Buffalo Sabres

Marian Hossa has come up with a handful of big goals. Duncan Keith leads a group of solid defensemen, and each of the goalies has played really well. This is the best start in the proud history of the Chicago Blackhawks, and it could become the NHL's best ever Friday when they host the San Jose Sharks. The Blackhawks beat the Vancouver Canucks, 4-3, in a shootout Tuesday to give them 16 straight games with at least one point, matching the league record to start a season. It was the third straight win for the Blackhawks (13-0-3)

The New York Rangers scored five times in a span of less than three minutes and Brad Richards notched his first NHL hat trick in an 8-4 rout of the host Buffalo Sabres on Friday night. The five-goal spurt at the end of the opening period and the beginning of the second was part of a 6-0 outburst to start the game. Richards scored two of the first five goals, and then completed the hat trick in the third period as the win kept the Rangers in eighth place in the Eastern Conference.

THOMAS VANEK had three goals and two assists, setting up the tiebreaking score with 13:06 left in the third period, to lead the Buffalo Sabres to a 7-4 victory over the Bruins in Boston Thursday night. Vanek opened the scoring 98 seconds into the game, then had a goal and an assist to tie it after Boston took a 3-1 lead in the second. The Bruins went up 4-3 in the third before Alexander Sulzer tied it on a wrister from the faceoff circle, and then Vanek helped give Buffalo the lead when he kept the puck in the zone, faked a shot and slid it over to Cody Hodgson for the game-winner.

MARCUS FOLIGNO scored twice and backup goalie Jhonas Enroth made 18 of his 32 saves in the third period of the Buffalo Sabres' 3-1 win over the visiting New York Rangers on Tuesday night. Enroth, who started because Ryan Miller was sidelined because of a sinus infection, earned his first victory since a 5-1 win over Washington on Nov. 26, 2011. He was 0-9-3 in 16 appearances since then. Foligno's first goal made it 1-1 at 5:35 of the second period. His second gave the Sabres a 3-1 lead with 8:12 left in the game.

COREY CRAWFORD came away with the shutout in this one, not Brian Elliott. Chicago's goalie stopped 30 shots and Bryan Bickell and Marian Hossa scored to lead the visiting Blackhawks to a 2-0 win over the St. Louis Blues on Sunday, ending Elliott's bid for a fourth straight shutout. "I felt good today, but I think the main thing is everyone is playing well," Crawford said after his third shutout of the season. "We need everyone to play well every night and so far this year it's been pretty much that for every game.

Every morning on his drive to work, Penn State associate athletic director Joe Battista passes by his longtime vision. He can look out the window of his work space in the Bryce Jordan Center, an office filled with hockey sticks, pucks, and NHL coffee mugs, and he can see his dream becoming a reality just across the street. Ground has finally been broken in University Park on the construction of the Pegula Ice Arena, which will be the new home of Penn State's Division I men's and women's hockey programs beginning in the 2013-14 season.

David Backes got the go-ahead score on the second straight power-play goal of the game for the host St. Louis Blues , who ended a 2-for-39 slump with the man advantage in a 3-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night. Alex Steen had a power-play goal in the second period, and Brian Elliott made 27 saves for the Blues, who are 9-2-3 since Ken Hitchcock replaced Davis Payne as coach.   Jackets top Canadiens Rick Nash's shootout goal lifted the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 3-2 win over the host Montreal Canadiens . Curtis Sanford was perfect in the tiebreaker, turning aside David Desharnais, Max Pacioretty, and Brian Gionta.

The Flyers held a lengthy team meeting after another loss Saturday, and no more discussion was required before Sunday's 3-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres at the Wells Fargo Center. "We all can read, and we all can count," goalie Ilya Bryzgalov said. They certainly could count to three, which was the length of the team's losing streak entering Sunday's game. In a condensed season, the last-place Flyers needed a victory in the worst way. They had not won since last Saturday. Coach Peter Laviolette stayed with Bryzgalov in goal on the second night of back-to-back games.

SIDNEY CROSBY scored the game's only goal late in the second period and the Pittsburgh Penguins extended their winning streak to 13 with a 1-0 victory over visiting Montreal on Tuesday night. Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury stopped all 22 shots he faced but did not play in the third period following a collision in front of the Penguins' net. Tomas Vokoun filled in and made 15 saves to give Pittsburgh just the fourth combined shutout in franchise history. There was no immediate word on the nature or severity of Fleury's problem.

On paper, the Flyers have the advantage in size, strength, experience and marquee names. And by almost 2 to 1, they have the thicker wallets and more impressive financial portfolios. The Buffalo Sabres? They have the premier goalie, Dominik Hasek, and the, uh, well, that's it. But that's just on paper. On the ice, the Sabres seem to have something the Flyers have been groping for all season. It's often called chemistry, togetherness, camaraderie. It's that hard-to-define quality that allows teams to rise above their deficiencies, and it can be as dangerous to an opponent as a high stick.