NHL-Highlights of Saturday's National Hockey League games

Oct 19 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights of Saturday's National Hockey League games. - - - Penguins 4, Canucks 3 (shootout) Evgeni Malkin's shootout goal led the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 4-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks. Sidney Crosby had a goal and two assists, and rookie Olli Maata scored his first-career goal for the Penguins, who improved to 7-1-0. Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury stopped all three Canucks shots in the shootout, while Malkin tallied the only goal for the Penguins. The game marked the first time in more than two years that the teams had met. The Canucks dropped to 5-3-1. - - - Oilers 3, Senators 1 Edmonton Oilers goalie Devan Dubnyk finally picked up his first win of the season, making 35 saves to lead his team to a 3-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins paced the Oilers' attack with two goals, including one into an empty net with Senators goalie Robin Lehner on the bench in favor of an extra attacker. Jordan Eberle had the other Edmonton goal, while Chris Neil replied for the Senators. Edmonton remain at the bottom of the Western Conference Pacific Division but improved to 2-6-1 while Ottawa now sit 3-3-2. - - - Devils 4, Rangers 0 The New Jersey Devils became the final NHL team to earn their first victory of the season, blowing away the New York Rangers 4-0. Goaltender Cory Schneider earned the shutout, stopping 22 shots for his first victory as a Devil. Andrei Loktionov, Adam Henrique, Michael Ryder and Dainius Zubrus scored for the Devils (1-4-3), who were playing just their second home game of the season. The Devils scored three goals on their first 10 shots as the Rangers (2-5-0) were shut out for the second time this season. They have scored two goals or fewer in five of their seven games. - - - Avalanche 4, Sabres 2 Behind a dominant first period, the Colorado Avalanche skated to a 4-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres, rebounding from their first loss of the year. Ryan O'Reilly, Gabriel Landeskog, Duchene and Paul Statsny scored for Colorado, which improved to 7-1. Jean-Sebastian Giguere had 28 saves. The Avalanche were in control from the opening whistle, opening a 2-0 lead while holding the Sabres without a shot through the first 14:09. Cody Hogdson and Marcus Foligno scored for Buffalo (1-8-1). - - - Bruins 5, Lightning 0 Boston generated offense from untapped sources and the Tampa Bay Lightning generated almost none at all as the Bruins rolled to a 5-0 shutout. Three Bruins scored their first goals of the season and another his second as their defensive-minded approach kept grinding out opportunities. With four goals by the end of the second period, Boston forced Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop out after he entered among the league elite with five wins and a 1.57 goals-against average. Boston improved to 5-2-0 while the Lightning fell to 5-3-0. - - - Hurricanes 4, Islanders 3 Jiri Tlusty, Jordan Staal and Jeff Skinner scored in a 13-minute span in the second period as the Carolina Hurricanes hung on for a 4-3 win over the New York Islanders. Tlusty added a third-period goal for the Hurricanes, who had not scored more than three goals since a 4-3 shootout win over the Islanders on April 23. The win was the second in a row for Carolina (4-2-3), which took over sole possession of second place in the Metropolitan Division. Goalie Cam Ward had 22 saves. Matt Moulson, Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo scored for the Islanders (3-3-2), who have lost four of their last five. - - - Blackhawks 3, Maple Leafs 1 The defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks bounced back from a loss to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1. It was the first time since the season opener the Blackhawks had ended a game not on either end of a one-goal difference. The Blackhawks have now won the last eight meetings against the Maple Leafs, the last loss being more than a decade ago. Bryan Bickell, Michael Kostka and Brandon Pirri each scored as Chicago improved to 5-1-2 on the season. Toronto's lone goal came from Nazem Kadri as the Maple Leafs lost their second straight game and fell to 6-3-0. - - - Panthers 2, Wild 1 (shootout) Jonathan Huberdeau and Brad Boyes scored in a shootout to lead the Florida Panthers to a 2-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild. The Panthers' Tim Thomas stopped Zach Parise and Mikko Koivu to settle the game. Florida (3-6-0), which started the night in seventh place in the Eastern Conference with four points, snapped a three-game losing streak. The Wild (3-3-3), who started the night tied for fourth in the Western Conference with eight points, have lost three games in a row. - - - Capitals 4, Blue Jackets 1 Promoted from the fourth line to the second, 32-year old left winger Martin Erat had his biggest night since joining the Capitals, assisting on goals by Brooks Laich, Troy Brouwer and Alex Ovechkin as the Washington Capitals rolled to a 4-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. Braden Holtby turned aside 37 of 38 shots and Joel Ward also scored for the Capitals (3-5-0), who converted two of four power plays for their third win of the season. The Blue Jackets (2-5-0) avoided a shutout when Artem Anisimov scored late but saw its losing streak reach four games. - - - Predators 2, Canadiens 1 Rookie defenseman Seth Jones scored with 1:27 remaining in the third period to give the Nashville Predators a 2-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens. Carey Price made 35 saves in the loss, which snapped a four-game winning streak by Montreal (5-3-0). Thirteen of those stops came in the first period as the Predators (4-3-1) outshot the Canadiens 14-6 en route to a 1-0 lead. Pekka Rinne stopped 28 shots for Nashville, which picked up its first road win of the season. - - - Coyotes 5, Red Wings 2 Goaltender Mike Smith scored his first career goal with one-tenth of a second remaining to cap a run of five straight Phoenix goals as the Coyotes beat the Detroit Red Wings 5-2. Mike Ribiero, Martin Hanzal and Antoine Vermette also scored for the Coyotes (5-2-2), who have at least a point in seven consecutive games. Smith gloved a soft shot by Mikael Samuelsson, dropped the puck to his stick and lofted a shot from his crease toward the Detroit blue line and it slid the final 90-plus feet into the empty net. Pavel Datsyuk and Todd Bertuzzi scored for Red Wings (6-3-0), who had won four straight. - - - Sharks 6, Flames 3 Joe Pavelski scored twice and San Jose's power play clicked three times to propel the Sharks past the Calgary Flames 6-3. Pavelski capped his 20th career multi-goal game in the third period after the Flames had cut a three-goal deficit after two periods to just one goal with two early goals in the third. At 7-0-1, the Sharks are the league's only team yet to lose in regulation. The Flames dropped to 3-2-2. - - - Kings 5, Stars 2 Drew Doughty scored early in the third period to break a tie and Jonathan Quick recorded 27 saves as the Los Angeles Kings defeated the Dallas Stars 5-2. Justin Williams scored two goals in the first period for the Kings, who improved to 6-3-0, while Jamie Benn tallied two assists for Dallas (3-4-0). Doughty forged the Kings early third-period lead when he slid the puck off a feed from the left point by Williams. Kyle Clifford's first goal of the season at 13:02 of the final frame sealed the Kings fifth victory in the last six games. Kings defenseman Matt Greene added an empty netter in the final minute to close out the scoring. (Editing by Peter Rutherford)