Bruins win fifth straight
Tim Thomas stopped 27 shots, Marco Sturm scored twice to reach 200 NHL goals Thursday night and the Boston Bruins beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-1 at Boston to earn their fifth consecutive victory.
Two nights after shutting out the Ottawa Senators, Thomas held the Penguins scoreless until Pascal Dupuis beat him with 6:57 left in the game. Zdeno Chara, P.J. Axelsson and David Krejci also scored for Boston.
Flyers 3, Senators 1: At Philadelphia, Mike Knuble and Scottie Upshall scored to spoil Bryan Murray’s return behind the Ottawa bench and lead the Flyers to a win over the Senators.
Islanders 5, Thrashers 4 (OT): At Atlanta, Trent Hunter scored off a faceoff in overtime and New York recovered after blowing a three-goal lead to beat the slumping Thrashers.
Rangers 4, Hurricanes 2: At Raleigh, N.C., Brandon Dubinsky and Sean Avery scored first-period goals to lift New York to a win over Carolina, the Rangers’ third straight victory and sixth in eight games.
Stars 7, Blackhawks 4: At Dallas, Brad Richards had a career-high five points – all on assists – in his Stars debut, setting up new linemate Niklas Hagman’s first NHL hat trick and sending Dallas past Chicago.
Coyotes 2, Blues 1: At St. Louis, Ilya Bryzgalov made 41 saves and Phoenix beat the Blues for the fourth time this season and second time in less than a week.
Oilers 5, Kings 4: At Edmonton, Alberta, Ales Hemsky scored two goals and added an assist for the Oilers, who earned their third straight win with a victory over Los Angeles in a matchup of the bottom two teams in the Western Conference.
Around the league
Tampa Bay Lightning center Chris Gratton will have surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left hip next week and be sidelined indefinitely.