Buffalo matches best start in franchise history

Chris Drury scored two power-play goals and the Buffalo Sabres improved to 8-0 to match their franchise best start, beating the Boston Bruins 6-2 on Saturday night in Boston.

Jason Pominville and Maxim Afinogenov scored 1:39 apart early in the second period to open a 4-1 lead for the Sabres, who matched the 1975 club record for consecutive victories to start a season. Buffalo has also won a franchise-record 13 straight in the regular season.

Senators 8, Devils 1: At Ottawa, Antoine Vermette and Dean McAmmond each scored two goals to help Ottawa rout New Jersey for their first victory in six homes games this season.

Jason Spezza added a goal and two assists, and Dany Heatley, Joe Corvo and Tom Preissing also scored for the Senators.

Thrashers 4, Panthers 2: At Atlanta, Ilya Kovalchuk broke out of his slump with two goals, Marian Hossa scored on a penalty shot and Atlanta kept up the best start in franchise history by beating Florida.

Lightning 6, Capitals 4: At Washington, Martin St. Louis and Nikita Alexeev scored 22 seconds apart during a three-goal second period that carried Tampa Bay past Washington.

Islanders 4, Hurricanes 3 (OT): At Uniondale, N.Y., Tom Poti scored New York’s third power-play goal 23 seconds into overtime, capping the Islanders’ rally in victory over Carolina Hurricanes.

Canadiens 8, Avalanche 5: At Montreal, Sheldon Souray had two goals and two assists and Chris Higgins scored Montreal’s fourth power-play goal midway through the third, leading Montreal to a win over Colorado.

Rangers 5, Maple Leafs 4 (SO): At Toronto, Brendan Shanahan scored the only goal of the shootout and added his eighth goal of the season in regulation to lead New York over Toronto.

Penguins 5, Blue Jackets 3: At Pittsburgh, Evgeni Malkin scored for the third straight game, leading Pittsburgh to a victory against Columbus.

Canucks 4, Predators 3 (OT): At Nashville, Tenn., Lukas Krajicek’s first goal of the season lifted Vancouver to a victory in overtime over Nashville.

Jan Bulis, Taylor Pyatt, and Brendan Morrison scored for Vancouver.

Blues 4, Blackhawks 3: At Chicago, Lee Stempniak scored twice and assisted on Petr Cajanek’s tie-breaking goal early in the third period to help St. Louis beat Chicago.

Stars 4, Coyotes 0: At Glendale, Ariz., Dallas goalie Mike Smith shut out Phoenix in his NHL debut, stopping 22 shots a Dallas victory.

Mike Ribiero, Mike Modano, Phillipe Boucher and Darryl Sydor each scored for the Stars.

Oilers 3, Red Wings 1: At Edmonton, Alberta, Petr Sykora and Joffrey Lupul scored on breakaways late in the third period to lead Edmonton to victory over Detroit.

Dwayne Roloson made 26 saves for the Oilers.

Wild 4, Sharks 1: At San Jose, Calif., Wes Walz and Stephane Veilleux each had a goal and an assist to help Minnesota beat San Jose.

Manny Fernandez made 31 saves for Minnesota.