Toews injured during Blackhawks' victory

THE BOSTON Bruins got their captain back on the ice for the first time in 7 weeks.

The Chicago Blackhawks lost theirs, and they hope he won't be gone much at all.

The visiting Blackhawks beat the Bruins last night, 3-2, for their eighth consecutive victory, a win that was tempered by the loss of forward Jonathan Toews. Chicago's captain and No. 2 scorer left the game after Dennis Seidenberg came up behind him, hit him on the back of the shoulder and sent him face-first into the boards in the second period.

"Dangerous. Tight area. Strong guy," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "He seemed all right. We'll see how he is tomorrow, but it looks like he's going to be all right."

Seidenberg said he was aiming for the shoulder and had no intent to injure Toews, who was the MVP of the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs. A two-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time NHL champion, Toews has 11 goals and 12 assists in 28 games this season.

"It was unfortunate how he went into the boards," said Seidenberg, who waited in the hallway outside the Blackhawks dressing room after the game to shake hands with alternate captain Patrick Sharp.

"I try to be clean," Seidenberg told reporters. "I would never want to hurt anyone."

Scott Darling made 32 saves for the Blackhawks, who have won 11 of their last 12 games and lost just twice in the past month.

The Bruins have lost four of their last five games and six of eight. They were boosted by the return of captain Zdeno Chara, who missed 7 weeks with a torn ligament in his left knee. But they couldn't take advantage of the 6-9 defenseman's presence.

* At Buffalo, Matt Moulson scored twice and Jhonas Enroth stopped 42 shots as the Sabres beat the Calgary Flames, 4-3.

Zemgus Girgensons and Marcus Foligno also scored for the Sabres, while Tyler Ennis had three assists.

Mark Giordano, Sean Monahan and David Jones scored for Calgary, which outshot Buffalo 45-19.

* At St. Louis, Alexander Steen scored two goals, and Jake Allen made 25 saves in the Blues' 6-3 win against the New York Islanders.

* At Tampa, Nikita Kucherov scored a pair of goals in the third period, and the Lightning beat the Carolina Hurricanes, 2-1.

Kucherov scored the winner when his pass went off Carolina defenseman Ron Hainsey and into the net with 30.3 seconds to play.

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.

* At Ottawa, Trevor Lewis' goal at 4:02 of the third period held up as the winner as Los Angeles won, 5-3, 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.

* At Washington, Nick Foligno scored a power-play goal at 4:41 of overtime, Sergei Bobrovsky had 39 saves, and the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Capitals, 3-2, for their fifth straight victory.

* At Glendale, Ariz., Pekka Rinne made 31 saves in Nashville's 5-1 victory over the Arizona Coyotes.

* At Denver, the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Winnipeg Jets in a shootout, 4-3.

* Dallas Stars forward Ryan Garbutt was suspended for three games by the NHL for slew-footing Winnipeg Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien. Garbutt is considered a repeat offender and will lose $65,854 in salary.

Garbutt was assessed a minor penalty for tripping. The league said the forward was subject to further punishment because he kicked out Byfuglien's skates while using his stick to yank Byfuglien's upper body backward.

* The Anaheim Ducks activated goalie Jason LaBarbera and assigned forward Dany Heatley to the AHL on a long-term injury conditioning loan. Heatley has missed the last 13 games with a groin injury that required surgery.