Jimmy Hayes (12) of the Florida Panthers scores a second period goal past goaltender Chad Johnson and Johnny Boychuk of the Boston Bruins in their NHL match at Sunrise, Florida, yesterday. The Bruins defeated the Panthers 5-2.
Florida: Backup goalie Chad Johnson beat the Florida Panthers for the second time in six days, leading the Boston Bruins to a victory.
Johnson made 20 saves to win for the seventh time in his past nine starts, including a 4-1 win over Florida last Tuesday.
The Bruins couldn’t score on Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo in the first half of the game, but they got four shots past him in the final 30:02. Luongo finished with 37 saves.
The Bruins (42-17-5) earned their fifth consecutive win, putting them one point ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins in the battle for the best record in the Eastern Conference.
Captain Jonathan Toews extended his goal streak to four games to lead the Chicago Blackhawks to a victory over the Buffalo Sabres.
Toews scored the game-winner early in the final period. The Blackhawks center has six goals in his last four games.
Right winger Patrick Kane also scored for the Blackhawks (38-13-14) while goaltender Corey Crawford made 20 saves. Winger Drew Stafford scored for the Sabres (19-37-8). T J Oshie and left wing Alexander Steen scored in a shootout, lifting the St. Louis Blues to a win over the Minnesota Wild.
The Wild failed to score on either of their shootout attempts.
Goaltender Brian Elliott had 17 saves for the Blues, who have now won eight in a row versus Minnesota. Oshie and defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo also scored in regulation for St. Louis (44-14-6).
Trailing 2-0 after a period, the Wild rallied to tie on goals by right wing Jason Pominville and recently acquired left wing Matt Moulson, but the Wild lost their second game in a row. Ilya Bryzgalov, who came to Minnesota in a trade from Edmonton last week, made 21 saves in his first start in goal for the Wild (34-22-8).
The Los Angeles Kings extended their season-best winning streak to seven games, and they did it rather easily.
The Kings thoroughly dominated the Edmonton Oilers in a victory that could have been much worse were it not for the work of Oilers goalie (and former King) Ben Scrivens, who faced 50 shots in the onslaught.
Jeff Carter netted two goals for Los Angeles (37-22-6) who owns a 14-1-4 record against Edmonton over the teams’ past 19 meetings.
The Oilers entered the game with an impressive 7-2-2 run, their best 11-game stretch in almost three years. Henrik Lundqvist earned his 300th career win as he shut out the Detroit Red Wings to power the New York Rangers to victory.
Lundqvist stopped 30 shots in tying Eddie Giacomin’s Rangers record of 49 career shutouts. Chris Kreider scored two goals and center Brian Boyle added one as the Rangers (35-26-4) into second place in the Metropolitan Division with 74 points, one point ahead of idle Philadelphia.
Reuters
