.

Dupuis forged a tie with 5:16 left in first, but Kostitsyn struck again with a hard one-timer from the slot with two seconds remaining in the session.

Pittsburgh pulled even once again as Crosby netted his 15th goal of the season 5:51 into the second.

Dupuis corralled the rebound from defenseman Brooks Orpiks shot and dumped the puck into the left wing corner. Miroslav Satan looked as though he would play the puck, but let it slide onto the stick of Crosby, who was positioned behind the net. Crosby then quickly grabbed the puck and curled around the net, tucking the puck just inside the post for the wrap-around goal.

Pittsburghs Evgeni Malkin was held off the scoresheet for the second time in three contests after enjoying a nine-game points streak. The Russian star still leads the NHL with 59 points.

Ruslan Fedotenko, who netted the lone goal against the Devils on Friday, had his six-game points streak come to an end.

CALGARY 6, OTTAWA 3

CALGARY, Alberta Rene Bourque notched his first career hat trick as the Calgary Flames continued to roll with a 6-3 victory over the Ottawa Senators.

Defenseman Adrian Aucoin, Andre Roy and Todd Bertuzzi also scored and Miikka Kiprusoff made 27 saves for the Flames, who improved to 4-0-3 in their last seven contests.

Daymond Langkow had a pair of assists for Calgary (20-11-4), which overcame a two-goal deficit and extended its Northwest Division lead to three points.

Chris Phillips, Jason Spezza and blue-liner Alexandre Picard each tallied and Alex Auld turned aside 36 shots for the Senators, who have lost seven of their last nine games.

BOSTON 4, CAROLINA 2

RALEIGH, North Carolina Michael Ryder scored to snap a tie with just over six minutes remaining in the third period as the Boston Bruins extended their season-high winning streak to seven games with a 4-2 triumph over the Carolina Hurricanes.

Rookie Blake Wheeler scored twice and Tim Thomas finished with 29 saves for Boston, which had not won seven contests in a row since closing the 1992-93 season with eight straight victories.

Chuck Kobasew added an empty-net tally with 16 seconds remaining for the Bruins, who improved to 21-2-1 in their last 24 games.

Matt Cullen and defenseman Anton Babchuk scored and Cam Ward turned aside 18 shots for Carolina, which lost for the third time in five contests.

COLUMBUS 3, PHILADELPHIA 0

COLUMBUS, Ohio Defenseman Jan Hejda and Andrew Murray scored first-period goals and rookie goaltender Steve Mason finished with 20 saves for his third career shutout as the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the Philadelphia Flyers, 3-0.

It was only the second goal of the season for Hejda, who scored 24 games ago against Colorado on October 30.

Manny Malhotra also scored for Columbus, which improved to 6-1-1 against the Eastern Conference this year.

Mason turned aside five shots in the first period, 11 in the second and four in the third to secure the shutout.

Antero Niittymaki made 30 saves in net for Philadelphia.

BUFFALO 4, NY ISLANDERS 3 (SO)

BUFFALO, New York Ales Kotalik and Drew Stafford each scored in the shootout and Ryan Miller stopped both attempts in the bonus format, helping the Buffalo Sabres earn a 4-3 win over the New York Islanders.

Jochen Hecht and Jason Pominville each had power-play goals and Clarke MacArthur also scored his career-high 10th goal for Buffalo, which snapped a three-game losing streak.

Chris Campolis goal with just two seconds remaining in the third period tied the game at 3-3, but shootout attempts by Richard Park and rookie Kyle Okposo were both turned aside by Miller, who finished with 32 saves.

Mike Comrie scored with 94 seconds remaining in the third to halve the deficit and Jeff Tambellini also tallied for New York.

Joey MacDonald, who got the start in place of Rick DiPietro, made 34 saves. DiPietro returned to action Friday after missing two months but suffered a strained groin in the contest.

NEW JERSEY 4, NY RANGERS 2

NEW YORK Brian Rolston scored a power-play goal and Patrik Elias had a shorthanded tally as the New Jersey Devils built a two-goal lead in the opening five minutes and posted 4-2 victory over the New York Rangers.

Travis Zajac netted what would turn out to the be the game-winner midway through the second period for the Devils, who had dropped their previous five regular-season visits (0-3-2) to Madison Square Garden.

Zajac also had a pair of assists as he set up Elias goal and Zach Parises insurance tally in the third.

Scott Clemmensen also helped the Devils avoid their first three-game losing streak since they dropped four straight November 8-14. He made 17 of his 31 saves during the second period and improved to 8-2-1 in his last 11 appearances.

Nigel Dawes scored a power-play goal and defenseman Dmitri Kalinin also tallied for the Rangers, who dropped their season-high third straight contest and second in a row to the Devils, who posted an 8-5 victory at the Prudential Center on December 12.

TAMPA BAY 6, FLORIDA 4

TAMPA, Florida Captain Vincent Lecavalier scored two goals and set up another and Martin St. Louis tallied and had three assists as the Tampa Bay Lightning won their third consecutive game by trouncing the Florida Panthers, 6-4.

Ryan Malone recorded a goal and set up two others and Jussi Jokinen notched two assists for the Lightning, whose only other winning streak this season came when they won three in a row from October 28-November 1.

Rookie Steven Stamkos and Evgeny Artyukhin also scored to support Mike Smith, who made 25 saves for Tampa Bay.

David Booth scored twice, Nathan Horton and Stephen Weiss each tallied and Tomas Vokoun turned aside 36 shots, but a plethora of defensive lapses caused the Panthers to drop both contests in the home-and-home series with the Lightning.

Tampa Bay outshot Florida, 42-29, overall - and by a 21-3 margin in the first period.

DALLAS 4, ANAHEIM 3 (OT)

DALLAS Mike Modano scored with 86 seconds remaining in overtime as the Dallas Stars recorded a 4-3 triumph over the Anaheim Ducks in a battle of Pacific Division rivals.

Mike Ribeiro, James Neal and Brad Richards notched a goal and an assist apiece and Marty Turco finished with 19 saves for Dallas, which improved to 8-3-1 in its last 12 contests.

Brendan Morrison recorded his second two-goal performance in as many games, Chris Kunitz also tallied and Jean-Sebastien Giguere turned aside 34 shots for Anaheim, which suffered its sixth loss in its last seven road games.

In overtime, Modano accepted a feed from Richards in the right faceoff circle and unleashed a blast which beat Giguere for his 12th goal of the season.

ST LOUIS 3, SAN JOSE 2 (SO)

ST. LOUIS Brad Winchester tied the game in the third period and scored the decisive goal in the shootout to lift the St. Louis Blues to a 3-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks.

David Perron also tallied in regulation before scoring in the opening round of the bonus format and Manny Legace made 18 saves for the Blues, who had lost seven of their previous eight contests.

Mike Grier and Jonathan Cheechoo each scored a goal and set up another for the Sharks, who failed to win their third straight game.

LOS ANGELES 4, PHOENIX 0

GLENDALE, Arizona Alexander Frolov scored two goals and rookie Jonathan Quick made 26 saves as the Los Angeles Kings cruised to a 4-0 triumph over the Phoenix Coyotes.

Raitis Ivanans also tallied and Jarret Stoll added a power-play goal, while defenseman Kyle Quincey and Teddy Purcell each notched two assists for the Kings, who used a three-goal outburst in the first period to earn their second win in seven contests.

Quick turned aside six shots in the first, 11 in the second and nine in the third to record his second shutout of the season. The 22-year-old blanked the Columbus Blue Jackets, 3-0, on

Tuesday.

Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 26 shots for Phoenix, but fell to 6-1-0 in his career against Los Angeles.

COLORADO 4, DETROIT 3 (SO)

DENVER Wojtek Wolski scored the lone goal of the shootout before Peter Budaj denied all shooters as the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Detroit Red Wings, 4-3.

Ryan Smyth and defensemen Ruslan Salei and John-Michael Liles netted power-play goals for the Avalanche, who squandered a three-goal lead before winning in the bonus format.

Pavel Datsyuk, Tomas Holmstrom and Johan Franzen each tallied in the second period for the Red Wings, who suffered back-to-back losses for the first time in over a month.