NHL: Staal leads Penguins past Thrashers

Jordan Staal was credited with the fluky winning goal with 9:41 to play to lift the Pittsburgh Penguins past the Atlanta Thrashers 2-1 Saturday in Pittsburgh.

Backup goalie Jocelyn Thibault stopped 25 of 26 shots and Michel Ouellet also scored for the Penguins, who snapped a two-game losing streak and kept pressure on New Jersey in the Atlantic Division.

Ryan Malone dumped the puck into the corner, and Staal was trying to move it along behind the net while he was tied up with Atlanta defenseman Greg de Vries. The puck squirted toward the net and found a way to bounce off the outside of the goal post and the back of Thrashers’ goalie Kari Lehtonen’s skate and into the net.

Devils 4, Panthers 3 (SO): At Sunrise, Fla., Travis Zajac scored the winning goal in a shootout and New Jersey broke a season-high, three-game losing skid with a win over Florida.

Rangers 2, Bruins 1 (SO): At Boston, Thomas Pock scored with 100 seconds left to send the game into overtime and Henrik Lundqvist stopped 40 shots as New York rallied to beat Boston.

Michael Nylander and Jaromir Jagr assisted on Pock’s goal and also scored in the shootout.

Islanders 4, Flyers 3: At Philadelphia, Andy Hilbert scored the decisive goal with less than 5 minutes remaining and New York defeated Philadelphia.

Hilbert broke a 3-3 tie when he redirected Marc-Andre Bergeron’s backhand pass into the net for his eighth goal at 15:20 of the third period.

Blues 3, Red Wings 2 (SO): At Detroit, Doug Weight scored the only goal in the shootout – with the help of a replay review – and St. Louis beat Detroit.

Weight’s goal was first called a save by Dominik Hasek, but it was overturned by a review.

Wild 4, Kings 1: At St. Paul, Minn., third-string goalie Josh Harding turned in another strong performance to help Minnesota beat Los Angeles and stretch its franchise-best winning streak to nine games.

Hurricanes 6, Sharks 4: At Raleigh, N.C., Cam Ward made the most of his first start in goal in nearly two weeks and Andrew Ladd scored twice, helping Carolina beat San Jose.

Ray Whitney, Erik Cole, Eric Staal and Cory Stillman also had goals for the Hurricanes.

Maple Leafs 4, Sabres 1: At Toronto, Darcy Tucker scored twice and Toronto rebounded from a loss, beating Buffalo and earning a split of the home-and-home series with the Sabres.

Canadiens 4, Capitals 1: At Montreal, Alex Kovalev had his first two-goal game of the season and Jaroslav Halak made 27 saves to win his fourth straight start and help Montreal defeat Washington.

Tomas Plekanec and Michael Ryder also scored for Montreal.

Senators 7, Lightning 2: At Tampa, Fla., Dany Heatley had two goals and an assist to lead Ottawa past Tampa Bay.

Joseph Corvo, Daniel Alfredsson, Christoph Schubert, Patrick Eaves and Dean McAmmond also scored for Ottawa.

Predators 4, Oilers 0: At Edmonton, Alberta, Tomas Vokoun made 26 saves for his fifth shutout of the season to help Nashville snap a two-game losing skid with a victory over Edmonton.

Stars 4, Coyotes 3 (SO): At Glendale, Ariz., Jere Lehtinen scored the only shootout goal in the seventh round and Dallas rallied from a three-goal deficit to beat Phoenix.

Marty Turco made 24 saves in regulation and overtime and stopped all seven shootout attempts he faced for the Stars.