Sabres slip past Capitals into 8th
Coeur d'Alene Press | UPDATED 14 years, 6 months AGO
By The Associated Press
Ryan Miller stopped 44 shots and Drew Stafford scored two goals as visiting Buffalo beat Washington 5-1 on Tuesday night in Washington, D.C., to move into eighth place in the Eastern Conference.
It was the fifth straight win for the Sabres, their longest streak since a six-game run in 2009-10. Buffalo was in 14th place on Feb. 17 before going on a 14-2-4 tear.
Buffalo took a 3-0 lead early in the second period and coasted home behind Miller, who's 14-1-3 over his last 18 game, allowing only 32 goals in that span.
The Sabres now have 86 points, two more than Washington and two fewer than seventh-place Ottawa. All three teams have five games left.
Buffalo took control with a two-goal first period and went up 3-0 on Thomas Vanek's 25th goal of the season at 2:31 of the second period. That chased Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby, who stopped 15 shots.
Hurricanes 3, Maple Leafs 0: Cam Ward stopped 32 shots for his 21st shutout as visiting Carolina eliminated Toronto from playoff contention.
Blackhawks 2, Devils 1, SO: At Newark, N.J., Travis Zajac and Patrik Elias scored in a shootout and Martin Brodeur made 37 saves and stopped four of five shooters to give New Jersey the win over Chicago.
Islanders 5, Penguins 3: Frans Nielsen scored twice and visiting New York won at Pittsburgh for the first time in more than four years.
Bruins 5, Lightning 2: Benoit Pouliot scored the tiebreaking goal midway through the third period and Zdeno Chara had three assists as surging Boston beat visiting Tampa Bay.
Panthers 3, Canadiens 2, SO: Wojtek Wolski scored in regulation and added the only goal of the shootout to help visiting Florida boost their playoff hopes at Montreal.
Rangers 3, Wild 2: At St. Paul, Minn., Ruslan Fedotenko's go-ahead goal in the third period gave New York the win over Minnesota.
Blues 3, Predators 0: Brian Elliott made 24 saves for his third straight shutout and Jamie Langenbrunner broke a scoreless tie in the second as St. Louis beat visiting Nashville. Nashville forward Martin Erat, the team's leading scorer with 18 goals and 57 points, missed his third straight game because of an upper-body injury.