NHL Hockey Betting

MONTREAL 5, WASHINGTON 4

MONTREAL Sergei Kostitsyn snapped a tie with 22 seconds remaining in the third period as the Montreal Canadiens recorded four goals in the session en route to a 5-4 triumph over the Washington Capitals.

Tomas Plekanec scored twice and Robert Lang and Andrei Kostitsyn netted power-play goals 43 seconds apart in the third for Montreal, which won its fourth straight and improved to 9-1-1 in its last 11 games.

Alexander Semin netted a pair of goals, Tomas Fleischmann and Michael Nylander also tallied and defenseman Mike Green notched two assists for Washington, which dropped its second in a row after posting a 12-1-0 mark in its previous 13 contests.

With the win, Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau will serve as the assistant to Bostons Claude Julien for the Eastern Conference in the 57th All-Star Game at the Bell Centre in Montreal on January 25.

In the waning moments of the game, Capitals defenseman Milan Jurcina could not locate the puck in his skates, and Sergei Kostitsyn alertly gained possession and wristed a shot that slid under the right pad of goaltender Brent Johnson for his eighth goal of the season.

PHILADELPHIA 4, TORONTO 1

PHILADELPHIA All-Star Jeff Carter snapped a tie six minutes into the third period and scored his league-leading 29th goal into an empty net as the Philadelphia Flyers extended their home winning streak to eight games with a 4-1 triumph over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Captain Mike Richards and defenseman Andrew Alberts also scored for the Flyers, who improved to 12-0-2 in their last 14 contests at the Wachovia Center.

Martin Biron made 41 saves and also notched an assist for Philadelphia, which is 4-0-2 in its last six overall.

Alexei Ponikarovsky netted the lone goal for the Maple Leafs, who have lost four straight on the road.

NY RANGERS 2, OTTAWA 0

OTTAWA All-Star Henrik Lundqvist made 33 saves to record his second shutout of the season and Brandon Dubinsky and rookie Lauri Korpikoski ended long goal-scoring droughts,

leading the New York Rangers to a 2-0 victory over the Ottawa Senators.

Korpikoski also notched an assist for his first career multi-point game for the Rangers, who had lost six of their previous eight contests.

Brian Elliott stopped 25 shots in his first career start for the Senators, who have lost five consecutive games.

Lundqvist turned aside nine shots in the first period, 14 in the second and 10 in the third to complete his 19th career blanking.

SAN JOSE 4, VANCOUVER 2

VANCOUVER, British Columbia Captain Patrick Marleau scored a pair of goals in the third period to lead the San Jose Sharks to a 4-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks.

Defenseman Rob Blake and Mike Grier also tallied for the Sharks, who extended their winning streak against the Canucks to six games.

Joe Thornton notched two assists and Brian Boucher made 24 saves to halt a personal six-game slide against Vancouver.

Mats Sundin and Daniel Sedin scored for the Canucks, who fell to 0-3-1 in their last four home games.

FLORIDA 8, ATLANTA 4

SUNRISE, Florida Ville Peltonen scored twice during a five-goal third period as the Florida Panthers cruised to an 8-4 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers.

Cory Stillman, David Booth and Nathan Horton also tallied in the third for the Panthers, who produced their best offensive output of the season without the help of their power play (0-for-4).

Radek Dvorak recorded a goal and two assists, including the 300th of his career, Booth, Horton and rookie Michael Frolik each netted a tally and set up another and Gregory Campbell collected three assists for Florida.

Richard Zednik and defenseman Karlis Skrastins each set up a pair of goals, All-Star blue-liner Jay Bouwmeester also scored and Tomas Vokoun stopped 28 shots for Florida, which improved to 4-0-1 in its last five games.

Todd White registered a goal and two assists and Colby Armstrong, Erik Christensen and All-Star Ilya Kovalchuk also tallied for Atlanta, which has lost seven of nine (2-6-1).

BOSTON 5, CAROLINA 1

BOSTON Michael Ryder scored twice and David Krejci added a goal and two assists, powering the Boston Bruins to a 5-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.

Ryder registered both his goals in the second period, when the Bruins scored three times to open a 5-0 lead.

All-Star Tim Thomas, pressed into service when Manny Fernandez was a last-minute scratch due to an undisclosed injury, recorded 27 saves.

Thomas lost his shutout bid when Justin Williams scored for Carolina 6:07 into the third.

COLORADO 5, PITTSBURGH 3

DENVER - Andrew Raycroft made 21 saves in his third straight start and David Jones scored a pair of goals and set up another to lead the Colorado Avalanche to a 5-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Raycroft extended his personal winning streak to seven games while improving to 9-1-0 overall this season.

Wojtek Wolski, Cody McLeod and Ryan Smyth each added a goal and an assist for the Avalanche. Wolski has netted four tallies in his last three contests.

Despite receiving a goal and an assist apiece from All-Stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh lost for the seventh time in eight games.

Jones set up what proved to be the game-winning goal by McLeod with 5:21 remaining in the second period. Just 51 seconds after Jordan Staals shorthander 7 1/2 minutes into the third drew Pittsburgh within 4-3, Jones capped his first career two-goal effort during a power play to provide the final margin.

COLUMBUS 4, MINNESOTA 2

COLUMBUS, Ohio Nikita Filatov recorded his first career hat trick and fellow rookie Steve Mason made 21 saves as the Columbus Blue Jackets received more sparkling efforts from their budding stars en route to a 4-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild.

Selected sixth overall in last Junes draft, the 18-year-old Filatov skated in his second game since returning to the Blue Jackets after helping Russia capture the bronze medal at the World Junior Championship.

Filatov scored his second career goal in the first period and added two more in the third in support of Mason, who was fresh off notching his league-leading sixth shutout of the season on Friday against the Washington Capitals.

Derek Dorsett also scored and rookie Jakub Voracek collected three assists for the Blue Jackets, who have won back-to-back games without injured captain Rick Nash. The All-Star currently is sidelined with a sprained right knee.

Antti Miettinen and defenseman Marek Zidlicky tallied for Minnesota, which wasted a solid 28-save performance from backup netminder Josh Harding in dropping its second straight contest.

DETROIT 3, BUFFALO 1

DETROIT Mikael Samuelsson scored the go-ahead goal with 2:34 left in the third period as the Detroit Red Wings extended their winning streak to six games with a 3-1 triumph over the Buffalo Sabres.

Samuelsson also registered an assist, Jiri Hudler scored a goal and set up another and Marian Hossa added an insurance tally with 95 seconds remaining for Detroit.

Ty Conklin made 21 saves in improving to 6-0-0 lifetime against the Sabres.

Derek Roy scored his 16th goal of the season for Buffalo, which was outshot, 48-22.

NASHVILLE 4, CHICAGO 1

NASHVILLE, Tennessee Rookie Pekka Rinne made 34 saves and David Legwand netted a pair of goals to lead the Nashville Predators to a 4-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks.

All-Star defenseman Shea Weber and Radek Bonk also scored and blue-liner Ryan Suter and rookie Joel Ward recorded two assists apiece for the Predators, who have won back-to-back games for the first time in over a month.

Cristobal Huet stopped 34 shots and Adam Burish tallied for the Blackhawks, who have lost four of their last six contests.

PHOENIX 1, DALLAS 0 (SO)

GLENDALE, Arizona Rookie Kyle Turris scored the decisive goal in the fifth round of the shootout and Ilya Bryzgalov turned aside 38 shots as the Phoenix Coyotes claimed their first win beyond regulation this season with a 1-0 triumph over the Dallas Stars in a battle of Pacific Division rivals.

Peter Mueller and Steven Reinprecht also were successful in the bonus format for Phoenix, which improved to 15-6-2 at Jobing.com Arena this campaign.

Bryzgalov made nine saves in the first period, 11 in the second, 13 in the third and five in overtime for his second shutout of the season and seventh career.

Marty Turco finished with 28 saves for Dallas, which ended its four-game road trip with a 1-2-1 mark.

Turco turned aside six shots in the first period, 12 in the second, eight in the third and two in overtime for his first blanking of the season and 34th career.

NEW JERSEY 5, LOS ANGELES 1

LOS ANGELES A busy day that included attracting a storied veteran ended with a night filled with milestones.

Hours after New Jersey reportedly agreed to a contract with veteran left wing Brendan Shanahan, Brian Rolston scored in his 1,000th game and All-Star Zach Parise netted his 100th career goal to help the Devils vanquish the Los Angeles Kings, 5-1.

Travis Zajac recorded a goal and two assists, Patrik Elias and captain Jamie Langenbrunner each netted a tally and set up another and Parise added an assist for the Devils, who began a season-high, six-game road trip by halting a two-game losing streak.

Starting in place of Scott Clemmensen for the first time in 15 games, Kevin Weekes turned aside 34 shots. His only blemish came when Derek Armstrong tallied early in the third period for the Kings, who had won two of three.