Kris Letang

Andrei Markov tied it with 8.2 seconds remaining in regulation, and Brendan Gallagher scored the only shootout goal to give the Montreal Canadiens a 6-5 victory over the Bruins in Boston on Wednesday night. The victory snapped a tie for the second-most points in the Eastern Conference, giving the Canadiens 47. They lead the Northeast Division by a point over the Bruins. Iginla on block? Calgary scratched Jarome Iginla from its lineup against Colorado amid trade speculation.

Kris Letang returned from being bloodied by a hit late in regulation to score 2 minutes, 9 seconds into overtime, giving the Pittsburgh Penguins a 4-3 win over the host Montreal Canadiens Saturday night. Letang scored his third goal after James Neal poked the puck free from Carey Price as Pittsburgh improved to 3-0-1 since Sidney Crosby returned to the lineup. Elsewhere: Luke Adam scored twice, Jhonas Enroth made 26 saves, and Zack Kassian scored his first NHL goal in the host Buffalo Sabres ' 5-1 victory over the Washington Capitals . . . . Chris Kelly scored two second-period goals, lifting the Boston Bruins to their 11th win in 12 games with a 4-2 victory over the visiting Winnipeg Jets . . . . Steven Stamkos had two goals and an assist and the host Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Florida Panthers , 5-1. . . . Valtteri Filppula scored twice to lead the Detroit Red Wings to their fifth straight win, 4-1 over the visiting Nashville Predators . . . . Stefan Elliott scored his first NHL goal and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Edmonton Oilers , 5-2. . . . Michael Grabner snapped a tie with a short-handed goal and the visiting New York Islanders beat the New Jersey Devils , 3-2.   Lehtonen injured The Dallas Stars lost goalie Kari Lehtonen to a right knee injury early in their game against the Phoenix Coyotes.

Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin has been suspended for three games for a charging incident in which he launched himself to hit Pittsburgh defenseman Zbynek Michalek during Sunday's 4-3 overtime loss to the Penguins. The incident occurred during the second period. No penalty was assessed on the play. Ovechkin had a goal and two assists in the game for Washington, which trails Florida by one point in the Southeast Division. He will eligible to return on Feb. 4 against Montreal.

Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz each had a goal and two assists, and the host Pittsburgh Penguins picked up their first home victory of the season by beating the New Jersey Devils, 5-1, Saturday. Penguins defenseman Robert Bortuzzo scored his first NHL goal, Brandon Sutter got his first with Pittsburgh, and Kris Letang also found the back of the net for the Penguins, who handed the Devils their first loss in regulation this season. Nash lifts Rangers Rick Nash scored a go-ahead goal early in the third period and the New York Rangers beat the host Tampa Bay Lightning, 3-2. Steven Stamkos scored both goals for the Lightning, who went 4-1 on a five-game homestand.

The Detroit Red Wings signed Henrik Zetterberg to the longest contract in team history, a 12-year deal that will keep the star forward in Hockeytown until 2021. Additional terms were not disclosed, but Booth Newspapers reported the deal was worth slightly more than $72 million. "Henrik is one of the world's premier players at both ends of the ice," general manager Ken Holland said yesterday. "This is a tremendous commitment on the part of the organization as well as by Henrik.

Marc-Andre Fleury made 35 saves to tie the Pittsburgh franchise record for wins and the Penguins clinched home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs with a 5-2 victory over the visiting New York Rangers on Thursday night. Chris Kunitz, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang each had a goal and an assist for Pittsburgh, which will be the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference for the fourth consecutive season. The Penguins will play the Flyers in the first round. Brandon Dubinsky and Artem Anisimov scored for the Rangers, who were playing for the first time since clinching the top seed in the conference.

Flyers 4, Penguins 2 How it happened: The Flyers made their lives easier last night by scoring first. Joffrey Lupul's deflected shot midway through the first period gave the Flyers their first lead of the series since the first period of Game 1. Later, they would make it adventurous. What it means: There will be a Game 5 on Sunday in Pittsburgh at 3 p.m. In the previous five occurrences, the Flyers had never won a Game 4 when trailing a series 3-0. Hero(es): Danny Briere had his strongest game and scored his first goal of the series.

Matt Cooke had a goal and an assist, four other Pittsburgh players scored, and the Penguins earned their sixth straight win by beating the visiting St. Louis Blues, 5-1, last night. Kris Letang had two assists, and Tyler Kennedy, Evgeni Malkin, Ruslan Fedotenko and Alex Goligoski had goals. Only five of Pittsburgh's 18 skaters failed to record a point in the win that pushed the Penguins' record to an NHL-best 8-1-0. Paul Kariya scored for the Blues, 1-3-1 in their last five games.

Evgeni Malkin scored Pittsburgh's first goal and then decided the shootout for the Penguins, who rallied from two goals down in the third period and beat the visiting Florida Panthers, 4-3, last night for their seventh consecutive win. The winning streak is the Penguins' longest since they won eight in a row from Dec. 23, 2007, through Jan. 10, 2008. Kris Letang and Malkin each got the puck past Tomas Vokoun as the Penguins won their second shootout in 3 days, following a 4-3 decision Sunday in Washington.

BUFFALO - The Flyers already have one All-Star, in coach Peter Laviolette, named to the roster for the Jan. 28-30 All-Star Weekend in Raleigh, N.C. But how many more will join him? We'll find out later today, as the NHL's hockey operations department names the final 36 players to go along with Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, Duncan Keith and Marc-Andre Fleury. They were voted in among a total of 14 million votes cast by fans. You could legitimately make a case for eight players to represent the Flyers.

TOMAS VOKOUN stopped 31 shots in his first playoff start in 6 years and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the visiting New York Islanders, 4-0, last night in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series. Sidney Crosby, Tyler Kennedy and Douglas Murray scored during a 7-minute stretch in the second period, and Kris Letang added a power-play goal in the third as Pittsburgh moved a step closer to advancing to the second round. The Penguins lead the best-of-seven Eastern Conference series, 3-2. Game 6 is tomorrow in New York.

CLAUDE JULIEN could feel his Boston Bruins improving even though the results didn't show it. They did once the playoffs began. Nathan Horton scored the go-ahead goal late in the first period, and the postseason-tested Bruins used a revived offense to beat the inexperienced Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-1, in their series opener last night. "There were some signs probably the last four games or so [that] we seemed to be turning the corner," Coach Julien said. "We were playing better.

Andrei Markov tied it with 8.2 seconds remaining in regulation, and Brendan Gallagher scored the only shootout goal to give the Montreal Canadiens a 6-5 victory over the Bruins in Boston on Wednesday night. The victory snapped a tie for the second-most points in the Eastern Conference, giving the Canadiens 47. They lead the Northeast Division by a point over the Bruins. Iginla on block? Calgary scratched Jarome Iginla from its lineup against Colorado amid trade speculation.

DEFENSEMAN Matt Niskanen scored the go-ahead goal in the third period and Sidney Crosby had two assists as the Pittsburgh Penguins extended their winning streak to 10 games with a 2-1 victory over the visiting Washington Capitals on Tuesday. Niskanen's goal at 11:58 came 9 seconds after the Penguins killed a 4-minute penalty. The winning streak is the longest of the season for the Eastern Conference-leading Penguins and the second-longest in the NHL this season. Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves and Crosby added his NHL-leading 36th and 37th assists for the Penguins, who were without reigning MVP Evgeni Malkin (shoulder)

THE REIGNING NHL MVP is out indefinitely with an upper-body injury. The league's top-scoring defenseman is out, too, apparently because of a lower-body issue. Still, it hardly matters for the streaking Pittsburgh Penguins. Sidney Crosby scored his 13th goal, Joe Vitale added his first in more than a year, and Tomas Vokoun stopped 31 shots as the Penguins beat the visiting Boston Bruins Sunday, 2-1, for their ninth straight win. "It seems like it's always different guys, so that's what you need in order to have success consistently.

Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz each had a goal and two assists, and the host Pittsburgh Penguins picked up their first home victory of the season by beating the New Jersey Devils, 5-1, Saturday. Penguins defenseman Robert Bortuzzo scored his first NHL goal, Brandon Sutter got his first with Pittsburgh, and Kris Letang also found the back of the net for the Penguins, who handed the Devils their first loss in regulation this season. Nash lifts Rangers Rick Nash scored a go-ahead goal early in the third period and the New York Rangers beat the host Tampa Bay Lightning, 3-2. Steven Stamkos scored both goals for the Lightning, who went 4-1 on a five-game homestand.

BEFORE a goal-crazy, seesaw first period turned into a Flyers disaster on Wednesday night, Broad Street Bully enjoyed chilling with the fired-up faithful. CLEANING THE GLASS: While the Penguins warmed up, Jon Ostroff of Plymouth Meeting placed his butt against the glass behind the goal and began a slow grind. "I'm giving them a little bit of this," Ostroff said, shaking his generous butt at the Penguins. "And a lot of that," he said, turning, raising his shirt and belly-mooning the Pens.

Lost opportunities are not the Penguins' most pressing concern today. Nor should it be. Not when they're staring at absorbing what could go down as the most ignominious playoff setback in franchise history. They trail the Flyers, three games to none, in an Eastern Conference first-round series. The Pens' season could end as early as Wednesday night, when they will face the orange-and-black in Game 4 at the Wells Fargo Center. There's an obvious urgency to that, so Pittsburgh's focus is on the 60 minutes immediately in front of them and finding a way to keep their season on life-support, not on immersing themselves in a big-picture analysis.

Three games. Three wins. The Pittsburgh Penguins' holy trinity - Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang - is on life support, and the brooms will be out Wednesday as the Flyers will have the opportunity to complete their first NHL playoff series sweep since 1995. And it's all thanks to the Flyers' electrifying 8-4 win over the Penguins on "bloody" Sunday at the Wells Fargo Center. If you had told the Flyers beforehand that they would lead this best-of-seven series three games to none, "we probably would have laughed at you," said Flyers center Claude Giroux.

PITTSBURGH - Peter Laviolette said it was not easy to deliver the message to Stanley Cup-winning defenseman Pavel Kubina that he would not be a part of the Flyers' plans for Game 1. Kubina, instead, was a healthy scratch. "When you tell a good hockey player he's not going to be in the lineup, it's hard," Laviolette said. "All players want to play. You don't get to this level and not be competitive and not have pride in being a contributing factor. " For Friday night's Game 2, Laviolette might not have a choice of again starting rookie Marc-Andre Bourdon over Kubina.