Savard leads streaking Bruins over Penguins

Marc Savard scored a power-play goal, then set up Boston's next two goals, and the Bruins ran their longest winning streak in nearly 26 years to nine games by beating the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-2 last night.

Savard had his usual big game in Pittsburgh, and Dennis Wideman had a goal and two assists as the Eastern Conference-leading Bruins improved to 23-2-1 in their last 26 games, outscoring opponents by 106-51.

Boston, which barely made the playoffs last season, hasn't had a run like this since the Barry Pederson-Ray Bourque-led 1982-83 team won nine in a row in January, tied one, then won their next five. These Bruins are 14-1 since Thanksgiving and have won their last five on the road.

Tim Thomas stopped 32 shots to win his seventh game in a row.

In other games:

* At Detroit, Ty Conklin made 36 saves for his seventh NHL shutout, and Johan Franzen scored twice to lift the Red Wings to a 4-0 win that snapped the Chicago Blackhawks' franchise-record, nine-game winning streak.

Pavel Datsyuk added a goal and an assist, Tomas Kopecky scored his second of the season, and Brian Rafalski and Niklas Kronwall each had two assists in the Red Wings' 700th game against the Blackhawks.

Nikolai Khabibulin stopped 35 shots for Chicago in the start of a home-and-home series that will conclude tomorrow outdoors at Wrigley Field in the NHL's 2nd annual Winter Classic.

* At St. Louis, Zach Parise scored twice and the New Jersey Devils earned their fifth win in seven games by beating the Blues 4-3.

New Jersey took a 1-0 lead on its first shot just 1:02 into the game when Parise skated in alone on the left wing and beat goalie Manny Legace through the pads. Parise scored his second goal late in the second period, his team-leading 21st of the season.

* At Buffalo, Nicklas Backstrom had a goal and assist, and Jose Theodore made 31 saves to help the surging Washington Capitals beat the Sabres 4-2.

Chris Bourque, 22-year-old son of Hall of Fame defenseman Ray Bourque, netted his first NHL goal for the Caps (24-11-3), who won for the ninth time in 10 games.

* At Toronto, Curtis Joseph made 29 saves to earn his first win of the season and the 450th victory of his career and the Maple Leafs rallied to beat the Atlanta Thrashers 4-3 in overtime.

Pavel Kubina scored the winner on a power play 33 seconds into OT to help the Leafs end a three-game losing streak.

* At Tampa, Maxim Lapierre scored the winning shootout goal, and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1.

* At Edmonton, Daniel Alfredsson had a goal and an assist and Brian Lee scored a third-period, power-play goal to lead the Ottawa Senators over the Oilers, 3-2. *