Bruins blow lead, but not the game

BOSTON - David Krejci had his first NHL hat trick, and Phil Kessel scored twice to extend his point streak to an NHL high of 16 games as the Boston Bruins, who nearly blew a four-goal lead, held on to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs last night, 8-5.

Marco Sturm, Marc Savard and Michael Ryder also scored for Boston, which won its 12th consecutive home game and its 12th in 14 games overall.

Boston's Tim Thomas stopped 18 shots but left after two periods with the Bruins leading, 6-5. They had led by 5-1 with just over four minutes gone in the second period.

Manny Fernandez stopped all 13 shots he faced in the third period.

Toronto Vesa Toskala gave up two goals on five shots in the first 4 minutes, 34 seconds and was pulled for Curtis Joseph.

The backup didn't have much more luck, allowing four goals on 10 shots in the second period and another in the third to let Boston take a 7-5 lead on Ryder's goal with 9:18 to play.

Krejci made it 8-5 with 4:16 left, bringing hats from the stands onto the ice.

Pavel Kubina, Alexei Ponikarovsky, Nik Antropov, Mikhail Grabovski and Jason Blake scored for the Leafs.

Toronto 1 4 0 – 5

Boston 2 4 2 – 8

First period:

1, Boston, Sturm 7 (Kobasew, Bergeron), :36. 2, Boston, Krejci 9 (Lucic, Kessel), 4:34 (pp). 3, Toronto, Kubina 6 (Kulemin, Antropov), 7:23 (pp).

Penalties:

Kubina, Tor (tripping), 4:04; Lashoff, Bos (hooking), 6:12; Lucic, Bos (hooking), 12:49; Deveaux, Tor (interference), 15:57; Deveaux, Tor, major (fighting), 19:00; Thornton, Bos, major (fighting), 19:00.

Second period:

4, Boston, Savard 9 (Chara, Axelsson), 1:28 (pp). 5, Boston, Krejci 10 (Wheeler), 2:03. 6, Boston, Kessel 20 (Savard), 4:21. 7, Toronto, Ponikarovsky 9 (Finger, Stempniak), 8:36. 8, Toronto, Antropov 12 (Mitchell, Finger), 9:58. 9, Toronto, Grabovski 11 (Van Ryn, Ponikarovsky), 16:36. 10, Boston, Kessel 21 (Savard, Axelsson), 18:00. 11, Toronto, Blake 6 (Kaberle, Kubina), 19:16 (pp).

Penalties:

Kulemin, Tor (high-sticking), 1:13; Mitchell, Tor, major (fighting), 2:51; Stuart, Bos, major (fighting), 2:51; Ryder, Bos (hooking), 10:18; Thomas, Bos, served by Ryder (holding), 19:02.

Third period:

12, Boston, Ryder 11 (Chara), 10:42 (pp). 13, Boston, Krejci 11 (Savard, Wideman), 15:44 (pp).

Penalties:

Finger, Tor (roughing), 7:45; Savard, Bos (hooking), 7:45; Lucic, Bos (roughing), 7:45; Grabovski, Tor (holding), 10:13; Kulemin, Tor (hooking), 14:19; Finger, Tor (slashing), 14:49.

Shots on goal:

Toronto 8-15-13–36. Boston 11-10-6–27.

Power-play opportunities:

Toronto 2 of 5; Boston 4 of 6.

Goalies:

Toronto, Toskala (11 shots-7 saves), Joseph 0-4-1 (4:34 first, 16-12), Toskala (0:00 third). Boston, Thomas 13-3-3 (23-18), Fernandez (0:00 third, 13-13).

Referees: Paul Devorski, Gord Dwyer.

Linesmen:

Scott Driscoll, Darren Gibbs.

A:

17,565 (17,565).

T:

2:41.

Capitals 4, Blues 2

WASHINGTON - Washington extended its winning streak to five games by beating St. Louis.

Viktor Kozlov had two goals and an assist, and Tomas Fleischmann and Alex Ovechkin also scored for the Capitals, who are 13-1-1 at home.

Simeon Varlamov, summoned from the AHL because Jose Theodore was sidelined, made 29 saves.

St. Louis 0 1 1 – 2

Washington 1 2 1 – 4

First period:

1, Washington, Kozlov 6 (Backstrom), 16:14.

Penalties:

Backstrom, Was (hooking), 5:45.

Second period:

2, St. Louis, Backes 9 (McClement, Jackman), 9:09. 3, Washington, Kozlov 7 (B.Gordon, Poti), 17:06. 4, Washington, Fleischmann 11 (Fehr, Steckel), 17:46.

Penalties:

Backes, StL (hooking), 4:46; Fehr, Was (interference), 6:44; Polak, StL (tripping), 9:31; Strachan, StL (interference), 13:20; Perron, StL (hooking), 20:00.

Third period:

5, Washington, Ovechkin 20 (Kozlov, Semin), :13 (pp). 6, St. Louis, Winchester 3 (Steen, Colaiacovo), 11:34 (pp).

Penalties:

Nylander, Was (holding stick), 5:29; Washington bench, served by Fehr (abuse of officials), 10:25; Junland, StL (tripping), 16:41; Varlamov, Was, served by Fehr (delay of game), 16:54.

Shots on goal:

St. Louis 11-9-11–31. Washington 11-14-4–29.

Power-play opportunities:

St. Louis 1 of 5; Washington 1 of 5.

Goalies:

St. Louis, Bishop 1-1-1 (29 shots-25 saves). Washington, Varlamov 2-0-0 (31-29).

Referees:

Mike Leggo, Kelly Sutherland.

Linesmen:

Steve Barton, Greg Devorski.

A:

18,277 (18,277).

T:

2:22.

Hurricanes 2, Panthers 1

RALEIGH, N.C. - Joe Corvo scored with 43.3 seconds left in overtime to lift Carolina over Florida.

On an exceptional individual effort, Corvo took a feed from Ray Whitney in the high slot and faked to get around David Booth before backhanding the high puck past both Gregory Campbell and goalie Tomas Vokoun.

Justin Williams scored his first goal in nearly 13 months and Whitney had two assists for Carolina.

Florida 0 0 1 0 – 1

Carolina 1 0 0 1 – 2

First period:

1, Carolina, Williams 1 (Whitney, Corvo), 14:52 (pp).

Penalties:

Booth, Fla (holding), 4:27; McCabe, Fla (holding), 10:15; Bouwmeester, Fla (hooking), 14:01.

Second period:

None.

Penalties:

Campbell, Fla, major (fighting), 3:12; Gleason, Car, major (fighting), 3:12; Walker, Car (delay of game), 6:12.

Third period:

2, Florida, Stillman 6 (Kreps), 2:29.

Penalties:

Stillman, Fla (holding), :20; Welch, Fla, major (fighting), 4:06; Sutter, Car, major (fighting), 4:06.

Overtime:

3, Carolina, Corvo 5 (Whitney, Brind'Amour), 4:16.

Penalties:

None.

Shots on goal:

Florida 8-5-6-1–20. Carolina 16-12-7-2–37.

Power-play opportunities:

Florida 0 of 1; Carolina 1 of 4.

Goalies: Florida, Vokoun 6-10-1 (37 shots-35 saves). Carolina, Ward 10-7-3 (20-19)

Referees:

Tom Kowal, Chris Lee.

Linesmen:

Michel Cormier, Andy McElman.

A:

14,533 (18,680).

T:

2:19.

Penguins 6, Thrashers 3

ATLANTA - Evgeni Malkin, the NHL leader with 53 points, had two goals and two assists, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves in his return to the lineup as Pittsburgh trounced Atlanta.

The Penguins were 5-6-2 since Fleury suffered a groin injury on Nov. 15. He kept them in the game as Atlanta held a 31-19 shot advantage.

Pittsburgh 2 3 1 – 6

Atlanta 1 1 1 – 3

First period:

1, Pittsburgh, Cooke 4 (Wallace, Staal), 5:32. 2, Pittsburgh, Malkin 13 (Sykora), 9:40. 3, Atlanta, Reasoner 6 (Kovalchuk, Thorburn), 19:21.

Penalties:

Fedotenko, Pit (boarding), 15:24; Orpik, Pit (roughing), 19:21; Crosby, Pit (roughing), 19:21; Valabik, Atl (roughing), 19:21.

Second period:

4, Pittsburgh, Staal 11 (Malkin, Crosby), 3:30 (pp). 5, Pittsburgh, Satan 12 (Taffe, Fedotenko), 5:54 (pp). 6, Atlanta, Little 12 (White, Kozlov), 7:32 (pp). 7, Pittsburgh, Boucher 2 (Malkin, Sykora), 8:04.

Penalties:

Crabb, Atl (holding), 2:59; Armstrong, Atl (high-sticking), 4:27; Eaton, Pit (hooking), 7:19; Cooke, Pit (high-sticking), 10:30; Slater, Atl (tripping), 13:28.

Third period:

8, Atlanta, Armstrong 7, 14:55. 9, Pittsburgh, Malkin 14 (Crosby, Scuderi), 19:33 (en).

Penalties:

Godard, Pit, 2:52; Armstrong, Atl, 2:52; Malkin, Pit (roughing), 8:17.

Shots on goal:

Pittsburgh 6-9-5–20. Atlanta 9-10-12–31.

Power-play opportunities:

Pittsburgh 2 of 3; Atlanta 1 of 5.

Goalies:

Pittsburgh, Fleury 9-3-2 (31 shots-28 saves). Atlanta, Pavelec 3-6-0 (13-8), Hedberg (8:04 second, 6-6).

Referees:

Chris Rooney, Don Van Massenhoven.

Linesmen:

Brian Murphy, Derek Nansen.

A:

15,124 (18,545). T–2:25.

Red Wings 6, Sharks 0

DETROIT - Ty Conklin made 24 saves in his sixth NHL shutout and Pavel Datsyuk had two goals and two assists to propel Detroit past San Jose.

San Jose has the NHL's best record, but lost for the second straight night. The Sharks fell at Columbus, 2-1, in overtime Wednesday.

Marian Hossa had a goal and an assist, and Johan Franzen, Valtteri Filppula and Brad Stuart also scored.

San Jose 0 0 0 – 0

Detroit 2 1 3 – 6

First period:

1, Detroit, Franzen 14 (Lebda, Draper), 14:31. 2, Detroit, Datsyuk 9 (Kopecky, Hossa), 15:58.

Penalties:

Draper, Det (elbowing), 5:48; Ehrhoff, SJ (hooking), 19:05.

Second period:

3, Detroit, Hossa 17 (Datsyuk, Lebda), 9:18.

Penalties:

Cheechoo, SJ (holding), 2:20; Holmstrom, Det (slashing), 14:53.

Third period:

4, Detroit, Filppula 5 (Cleary, Hudler), 7:25. 5, Detroit, Datsyuk 10, 12:29. 6, Detroit, Stuart 1 (Kronwall, Datsyuk), 16:29.

Penalties:

Marleau, SJ (holding), 11:52; Filppula, Det (holding), 11:52; Blake, SJ (roughing), 13:14.

Shots on goal:

San Jose 9-5-10–24. Detroit 7-9-12–28.

Power-play opportunities:

San Jose 0 of 2; Detroit 0 of 3.

Goalies:

San Jose, Nabokov 17-3-2 (28 shots-22 saves). Detroit, Conklin 9-4-0 (24-24).

Referees:

Marc Joannette, Wes McCauley.

Linesmen:

Derek Amell, Scott Cherrey.

A:

19,507 (20,066).

T:

2:14.

Avalanche 2, Lightning 1

TAMPA, Fla. - Milan Hejduk was awarded the lone goal in a shoot-out when goalie Mike Smith was penalized for throwing his stick, giving Colorado the victory over Tampa Bay.

Smith's stick came loose when he was making a save on Hejduk's backhander. After discussing the play for several minutes, the officials awarded the goal.

Colorado 1 0 0 0 – 2

Tampa Bay 0 1 0 0 – 1

Colorado won shoot-out, 1-0.

First period:

1, Colorado, Stastny 9 (Smyth, Hejduk), 3:46.

Penalties:

Krajicek, TB (hooking), 10:49; Hannan, Col (interference), 13:20.

Second period:

2, Tampa Bay, Halpern 1 (Malik, Meszaros), 7:35.

Penalties:

Krajicek, TB (high-sticking), 10:01; Eminger, TB (holding), 17:07; Malone, TB (delay of game), 18:57; Smyth, Col (interference), 19:39; Malik, TB (holding), 19:56.

Third period:

None.

Penalties:

None.

Overtime:

None.

Penalties:

None.

Shootout:

Colorado 1 (Wolski NG, Hejduk G), Tampa Bay 0 (Jokinen NG, Lecavalier NG, St. Louis NG).

Shots on goal:

Colorado 7-13-13-2–35. Tampa Bay 13-13-9-3–38.

Power-play opportunities:

Colorado 0 of 5; Tampa Bay 0 of 1.

Goalies:

Colorado, Raycroft 5-1-0 (38 shots-37 saves). Tampa Bay, M.Smith 5-11-8 (35-34).

Referees:

Tim Peel, Brian Pochmara.

Linesmen:

David Brisebois, Dan Schachte.

A:

16,333 (19,758).

T:

2:39.

Coyotes 2, Predators 1

GLENDALE, Ariz. - Kyle Turris recorded his first two-goal game as Phoenix beat Nashville.

Ilya Bryzgalov made 30 saves for the Coyotes, who snapped a two-game losing streak.

Vernon Fiddler scored the lone goal for the Predators, who lost for the fourth time in five games.

It was Turris' second two-point game in the NHL and first since he had a goal and an assist in the Coyotes' second game of the season Oct. 12 at Anaheim.

Phoenix 1 0 1 – 2

First period:

1, Phoenix, Turris 4 (Jovanovski), 19:50.

Penalties:

Dumont, Nas (hooking), :46; Bonk, Nas (interference), 17:56; Boedker, Pho (interference), 18:21.

Second period:

2, Nashville, Fiddler 4 (Peverley, Weber), 9:57.

Penalties:

Klee, Pho (unsportsmanlike conduct, interference), 4:16.

Third period:

3, Phoenix, Turris 5 (Lisin, Michalek), 10:02.

Penalties:

None.

Shots on Goal:

Nashville 6-14-11–31. Phoenix 7-12-8–27.

Power-play opportunities

: Nashville 0 of 3; Phoenix 0 of 2.

Goalies:

Nashville, Ellis 9-12-3 (27 shots-25 saves). Phoenix, Bryzgalov 11-11-3 (31-30).

Referees:

Bill McCreary, Ian Walsh.

Linesmen:

Tim Nowak, Vaughan Rody.

A:

14,193 (17,125). T–2:24.