FTS -- 3/13/09

photo credit: AP Photo / Paul Vernon

BLUE JACKETS BLOW LEAD, BUT NOT GAME
HUSELIUS GETS SHOOTOUT WINNER

Columbus avoided a demoralizing loss on home ice Thursday night thanks to Kristian Huselius’ goal in regulation and the only marker in the shootout. The latter nullified the Penguins’ three-goal, third-period comeback. Antoine Vermette scored his first Blue Jacket goal and added an assist as Columbus (35-27-6) stayed four points up on Dallas/Edmonton for 6th in the Western Conference. The Pens’ 7-game winning streak is history; they remain 6th in the Eastern Conference, one point short of Montreal. A Columbus record 19,167 people watched this one.

Bruins 5 – Senators 3

Boston scored three times in the first 10:24 of this game, including Aaron Ward’s first career shorthanded goal, to earn just its fifth win in 16 games Thursday night at TD BankNorth Garden. Phil Kessel scored twice for the Bruins (44-16-9) and Tim Thomas made 25 saves. Daniel Alfredsson (27-30-10) had an assist to extend his point-scoring streak to five games.

Devils 5 – Coyotes 2

Martin Brodeur took another step towards Patrick Roy’s all-time wins mark with a 26-save performance in New Jersey. Brodeur did little work to pickup victory #550 after being given an early 2-0 lead. He can tie Roy’s mark Saturday night…in Montreal. Five different Devils scored, including Zach Parise, who notched #39. New Jersey (44-20-3) won for the 11th time in 14 games and remained six points behind Boston for the Eastern Conference lead.

Capitals 2 – Flyers 1

Alex Ovechkin scored the 48th goal of his season and added an assist in the Capitals’ fifth consecutive road victory. Ovechkin’s goal was his 10th game-winner. Jose Theodore’s 35 saves and Mike Knuble’s goaltender interference penalty, which negated a Kimmo Timonen goal, made that so.

Islanders 3 – Canadiens 2 OT

Another game, another win for the preposterously young Islanders. Kyle Okposo scored 26 seconds into overtime for the Isles’ fifth win in seven games. Montreal drops to 1-0-1 under Bob Gainey and 36-24-8 overall despite a splendid 36-save effort from Carey Price. The Canadiens remain fifth in the Eastern Conference, one point better than the Penguins.

Rangers 4 – Predators 2

Sean Avery’s first goal in his second stint as a Ranger and three points from Scott Gomez helped New York (35-25-8) jump back into the playoff picture in Nashville Thursday night. The Blueshirts went to bed seventh in the East. Henrik Lundqvist stopped 19 Predator shots to reach 30 victories for the fourth consecutive season. Nashville (33-30-5) is tied with Minnesota for ninth in the West.

Stars 3 – Hurricanes 2

Dallas’ six-game home losing streak is finally over. Steve Begin and Brendan Morrison scored their first goals as Stars and Marty Turco made 29 saves. Dallas (32-28-8) wins a tiebreaker with Edmonton for seventh out West at the moment. Eric Staal had an assist for the Hurricans (36-28-6) – that’s 11 points in six games for him.

Sabres 3 – Panthers 1

This was a huge win for Buffalo because it brought it within two points of the 9th-place Panthers. Jaroslav Spacek had a goal and an assist, and Patrick Lalime made 30 saves to improve to 3-4-1 since Ryan Miller’s high ankle sprain. The Sabres have won three straight in Buffalo, while the Panthers have lost two in a row.

Flames 6 – Red Wings 5 SO

Shootout tallies from Oli Jokinen and Mike Cammalleri gave the Flames (40-22-6) the decision in this back-and-forth affair in Detroit. The Red Wings (44-15-9) led 4-2 until Calgary scored at 16:38, 17:29 and 18:40 of the third period to take the lead. But Dan Cleary scored 38 seconds later to force overtime. Jokinen’s skills competition goal was the difference; he also scored twice in regulation.

Lightning 4 – Maple Leafs 1

Tampa Bay (22-32-14) was less bad than Toronto (27-29-13) on this night in the Canadian capital. Martin St. Louis, Ryan Malone, Matt Pettinger and Paul Szczechura scored for the Lightning. The Leafs had earned 15 of 22 points over their previous 11 games.

Blues 3 – Sharks 1

The Sharks continued to flounder, dropping to 1-4-1 over their last six outings, Thursday in St. Louis. San Jose (43-13-10) is now second in the Western Conference, while the Blues (31-28-8) are three games over .500 since being 4-1 way back in October. Brad Boyes, Andy MacDonald and Barrett Jackman scored for St. Louis, which is tied for 10th in the West with Minnesota, a single point behind Edmonton/Nashville.

Avalanche 2 – Wild 1 SO

Minnesota left Denver Thursday night with one point, but failing to get a second against last-place Colorado won’t help their playoff push. The Wild (32-28-7) settle for a tie with Nashville for ninth in the Western Conference. The Avalanche outshot Minnesota, 41-17. Colorado (30-37-1) is now 9-1 in shootouts and 2-0 in overtime.

Thrashers 4 – Oilers 3 OT

Former Oiler Marty Reasoner scored with 50 seconds left in overtime to give the Thrashers their fourth straight win and sixth in eight games Thursday in Edmonton. The bad news for Atlanta: an upper body injury for Ilya Kovalchuk, which kept him out after the opening period. The bad news for the Oil (32-27-8) was getting just one point on home ice. They’ve now lost four out of five, including two in a row in overtime. Edmonton, though, remains in the West bracket as the #8 seed.

IN OTHER NEWS…

Two teams made AHL affiliate decisions Thursday. The Canucks extended their agreement with the Manitoba Moose through the 2011-12 season, while the Flames revealed their hopes to move to Abbotsford, British Columbia. That’s significantly closer to Calgary than Quad Cities, Iowa, but it’s a 24-hour bus ride from the closest AHL affiliate, which may make getting approval from league owners difficult.

Alf Pike, a former Ranger player and head coach, died earlier this month at the age of 91. Ninety-five-year-old Clint Smith is now the only living member of the Blueshirts’ 1940 Stanley Cup-winning team.

FRIDAY’S SCHEDULE

Columbus @ Chicago 8:30pm ET
Los Angeles @ Vancouver 10:00pm ET