Maple Leafs lose seventh straight game
Thomas Vanek scored twice and the Buffalo Sabres handed the Maple Leafs their seventh straight loss with an 8-4 victory on Thursday night in Toronto.
Alex Steen scored twice for the Maple Leafs – mired in their longest losing streak since dropping seven in a row in January 1997.
Chris Drury, Johan Hecht, Derek Roy, Brian Campbell, Jason Pominville and Jay McKee also scored for the Sabres.
Fans booed goalie Ed Belfour after Vanek scored Buffalo’s fourth goal early in the second period. Coach Pat Quinn replaced Belfour with Mikael Tellqvist.
Hurricanes 5, Thrashers 1: At Atlanta, Niclas Wallin scored on a deflection 16 seconds into the third period and Carolina pulled away for a win over Atlanta.
Stars 3, Avalanche 2 (SO): At Denver, Sergei Zubov and Jussi Jokinen scored shootout goals to lift Dallas to a victory over Colorado.
Lightning 1, Devils 0 (OT): At Tampa, Fla., Ruslan Fedotenko scored with 2:38 left in overtime, giving Tampa Bay a victory over New Jersey.
Red Wings 2, Canucks 1: At Detroit, Brendan Shanahan’s power-play goal with 7 minutes left gave Detroit a win over Vancouver. Detroit snapped a two-game losing streak, while Vancouver lost its third in a row.
Oilers 5, Kings 3: At Los Angeles, Raffi Torres scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and Ethan Moreau got a short-handed goal less than 2 minutes later as Edmonton beat Los Angeles.
Senators 3, Canadiens 0: At Ottawa, Daniel Alfredsson had two goals and an assist and Dominik Hasek recorded his fifth shutout, leading Ottawa to a win over Montreal as the Canadiens tied a franchise record by being held to 12 shots.
Blackhawks 2, Flames 0: At Chicago, rookie goalie Adam Munro stopped 26 shots to earn his first NHL shutout and Chicago defeated Calgary. The Flames have lost two straight following a four-game winning streak.
Bruins 3, Capitals 2: At Boston, Marco Sturm scored in the third period to lift Boston to a victory over Washington. The Bruins won their third straight and reached the .500 mark for the first time since Nov. 12.
Wild 5, Predators 1: At St. Paul, Minn., Alexandre Daigle and Stephane Veilleux each had a goal and an assist to lead Minnesota past Nashville, the Wild’s fifth win in a row.
Mighty Ducks 2, Sharks 0: At San Jose, Calif., rookie Ilya Bryzgalov made 24 saves for his first NHL shutout, and Andy McDonald and Joffrey Lupul scored in Anaheim’s victory over San Jose.
Coyotes 5, Blues 3: At St. Louis, Oleg Saprykin scored two goals in the third period and Phoenix rallied to beat St. Louis.
Islanders 4, Penguins 3 (SO): At Uniondale, N.Y., Alexei Yashin had a goal and recorded his 400th NHL assist and backup Wade Dubielewicz stopped all three Pittsburgh skaters in the shootout, lifting New York to a victory over the Penguins.
Off the ice
Edmonton improved its defense by making two trades, acquiring Jaroslav Spacek from Chicago and Dick Tarnstrom from Pittsburgh. Oilers general manager Kevin Lowe first sent forward Jani Rita and defenseman Cory Cross to Pittsburgh for Tarnstrom, then shipped left wing Tony Salmelainen to Chicago for Spacek. … Peter Forsberg will miss at least two games with a slight tear in his left groin, a recurring injury that sidelined Philadelphia’s star center two games last week.