Blake Wheeler scored two goals to spark the surging Boston Bruins to a 4-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes and their seventh consecutive victory on Saturday. Wheeler scored twice within four minutes in the second period for the Eastern Conference leaders who have won 12 of their last 13 games. "When you have chemistry with your line mates, you look for each other," Wheeler said.
"We're moving pucks to each other because we feel confident the other guy is going to do a good job." Michael Ryder and Chuck Kobasew were also on the scoresheet for Boston. Matt Cullen opened the scoring for Carolina in the first period, while they levelled the score again at 2-2 on Anton Babchuk's goal 10:58 into the second. Brian Rolston, Patrik Elias, Travis Zajac and Zach Parise were all on the scoresheet for the New Jersey Devils as they beat the New York Rangers 4-2. Nigel Dawes and Dmitri Kalinin scored for the Rangers.
Andrei Kostitsyn recorded the first hat-trick of his career as the Montreal Canadiens edged out the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2. Pascal Dupuis and captain Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist apiece for the Penguins. Wojtek Wolski scored the only goal of the shoot-out as the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Detroit Red Wings 4-3, while Brad Winchester tied the game in the third period and scored the decisive goal in the shoot-out to lift the St Louis Blues to a 3-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks.
Jan Hejda and Andrew Murray scored first-period goals while rookie goaltender Steve Mason finished with 20 saves for the third shutout of his career as the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 3-0, while Rene Bourque notched the first hat-trick of his career as the Calgary Flames recorded a 6-3 victory over the Ottawa Senators. Mike Modano scored in overtime as the Dallas Stars recorded a 4-3 triumph over the Anaheim Ducks, while the Buffalo Sabres beat the New York Islanders 4-3 after a shoot-out.
Alexander Frolov scored two goals as the Los Angeles Kings cruised to a 4-0 triumph over the Phoenix Coyotes, while the Tampa Bay Lightning captain Vincent Lecavalier also scored twice to help his side beat the Florida Panthers 6-4. * Reuters
