NHL: Leclaire posts league-best 7th shutout
Columbus hopes a decisive win can get the Blue Jackets out of their recent funk.
Pascal Leclaire made 21 saves for his league-leading seventh shutout and the Blue Jackets beat the visiting Atlanta Thrashers 2-0 on Wednesday night.
“Guys came in and were ready to play and we played a simple game,” said Leclaire, who was credited with an assist on Dan Fritsche’s goal. “If we play that kind of hockey when our stars come back there’s no reason we shouldn’t win a lot of hockey games.”
The Thrashers saw their four-game winning streak snapped in their first visit to Columbus in just more than four years. Ilya Kovalchuk, the league’s top goal scorer with 29, was held to just two shots.
With Rick Nash nursing a sore throat, Fritsche and Jared Boll picked up the scoring for Columbus, which entered having tallied only four goals in the last four games.
Capitals 3, Lightning 2: At Washington, hours after Bruce Boudreau formally got the job he coveted, the Capitals marked the occasion with a feel-good victory.
Matt Bradley scored the tiebreaking goal with 2:53 left, and the Washington ended a three-game skid by beating Tampa Bay.
David Steckel had a goal and two assists for the Capitals, who earlier in the day learned that the team removed the “interim” tag from Boudreau’s title and formally named him the 14th head coach in the history of the franchise.
Sharks 3, Kings 2: At Los Angeles, Milan Michalek scored two goals and San Jose set a club record with its seventh consecutive road victory, handing the Kings their eighth straight loss overall.
Joe Pavelski also scored and Evgeni Nabokov stopped 29 shots as the Sharks began a four-game road trip. The previous club mark for consecutive road wins was Nov. 30-Dec. 19, 2001.
Islanders 4, Maple Leafs 3 (OT): At Uniondale, N.Y., Mike Comrie scored with 9.6 seconds left in overtime, Wade Dubielewicz made 22 saves in relief of injured Rick DiPietro, and New York beat Toronto.
Comrie, who also scored in New York’s three-goal first period, got to a rebound of Richard Park’s shot and put it past Toronto backup Andrew Raycroft shortly after a Maple Leafs power play expired.
Rangers 4, Hurricanes 2: At New York, Jaromir Jagr scored twice to end a goal-scoring slump and Brendan Shanahan set up a pair of power-play goals as the Rangers beat Carolina.
Chris Drury and Dan Girardi also scored for the Rangers, who snapped a three-game losing streak, winning for the third time in the last 11 games.
Stars 8, Wild 3: At Dallas, Brenden Morrow had two goals, Mike Ribeiro matched a career high with his 20th goal and added two assists, and the Stars routed Minnesota.
Dallas’ Mike Modano extended his goal-scoring record for U.S.-born players with the 518th of his career.
Blackhawks 5, Predators 2: At Chicago, Robert Lang scored two goals in the third period and the Blackhawks beat Nashville for their season-high fourth straight win.
Patrick Sharp’s goal was his league-leading seventh short-handed. As a team, the Blackhawks lead the NHL with 12 short-handed goals.
Red Wings 5, Blues 0: At St. Louis, Chris Osgood stopped 20 shots for his 45th career shutout, leading Detroit past the Blues.
Senators 5, Sabres 3: At Buffalo, N.Y., Dany Heatley had a goal and two assists, Martin Gerber made 29 saves and Ottawa beat the Sabres.
Ice chips
Nicklas Lidstrom and the Red Wings have agreed to terms on a new two-year contract that will keep the defenseman in Detroit through the 2009-10 season.