Red Wings snap four-game losing streak

Johan Franzen and Valtteri Filppula each had a goal and assist, and Dominik Hasek made 22 saves against his former team in the Detroit Red Wings’ 4-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday night in Buffalo, N.Y.

Dallas Drake and Kirk Maltby also scored for the Red Wings, who snapped a four-game losing streak while winning for only the second time in their last 12 games (2-8-2). With the win, Detroit pulled five points ahead of the Dallas Stars for the top spot in the Western Conference.

Rookie Patrick Kaleta and Jason Pominville scored for the slumping Sabres, who lost for the fourth time in five games (1-3-1). Buffalo continues to be in ninth place in the Eastern Conference, three points behind eighth-place Philadelphia.

Hasek, making his second straight start after being sidelined for nearly three weeks with a hip injury, improved to 5-1-2 in nine career games against the Sabres, the team he developed into a star for from 1992-2001.

Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller finished with 35 saves.

The Red Wings once again played without three key injured defensemen: Nicklas Lidstrom (knee), Brian Rafalski (groin) and Chris Chelios (knee).

Detroit came in mired in its worst stretch since going 0-9-3 from Oct. 21-Nov. 16, 1993, and allowed the first goal of the game just under three minutes in when Kaleta snuck a wrist shot from the slot that got past Hasek.

Rangers 5, Flyers 4 (SO): At New York, coming on in relief of ineffective starting goalie Henrik Lundqvist, Steve Valiquette stopped 17 of 18 shots through overtime and then was perfect in the shootout for the Rangers, who beat Philadelphia.

Blackhawks 4, Canucks 1: At Chicago, rookie Patrick Kane had two goals and an assist to lead the Blackhawks over Vancouver.

Penguins 3, Thrashers 2 (SO): At Pittsburgh, Penguins’ rookie defenseman Kris Letang had the only goal in the shootout and Pittsburgh rallied after giving away a two-goal lead to beat Atlanta and extend the Thrashers’ losing streak to seven.

Panthers 1, Islanders 0: At Uniondale, N.Y., Craig Anderson stopped 53 shots to earn his first shutout of the season, and David Booth’s first period goal stood up for Florida in a victory over New York.

Wild 2, Kings 1 (OT): At St. Paul, Minn., Martin Skoula scored with 1:15 left in overtime and the Wild gained sole possession of the division lead with a win over Los Angeles.

Oilers 4, Blue Jackets 3 (SO): At Edmonton, Alberta, Ales Hemsky scored the only goal of the shootout as the Oilers won their fourth consecutive game, slipping past Columbus.

Edmonton extended its NHL record for the most shootout wins in a season to 14.