SPORTS SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2014 Blackhawks edge past Bruins

BOSTON: Ben Smith assisted on the Blackhawks’ first and T.J. Oshie and Paul Stastny added insurance goals at 15:47 and scored their second to lead Chicago to its eighth consecutive vic- 17:48. Kyle Okposo scored his sixth goal for New York at 18:16, NHL results/standings tory, 3-2 over the on Thursday night. before Jaden Schwartz ended any hopes of a comeback with an The Blackhawks lost captain and No. 2 scorer Jonathan Toews empty-net goal at 18:56. Chicago 3, Boston 2; Buffalo 4, Calgary 3; Philadelphia 4, in the second period when Dennis Seidenberg hit him from After surrendering just four goals during a three game win- New Jersey 1; Columbus 3, Washington 2 (OT); Los behind and sent him face-first into the boards. ning streak, the Islanders have given up 17 during their skid - Angeles 5, Ottawa 3; Tampa Bay 2, Carolina 1; St. Louis 6, Scott Darling made 32 saves for the Blackhawks, who have including six twice to the Blues. The Islanders tied it with a pair of NY Islanders 3; Colorado 4, Winnipeg 3 (SO); Nashville 5, won 11 of 12 and lost just twice in the past month. goals late in the second period. John Tavares scored his 12th goal Arizona 1; San Jose 2, Minnesota 1. stopped 18 shots for Boston. The Bruins have lost four of five and of the season at 16:03 to put the Islanders on the board. Mikhail six out of eight. Reilly Smith and Torey Klug scored for Boston. Grabovski’s unassisted goal at 19:55 tied it. The Bruins were boosted by the return of captain Zdeno Western Conference Chara, who missed seven weeks with a torn ligament in his left PREDATORS 5, COYOTES 1 Pacific Division knee. Klas Dahlbeck and Patrick Kane also scored for Chicago, and James Neal had a goal and an assist, Pekka Rinne stopped 31 W L OTL GF GA PTS Marcus Kruger had a pair of assists as the Blackhawks opened a 3- shots for his NHL-best 19th win, and Nashville sent slumping Anaheim 19 6 5 87 80 43 0 lead midway through the second period. Arizona to its eighth straight loss. Vancouver 18 9 2 88 81 38 Mike Fisher, , Calle Jarnkrok and Olli Jokinen also Calgary 17 11 2 93 80 36 FLYERS 4, DEVILS 1 scored in the Predators’ second consecutive win. Mike Ribeiro San Jose 16 11 4 88 82 36 Matt Read and Sean Couturier each had a goal and an assist to added his team-best 17th assist in a boo-filled return to Arizona Los Angeles 15 9 5 77 63 35 lead Philadelphia over New Jersey. Wayne Simmonds added a following a summer contract buyout. ’s goal Arizona 10 16 3 67 95 23 power-play goal for the Flyers, and Jakub Voracek scored an emp- early in the first period was the only blemish for Rinne, who Edmonton 7 17 5 63 98 19 ty-netter late in the third period to seal the win. improved to 19-5-1. Central Division Martin Havlat scored for the Devils. The Flyers opened a four- Mike Smith had 33 saves as Arizona extended its longest home Chicago 20 8 1 91 57 41 game homestand with a needed win after dropping four of five skid since the team moved from Winnipeg in 1996. The Coyotes Nashville 19 7 2 78 55 40 on the road. Three of the four losses were by one goal. have lost four straight overall and nine of 11. St. Louis 19 8 2 86 68 40 The Devils have lost two straight. With Steve Mason 0-5 Winnipeg 15 9 6 72 70 36 against the Devils, Ray Emery got the start for the Flyers. Emery AVALANCHE 4, JETS 3 Minnesota 15 11 1 77 67 31 was 0-4 with a 4.12 GAA in his last four starts. But he was hardly Matt Duchene had a goal and an assist in regulation and tested against the Devils and earned his fifth win. scored the decisive goal in the shootout, Calvin Pickard had 30 Colorado 10 13 6 76 95 26 saves through overtime, and stopped two more shots with the Dallas 10 13 5 81 100 25 SABRES 4, FLAMES 3 game on the line as Colorado rallied to beat Winnipeg. Eastern Conference scored twice and Jhonas Enroth stopped 42 Ryan O’Reilly and Jarome Iginla also had regulation goals for Atlantic Division shots as Buffalo beat Calgary. Zemgus Girgnsons and Marcus Colorado, which snapped a four-game skid. Mark Scheifele, who Tampa Bay 19 8 3 103 78 41 Foligno also scored for the Sabres, and Tyler Ennis had three had a goal and two assists, gave Winnipeg a 3-1 lead at 4:32 of Detroit 17 6 6 89 72 40 assists. Moulson’s second of the game, on a pass from Ennis with the third, but Iginla’s wrister with 7:05 left got the Avalanche Montreal 18 10 2 77 77 38 7:29 to go, broke the 3-all tie and gave the Sabres their second within a goal. O’Reilly tied it with 2:42 remaining in regulation. Toronto 16 9 3 95 81 35 straight win. Mark Giordano, Sean Monahan and David Jones After a scoreless overtime, Nathan MacKinnon and Duchene beat Boston 15 13 1 74 75 31 scored for Calgary, which outshot Buffalo 45-19. The Sabres have goalie Ondrej Pavelec with a couple of backhanders. Pickard Florida 11 8 7 58 68 29 won four straight at home, and are 4-4 against the Pacific stopped Mathieu Perreault and Blake Wheeler in the shootout to Ottawa 11 12 5 73 79 27 Division. get the win. Buffalo 11 16 2 52 88 24 Metropolitan Division BLUE JACKETS 3, CAPITALS 2 SHARKS 2, WILD 1 Pittsburgh 18 6 3 88 64 39 Nick Foligno scored a power-play goal at 4:41 of overtime, Joe Pavelski scored the tiebreaking goal early in the third peri- NY Islanders 19 10 0 93 85 38 Sergei Bobrovsky had 39 saves, and Columbus topped od and Alex Stalock made 18 saves against his hometown team Washington 13 10 5 81 77 31 Washington for its fifth straight victory. to lead the San Jose to its seventh win in eight games, beating NY Rangers 12 10 4 77 76 28 With Jason Chimera in the box for interference, Minnesota. Brent Burns also scored and Joe Thornton had two Foligno put a slap shot from the right circle past goalie Braden assists for the Sharks, who have won five straight at home after a New Jersey 11 14 5 69 87 27 Holtby to give the Blue Jackets their only lead of the game. It was slow start at the Shark Tank. Christian Folin scored his first career Philadelphia 10 13 5 74 86 25 Foligno’s second goal of the game and team-high 13th of the sea- goal to tie it just 45 seconds before Pavelski’s goal, and the Wild Columbus 11 15 2 67 92 24 son. Kevin Connauton also scored for Columbus. Washington fin- lost for the 10th time in 11 games in San Jose. Darcy Kuemper Carolina 8 17 3 60 78 19 ished with a 41-23 advantage in shots, but Bobrovsky was the made 28 saves. After the teams combined for just one goal in the Note: Overtime losses (OTL) are worth one point in the equalizer. Eric Fehr and Troy Brouwer had goals for the Capitals, first 40 minutes, they each scored once in the opening 2 minutes standings and are not included in the loss column (L). whose three-game winning streak ended. of the third period. — AP

LIGHTNING 2, HURRICANES 1 Nikita Kucherov scored a pair of goals in the third period to lift Tampa Bay over Carolina. Kucherov scored the winner when his pass went off Carolina defenseman Ron Hainsey and into the net with 30.3 seconds to play. Lightning backup Evgeni Nabokov made 29 saves in his 353rd NHL victory, two away from tying Rogie Vachon for 17th place on the league’s career list. Justin Faulk scored for the Hurricanes, who have scored four goals during a four-game losing streak. Cam Ward stopped 25 shots.

KINGS 5, SENATORS 3 Trevor Lewis’ goal at 4:02 of the third period held up as the winner as Los Angeles beat Ottawa in Dave Cameron’s first game as Senators head coach. Cameron was promoted on Monday by Ottawa after Paul MacLean was fired. Matt Greene, Justin Williams, Anze Kopitar and Tanner Pearson also scored for the Kings. Jake Muzzin had three assists, and Jonathan Quick made 32 saves. Bobby Ryan, Mark Stone and Jared Cowen scored for the Senators (11-12-5). Craig Anderson stopped 31 shots. Trailing 2-1, the Senators got off to a solid start in the third period to tie the game, but in less than two minutes the Kings regained a two-goal lead. With 1:21 remaining, Cowen got a shot through traffic that eluded Quick, but Pearson scored into an empty net for his 11th goal of the season.

BLUES 6, ISLANDERS 3 NEW YORK: In this Oct. 13, 2010, file photo, ’ Cody McCormick (right) fights with New Jersey Devils’ Mark Alexander Steen scored two goals, and Jake Allen made 25 Fraser during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Buffalo. Fighting has been a part of the NHL for about as long as saves in St. Louis’ win against the suddenly slumping New York the sport has existed. The NHL has toughened penalties and imposed longer suspensions for cheap shots, undercutting Islanders. Steen’s goal at 4:34 of the third period broke a 2-2 tie. the players’ unwritten code of justice. — AP