Boston @ Montreal 4-1 - The Boston Bruins snapped a five-game losing streak against their arch rivals Wednesday with a 4-1 win against the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre. Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask made 35 saves for his third win in 15 career starts against the Canadiens. Boston (43-17-5) received a goal each from Milan Lucic, Carl Soderberg, Patrice Bergeron, and Zdeno Chara, giving the Bruins 26 goals with 10 against over the course of their season-high six-game winning streak. It pulled them within a point of the Eastern Conference-leading Pittsburgh Penguins, with each team having 17 games remaining on the schedule, none against each other. David Desharnais scored on Montreal's 30th shot of the game with the score 4-0 to break Rask's shutout at 2:46 of the third period. NHL Trade Deadline acquisition Thomas Vanek had an assist, his first point in his third game with the Canadiens. Montreal (35-25-7) lost its third in a row and fourth in five games, squandering a game in hand on the Toronto Maple Leafs, who are one point ahead in second place in the Atlantic Division standings. The Canadiens have scored seven goals in five games. In an effort to spark the offense, coach Michel Therrien shuffled his forward lines in the third period, something that may lead to further changes when Montreal plays a back-to-back this weekend against the Ottawa Senators at home Saturday and the Buffalo Sabres on the road Sunday. Montreal outshot Boston 36-32, becoming the third team to do that to the Bruins in their past 20 games, but not enough of those shots found their past Rask. Goalie Peter Budaj got the start for the Canadiens largely based on his 4-1-0 record against the Bruins, but he continued to struggle in the starting role with Carey Price missing his eighth straight game with a lower-body injury he aggravated playing for Canada at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Budaj's record since the return from the Olympic break is 2-4-1 with a save percentage of .869 in seven starts. The win was the Bruins' first against the Canadiens since a 2-1 victory here on Feb. 6, 2013, which was Boston's fifth in a row against Montreal. Now it's the Bruins who snapped the Canadiens' five-game winning streak against them. Early on, it looked as though that streak may continue. The Canadiens controlled the play in the first period, but were unable to beat Rask. Montreal outshot Boston 14-6, with three of those Bruins shots coming on one power play. Rask was particularly good stopping Max Pacioretty on a clean breakaway at 8:35 with a quick pad save on a snap shot from the slot, and the goalie stopped an Alex Galchenyuk breakaway about eight minutes later. It was a different story in the second period, when Boston came out with a clear purpose and took the game to Montreal. It paid off at 1:33 when Soderberg took advantage of a Jarred Tinordi miscue to get the puck all alone in front of Budaj, scoring his 12th goal of the season. Soderberg, Boston's third-line center, has four goals and five assists in his past nine games. The Canadiens got behind the Bruins a third time just before the midway point of the second period, but Tomas Plekanec's shot went well wide. Moments later, Canadiens defenseman Andrei Markov fell at the Boston blue line to create a Bruins 3-on-1, one Bergeron finished off a feed from Brad Marchand at 9:25 to make it 2-0. Lucic made it 3-0 at 18:32 of the second, hitting Montreal defenseman Alexei Emelin in the Boston end to create a turnover, then hustling up the ice to take a Jarome Iginla pass and one-time a shot past Budaj. Lucic has scored at least 20 goals in each of his past three complete seasons. Chara made it 4-0 on the first shift of the third period, collecting a rebound of his shot to beat Budaj at 0:23.
Vancouver @ Winnipeg 3-2 SO - The Vancouver Canucks gave their hopes for a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs a boost Wednesday night by beating the Winnipeg Jets 3-2 in a shootout, though the victory may have come at a big cost. Chris Higgins scored the only goal in the tiebreaker, beating Ondrej Pavelec in the third round to end the game. Alexandre Burrows scored twice in regulation after going without a goal in his first 35 games this season. The win moved the Canucks (30-28-10) one point ahead of Winnipeg (30-28-9) in the Western Conference standings and within four points of the Dallas Stars for the second Western Conference wild-card spot in the race for the Stanley Cup Playoffs; however, Dallas has three games in hand on the Canucks. But the Canucks lost their top goal-scorer, center Ryan Kesler, for the rest of their four-game road trip after a knee-on-knee collision with Winnipeg's Jim Slater late in the second period. He didn't return, and Canucks coach John Tortorella said that Kesler will be sent back to Vancouver for further evaluation and will miss games against the Washington Capitals, Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning. The Jets, who have one game in hand on the Canucks, are 0-3-2 in their past five games. Burrows broke a 40-game regular-season scoreless streak with his first goals since April 15, 2013. His last goal of any kind came May 7, 2013, during the Canucks' first-round series against the San Jose Sharks. Burrows enabled the Canucks to overcome a pair of one-goal Winnipeg leads. He tied the game 1-1 late in the second period and then forced overtime when he batted a puck out of the air and past Pavelec with 8:43 left in regulation. The Canucks arrived in Winnipeg off a 7-4 home loss the New York Islanders on Monday in which they surrendered a 3-0 lead and allowed seven third-period goals, and they owned two wins in their past 10 games. The game Wednesday began a four-game road trip for the Canucks, who will play three games in four nights beginning Friday against the Capitals. Tortorella started Eddie Lack, who was in net for six of the Islanders' seven goals, and the rookie goaltender rebounded with 32 saves, including 15 in the third period. He also stopped all three Winnipeg attempts in the shootout. Pavelec returned after a one-game absence and made 31 saves. Andrew Ladd and Michael Frolik scored for the Jets. Jets coach Paul Maurice admitted that his team must guard against frustration taking over the dressing room. The 11-3-1 run that followed the hiring of Maurice on Jan. 12 has given way to two wins in nine games as they begin to fade down the stretch. Blake Wheeler, who leads the Jets with 23 goals, has scored once in the past 10 games. Evander Kane not scored in 10 games and missed a penalty-shot attempt in the second period that could have given the Jets a 2-0 lead. Ladd's 18th of the season opened the scoring 3:48 into the second period. Bryan Little sped down the right boards and sent a pass into the slot that Ladd snapped high over Lack. The Jets had an opportunity to go up by two midway through the period when Kane was awarded a penalty shot, but he failed to beat Lack. That failure cost the Jets when Burrows tied the game at 15:38, sweeping the rebound of Jason Garrison's point shot off a right-circle draw past Pavelec. Frolik broke the 1-1 tie 2:18 of the third period with his 13th goal, taking a centering pass from Olli Jokinen and backhanding a shot past Lack. After Frolik's goal, Burrows went to work to tie the game. After the game, Tortorella praised Burrows' persistence through his scoring drought. Tortorella is looking for more goals down the stretch from a team ranked 28th in offense with 2.29 goals per game. This season has contained one controversy after another for the Canucks, and the team has come under heavy pressure in Vancouver. Along with Burrows, Lack also found a respite from the turmoil surrounding his third period against the Islanders.
Anaheim @ Calgary 2-7 - The Anaheim Sucks learned the hard way that the Calgary Flames still feel they have plenty to play for. Calgary scored three times on its first five shots and rolled to a 7-2 victory against the Pacific Division-leading Ducks on Tuesday night. The rebuilding Flames, 13th in the Western Conference and 26th in the overall standings, snapped a two-game losing skid and extended their recent improvement on home ice; Calgary has won seven of its past 10 at Scotiabank Saddledome. The Ducks (43-16-7) appeared to be in control of its own fate in their quest for the franchise's first Presidents' Trophy before a four-game losing streak in March that has allowed the St. Louis Blues to pass them. In addition, the Ducks' once-safe division lead over the San Jose Sharks has shrunk to two points. Calgary (26-33-7) wasted little time extending Anaheim's struggles by getting to Jonas Hiller early. Mark Giordano stepped into a slap shot from the point that clipped the stick of Anaheim forward Kyle Palmieri and deflected up over Hiller's glove 3:39 after the opening puck drop. It was Giordano's 11th goal, matching the career high he set in 2009-10, and came on Calgary's first shot of the game. Hiller denied Mikael Backlund's shorthanded 2-on-1 chance on the Flames' second shot but wasn't as fortunate on the third, a TJ Galiardi's tap-in on a pass from Paul Byron's 3-on-1 setup while Calgary was still down a man to extend the lead to 2-0 at 7:10. Mike Cammalleri's power-play goal at 11:28 made it 3-0 and sent Hiller to the bench in favor of rookie Frederik Andersen. He didn't fare any better. With Byron driving to the net, Backlund centered a pass that redirected off Ducks defenseman Francois Beauchemin and over Andersen's pad to extend Calgary's lead to four with 6:32 remaining in the period. The Flames' first four-goal period of the season was met with a standing ovation from those in attendance as the team departed down the tunnel for the first intermission. The cheers resumed when Backlund added a second shorthanded goal, his 15th goal of the season, 1:31 into the second period. He snapped a shot through Andersen's legs to put the Flames up 5-0. Calgary leads the NHL with 11 shorthanded goals. Cogliano got the Ducks on the board at 11:30, taking a pass off the stick of Jakob Silfverberg from below the goal line and beating Joni Ortio. But with 1:11 remaining in the period, defenseman Ladislav Smid made it 6-1 with his first goal as a member of the Flames. Byron's attempt to drive to the net was denied by Andersen, but he corralled the rebound and spotted Smid alone in the slot. The veteran defenseman found the back of the net for his second of the season and first since Oct. 22nd, a span of 55 games. Nick Bonino beat Ortio to the blocker side at 7:45 of the third, but rookie Corban Knight scored his first NHL goal with 1:53 remaining to give the sellout crowd one more thing to cheer about.
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