NHL
Red Wings beat Stars; Hasek posts 78th shutout DALLAS (AP) – Even after 644 games over 14 NHL seasons, shutouts are still a reason to celebrate for Detroit Red Wings goalie Dominik Hasek.
Hasek stopped 22 shots for his 78th career shutout, Brian Rafalski scored a first-period goal, and the NHL-leading Red Wings beat the Dallas Stars 3-0 on Saturday.
“Shutouts are always special,” Hasek said. “I haven’t had too many wins here so this is nice.”
Hasek, 9-10-2 overall against Dallas, also reached 375 victories to break a tie with John Vanbiesbrouck for 11th place on the career list.
Hasek may be about to mark his 43rd birthday later this month, but he’s still a fierce competitor.
“We see him every day in practice,” Red Wings defenseman Niklas Lidstrom said. “We see how competitive he is. He hates to be scored on and that carries over into the game.”
The Red Wings have 31 wins, the most after 42 games in the franchise’s 82-year history, with the help of a defensive effort that has allowed a league-low 89 goals.
Detroit scored on its first shot on goal when Rafalski struck on a one-timer from the slot off Dan Cleary’s setup at 3:44.
Cleary also scored, beating Mike Smith with a sharp-angled shot at 10:08 of the third period. Johan Franzen added an empty-netter with 19.8 seconds left.
“We don’t feel real good about our game,” Stars captain Brenden Morrow said. “We battled hard for a period and a half but we didn’t push it to the next level. They’re a good team so give them some credit.”
The streaking Red Wings are 16-2-2 in their last 20 games and moved to 5-0-1 against Dallas over the past two seasons, including a 4-1 home victory over the Stars on Wednesday night. Over the last four seasons, Detroit is 10-3-1 against Dallas.
“We knew they’d be a desperate team having lost three in a row,” Cleary said. “It was a very tight game. It was one where you had to take advantage of the opportunities given to you.”
The Stars have lost four straight for the first time since the 2003-04 season when they dropped five in a row.
“Losing is frustrating, that goes without saying,” Stars coach Dave Tippett said. “We have to keep pounding away and find a way out of it.”
Smith made 20 saves for the Stars, shut out for the second time in the last four games.
Smith got the call from Tippett instead of regular starter Marty Turco, 1-9-5 lifetime against the Red Wings. Smith is 1-2 for his career against Detroit.
Bruins 4, Devils 3
BOSTON – P.J. Axelsson had a goal and two assists, Marco Sturm scored a short-handed goal with 0.6 seconds left in the first period and Boston beat New Jersey.
Dennis Wideman and Marc Savard also scored for the Bruins, who netted goals in the final minute of the opening two periods en route to their third straight win.
Dainius Zubrus, Johnny Oduya and Travis Zajac had New Jersey’s goals. The Devils gave top goalie Martin Brodeur a game off one night after he shut out Philadelphia.
Boston’s Tim Thomas had a scoreless streak halted at 111 minutes, 8 seconds early in the opening period, but finished with 42 saves.
Flyers 3, Maple Leafs 2
TORONTO – Antero Niittymaki made 54 saves, and Steve Downie scored his first NHL goal to help Philadelphia win for the fourth time in five games.
Jeff Carter scored his 14th goal and Mike Richards added his 19th to support Niittymaki.
Mats Sundin scored both goals for Toronto, which lost despite a 56-32 shots advantage. Toronto fell to 1-4-1 since goalie Vesa Toskala went down with a groin injury.
Each team lost a player to injury in the first period. Toronto defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo reinjured his right knee, and Philadelphia forward Joffrey Lupul was too woozy to continue after colliding with big teammate Derian Hatcher.
Capitals 5, Canadiens 4
MONTREAL – Mike Green scored 1:27 into overtime for his third point of the game to lead Washington to its third win in four games.
Green, who also had two assists, redirected a pass from Michael Nylander past Carey Price for his 11th goal. Alexander Ovechkin had two goals and Nicklas Backstrom and Boyd Gordon also scored for the Capitals.
Tomas Plekanec and Andrei Kostitsyn scored to give Montreal a 2-0 lead early in the second, but Washington rallied to take the lead with 1:09 left in the period. Roman Hamrlik and Alexei Kovalev also scored for the Canadiens.
Senators 4, Lightning 3
OTTAWA – Mike Fisher scored 3:17 into overtime to help Ottawa extend Tampa Bay’s losing streak to a season-high seven games.
Fisher put a shot from the left side past Johan Holmqvist for his 15th goal, giving Ottawa its second straight win following consecutive losses to Washington. The Lightning are 0-5-2 since defeating Toronto at home on Dec. 20.
Dany Heatley scored his 25th goal 4:26 into the third period to get the Senators even at 3.
Randy Robitaille scored twice for the Senators, who won 5-3 in Buffalo on Friday.
Ray Emery made his second straight start and stopped 16 shots.
Predators 4, Wild 1
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – J.P. Dumont scored twice to stretch his goal streak to a career-high four games, and Dan Hamhuis had two assists to lead Nashville past Minnesota.
Martin Gelinas and Martin Erat also scored in support of Predators goalie Dan Ellis, who stopped 27 shots for his fourth consecutive victory. Nashville scored three first-period goals for the second game in a row.
Alexander Radulov added a pair of assists for Nashville, extending his point streak to six games. He has five goals and four assists during the spurt.
Mark Parrish had the only goal for the Wild, but by then the score was already 3-0.