Jason Pominville

Jason Pominville ended a 20-shot first-period barrage against Kevin Weekes with a power-play goal and the visiting Buffalo Sabres beat New Jersey, 2-0, last night. Ryan Miller had 24 saves in registering his second straight shutout, Jaroslav Spacek added two assists, and Patrick Kaleta scored his first goal of the season. Devils goalie Martin Brodeur (bruised elbow) missed the game. In other games: At Uniondale, N.Y., Chris Campoli had his first two goals in nearly a year, the second 3:13 into overtime, and the Islanders beat Columbus, 4-3. At Chicago, Patrick Sharp and Andrew Ladd had two goals each as the Blackhawks beat the Colorado Avalanche.

BUFFALO, N.Y. - Drew Stafford and Henrik Tallinder scored consecutive goals in the shoot-out to give the Buffalo Sabres a 3-2 win over the New Jersey Devils last night. Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller denied Brian Gionta's wrist shot in the second round to give the Sabres the win. Michael Ryan and Jason Pominville scored in regulation for Buffalo. Karel Rachunek and Mike Mottau scored for the Devils. Miller finished with 24 saves. Martin Brodeur had 20 saves. Oilers 4, Blackhawks 1 EDMONTON, Alberta - Joni Pitkanen had a goal and an assist, and Edmonton defeated Chicago.

Daniel Briere scored two goals, including the winner at 3:57 of overtime, to give the Buffalo Sabres a come-from-behind, 4-3 victory against the host New York Rangers in the only NHL game yesterday. Briere's goal gave the Sabres their fifth win in a game this season in which they trailed by at least two goals. Jaromir Jagr scored a goal and had two assists to take over the NHL scoring lead with 23 points. The Rangers captain left the game when he appeared to injure his surgically repaired left shoulder when he landed awkwardly trying to stickhandle around Sabres defenseman Brian Campbell during overtime Buffalo's Thomas Vanek opened the scoring in the first period, but Jagr, Petr Prucha and Michael Nylander scored power-play goals for a 3-1 Rangers' lead midway through the second period.

Dany Heatley scored the winning goal with 46.8 seconds remaining to lift Canada (3-0) to a 5-4 victory yesterday over the United States at the world hockey championships in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was Heatley's second goal of the game. Zach Parise, Patrick O'Sullivan, Dustin Brown and Jason Pominville scored for the Americans (2-1). Earlier in Quebec City, Washington Capitals teammates Alex Ovechkin and Sergei Fedorov each scored a goal, helping Russia (3-0) defeat Denmark (2-1)

Wings fall to Colorado Brandon Yip's goal in the sixth round of the shoot-out gave the Colorado Avalanche a 5-4 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night in Detroit. The Avalanche's David Jones had two goals and an assist in regulation, and Ryan O'Reilly and Daniel Winnik also scored for Colorado. Colorado's Peter Budaj stopped 24 shots. Johan Franzen had two goals for Detroit.   Red Wings' Maltby retires Saying he never could have imagined playing more than 1,000 NHL games and winning four Stanley Cups, Detroit forward Kirk Maltby announced his retirement.

Pascal Dupuis scored twice and had an assist, and the Pittsburgh Penguins rallied at home to beat the slumping Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-2, on Wednesday night for their seventh consecutive victory. Jordan Staal added a goal and an assist to extend his points streak to a career-best six games and rookie Brad Thiessen stopped 22 shots. The Penguins started the day by unveiling a statue honoring Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux outside Consol Energy Center. The three-time MVP, now the team owner, watched from his box as Pittsburgh won for the 11th time in its last 12 home games to strengthen its hold on fourth place in the Eastern Conference.

Patrik Elias had a goal and an assist, Martin Brodeur made 29 saves, and Ilya Kovalchuk scored in his return from a groin injury in the New Jersey Devils' 5-3 win over the host Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday night. Playing in his fourth game since a shoulder injury forced him to miss six, Brodeur made his best save with six minutes remaining in the second period when he snagged Jason Pominville's shot from point-blank range with his glove. Kovalchuk, who missed five games with his injury, scored his third of the season just five minutes into the game.

The Buffalo Sabres weren't ready to call it a season. Buffalo built a three-goal lead on tallies by Adam Mair, Jason Pominville, and Mike Grier in the first 30 minutes and rebounded from a devastating loss, beating the visiting Boston Bruins, 4-1, last night to force a sixth game in the Eastern Conference first-round series. "After taking heat, it feels good," said Pominville, who responded to criticism from coach Lindy Ruff with a two-point game, equaling his output in the previous four games.

Marian Hossa delivered the decisive goal in a shootout as the host Atlanta Thrashers edged the New Jersey Devils, 5-4, last night in a matchup of division leaders. The Thrashers ended a slump with three power-play goals, including two by Ilya Kovalchuk. Atlanta earned its fourth consecutive home win over New Jersey, which has lost two straight overall. Slava Kozlov also scored for Atlanta in the shootout and added three assists in regulation. In other games: At Buffalo, Daniel Briere netted his second career hat trick, and Jason Pominville and Thomas Vanek added a goal and an assist as the Sabres beat Boston, 7-1 . . . At Raleigh, N.C., Nik Antropov scored two goals in the third period to lead Toronto to a 4-1 victory over Carolina . . . At Uniondale, N.Y., Henrik Zetterberg capped Detroit's rally from a 3-0 deficit going into the third period by scoring in overtime for a 4-3 win over the New York Islanders . . . At Ottawa, Dany Heatley scored his 31st goal to lead the Senators to a 3-2 win over Washington . . . At Pittsburgh, Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 32 shots and the Penguins beat Florida, 3-0 . . . At Denver, Andrew Brunette and Wojtek Wolski each had a goal and an assist as Colorado beat Nashville, 4-3 . . . At St. Louis, Pierre-Marc Bouchard's second goal snapped a third-period tie, helping Minnesota beat the Blues, 5-2 . . . At Calgary, Craig Conroy scored twice against his former team in his first game with his new club, leading the Flames...

Eric Staal, Jeff Hamilton, Cory Stillman and Bret Hedican scored third-period goals to help the Carolina Hurricanes end a streak of futility against the visiting Buffalo Sabres with a 6-2 win last night. It was Carolina's first victory over the Sabres since Game 7 of the 2006 Eastern Conference finals; Buffalo won all four games against the Hurricanes last season. Rod Brind'Amour and Ray Whitney added goals for Carolina, which has earned points in all but one of its 10 games so far. Buffalo has lost all three of its road games; Jason Pominville scored twice for the Sabres.

THE ST. LOUIS Blues are getting back to their effective, grind-it-out ways of last season. Brian Elliott made 28 saves for his 19th career shutout and Chris Porter scored the game's only goal in St. Louis' 1-0 win over the Red Wings on Sunday in Detroit. "The way we're back winning these close games, we're back to playing the way we were last year," said Patrik Berglund, who had an assist on Porter's goal. It was the Blues' fourth straight win as they moved into a tie with Minnesota for sixth place in the Western Conference.

Ryane Clowe, Derick Brassard, and John Moore injected instant offense just hours after being acquired by the Rangers, and host New York scored a season-high three power-play goals in a surprisingly dominant 6-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night. Clowe scored two goals - after netting none for the San Jose Sharks in 28 games this season - and added an assist, and Brassard had a goal and three assists. Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist moved into second place on the Rangers' career wins list with 268. Gaborik to Columbus The Rangers traded slumping forward Marian Gaborik to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Brassard, Moore, and right wing Derek Dorsett.

Brandon Dubinsky scored shortly after a fight-filled opening faceoff, and the host New York Rangers became the first Eastern Conference team to earn a playoff spot by beating the New Jersey Devils, 4-2, on Monday night. Three fights broke out at the outset and that seemed to jump-start the Rangers, who had lost two straight and five of seven as their once commanding lead in the East dwindled to almost nothing.   Bruins shut out Leafs Benoit Pouliot scored two goals, Brian Rolston had a goal and three assists and the host Boston Bruins completed a six-game season sweep of the Toronto Maple Leafs with a 8-0 win. The Bruins' superiority was so complete that after two periods they had as many goals as the Maple Leafs had shots.

GIVEN HOW poorly Buffalo was playing 2 months ago, defenseman Tyler Myers is certain it would have let this one slip away. It's a much different story in March, now that the surging Sabres have climbed back in the hunt for a playoff spot. Buffalo allowed the tying goal with 5 seconds left in regulation, but Myers scored 2:01 into overtime to secure a 3-2 win over the visiting Montreal Canadiens last night. "Two months ago, I would say it would've been very tough with our group," Myers said, noting how the Sabres might have allowed frustration to settle in after Montreal's David Desharnais forced overtime by scoring during a wild scramble in front.

THE PITTSBURGH Penguins honored their past yesterday, unveiling a bronze statue outside Consol Energy Center showcasing the singular talents of Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux. Then the Penguins went out and showed the present looks pretty good, too. Pascal Dupuis scored twice and had an assist, and Pittsburgh rallied to beat the slumping Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-2, for a seventh straight victory. "The way we've been playing, we feel like we can come back in every game and we proved it again tonight," Dupuis said.

Pascal Dupuis scored twice and had an assist, and the Pittsburgh Penguins rallied at home to beat the slumping Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-2, on Wednesday night for their seventh consecutive victory. Jordan Staal added a goal and an assist to extend his points streak to a career-best six games and rookie Brad Thiessen stopped 22 shots. The Penguins started the day by unveiling a statue honoring Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux outside Consol Energy Center. The three-time MVP, now the team owner, watched from his box as Pittsburgh won for the 11th time in its last 12 home games to strengthen its hold on fourth place in the Eastern Conference.

Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 27 shots to tie Tom Barrasso's franchise record of 22 career shutouts and carry the Pittsburgh Penguins past the New York Rangers, 2-0, Tuesday night. Evgeni Malkin scored his 33d goal of the season and added an assist on Steve Sullivan's tally to help the Penguins bounce back from a listless loss in Buffalo on Sunday and handle the Eastern Conference's top team with relative ease. Henrik Lundqvist made 29 stops for the Rangers, but New York lost for the second time in three games.

A PERSON familiar with the NHL's plan said the Detroit Red Wings will play the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2013 Winter Classic. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity yesterday because the league isn't expected to announce the matchup until today. Earlier yesterday, the University of Michigan Board of Regents authorized the athletic department to seek a contract with the NHL that would allow the league to hold next year's showcase at Michigan Stadium. The recommendation also said the Winter Classic would be scheduled for Jan. 1, 2013, with an alternate date of Jan. 2. Buffalo, Chicago, Boston, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia have all hosted the Winter Classic, but a game at Michigan Stadium could draw the league's largest crowd.

Carl Hagelin scored twice for his second multigoal game in the NHL, and Henrik Lundqvist stopped all 28 shots he faced as the host New York Rangers beat the New York Islanders, 3-0, on Monday for their fifth straight victory. Hagelin, in just his 16th NHL game, scored in the second and third periods for the surging Rangers (22-8-4) - the Atlantic Division leaders, who leapfrogged defending Stanley Cup champion Boston into first place in the Eastern Conference.   Sabres top Capitals Brayden McNabb capped Buffalo 's four-goal first period with his first NHL goal and the host Sabres cruised to a 4-2 win over the Washington Capitals . Jason Pominville, Matt Ellis and Christian Ehrhoff also scored in the first period for the Sabres, who snapped a three-game skid to improve to 4-6-2 in their last 12 games.

Dennis Wideman scored three power-play goals and added an assist as the Washington Capitals beat the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-2, Friday night. Wideman finished his first career hat trick and sealed the win with a shot from the point with 1 minute, 19 seconds left in the game. Washington was 4 for 6 on the power play against Toronto, after going 3 for 51 in the previous 14 games. It was the first time this season the Capitals have scored more than two power-play goals.