Fridays National Hockey League Capsules
CALGARY 3, NASHVILLE 1
CALGARY, Alberta The All-Star break did not stop the Calgary Flames momentum at home.
Matthew Lombardi and enforcer Andre Roy scored second-period goals to help the Flames post a 3-1 win over the Nashville Predators.
Defenseman Adrian Aucoin tallied with the man advantage and Miikka Kiprusoff made 28 saves as the Flames swept the four-game season series for the first time in team history. They had dropped 10-of-13 meetings with the Predators prior to this campaign.
Calgary, which improved to 10-1-0 in its last 11 contests at home, raised its overall record at the Pengrowth Saddledome this season to 19-5-3.
J.P. Dumont netted the lone goal for Nashville, which fell to 2-8-1 on the road since a 6-3 setback against the St. Louis Blues on December 8.
The Flames punctuated a perfect three-game homestand two nights after defeating the Buffalo Sabres, 5-2.
Lombardi, who has recorded eight points in his last nine contests, opened the scoring at 7:23 of the second period by deflecting Curtis Glencross initial attempt while stationed in the low slot.
Roy fired a slap shot past rookie goaltender Pekka Rinne just over five minutes later to double the lead.
Dumont halved the deficit 7:57 into the third, wristing a shot past Kiprusoff for his 10th goal of the season.
However, Aucoin restored the two-goal bulge and secured the victory by unleashing a slap shot from the left faceoff circle that beat Rinne with 7 1/2 minutes remaining.
Rinne, who started for the Rookies in the YoungStars Game during All-Star Weekend in Montreal, made 29 saves.
Meanwhile, Kiprusoff notched his league-leading 30th win of the season and improved to 7-1-1 in his last nine starts against Nashville.
EDMONTON 3, MINNESOTA 1
EDMONTON, Alberta The Edmonton Oilers finally figured out Niklas Backstrom.
Defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky chased Backstrom from the game with a power-play goal early in the second period as the Oilers skated to a 3-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild.
Dwayne Roloson made 28 saves and Andrew Cogliano collected two assists for Edmonton, which defeated Backstrom for the first time in 13 tries.
Ales Hemsky and captain Ethan Moreau also scored for the Oilers, who bounced back from their worst home loss in franchise history - a 10-2 thrashing at the hands of the Buffalo Sabres on
Tuesday.
James Sheppard tallied for the Wild, who had won four of their previous six contests.
COLUMBUS 1, OTTAWA 0
COLUMBUS, Ohio Rookie Steve Mason made 18 saves to record his league-leading seventh shutout of the season as the Columbus Blue Jackets edged the Ottawa Senators, 1-0.
Rookie Jakub Voracek - also a rookie - scored early in the second period for the Blue Jackets, who have won five of their last six home games.
The favorite to win the Calder Trophy this season, the 20-year-old Mason turned aside eight shots in both the first and third periods while needing to make just two saves in the middle session.
NEW JERSEY 4, PITTSBURGH 3 (OT)
NEWARK, New Jersey Captain Jamie Langenbrunner capped his third straight two-goal performance by scoring with exactly one minute remaining in overtime, lifting the New Jersey Devils to a 4-3 comeback win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Langenbrunner forged a 3-3 tie with 31 seconds remaining in the third period while veterans Bobby Holik and Brendan Shanahan also tallied in regulation for the Devils, who extended their season-high winning streak to eight games.
New Jersey has posted its longest string of victories since it won nine straight from November 17-December 7, 2007.
Maxime Talbot and captain Sidney Crosby scored in a 20-second span midway through the first period and All-Star Evgeni Malkin added his 100th career goal for the Penguins, who fell in the opener of a three-game road trip.
PHILADELPHIA 6, TAMPA BAY 1
TAMPA, Florida Captain Mike Richards recorded two goals and an assist and All-Star Jeff Carter also scored twice as the Philadelphia Flyers stormed past the Tampa Bay Lightning, 6-1.
With the two goals, Carter raised his season total to 32, putting him one ahead of Washingtons Alex Ovechkin for the league lead.
Scott Hartnell and defenseman Randy Jones each netted a tally and set up another for the Flyers, who had won just one of their previous five road games (1-2-2).
Antero Niittymaki made 41 saves and also registered an assist for Philadelphia. One of the stops by the Finnish goaltender, who improved to 10-2-2 in his last 14 starts, came on a penalty shot by All-Star Martin St. Louis early in the third period.
Former Flyer Vaclav Prospal scored the lone goal for the Lightning, who had two tallies disallowed en route to having their three-game home winning streak snapped.