BOSTON: The Washington Capitals set a franchise record with their 11th straight win and sent the Boston Bruins to their eighth consecutive loss as Brooks Laich broke a tie early in the third period of a 4-1 win Tuesday night.
The NHL’s highest-scoring team trailed the league’s lowest-scoring team after one period but tied it on Mike Knuble’s goal 2:04 into the second. Laich scored at 5:04 of the third, Boyd Gordon connected less than three minutes later, and Alex Ovechkin added an empty-net goal at 19:28 against the Bruins, who are 0-6-2 in their past eight games.
The Capitals broke the club record set from Jan. 27-Feb. 18, 1984 and have the NHL’s longest winning streak since San Jose won 11 in a row from Feb. 21-March 14, 2008.
During their streak, the Capitals, who lead the Eastern Conference, have outscored opponents 51-22.
David Krejci scored for the Bruins.
Maple Leafs 3 Devils 0: In Toronto, Jean-Sebastien Giguere and Dion Phaneufmade the most of their Maple Leafs debut and Toronto topped New Jersey to snap a six-game losing streak.
Giguere finished with 30 saves, becoming only the second goalie in team history to record a shutout in his debut. By the end of the first period, Phaneuf had landed a hit, took part in a fight, and received an ovation.
Nikolai Kulemin, Phil Kessel and defenseman Francois Beauchemin provided all the offense Giguere needed. Another newcomer, Fredrik Sjostrom, earned an assist on Kulemin’s first-period goal to mark his first game with Toronto.
New Jersey backup Yann Danis, making his first start since Nov. 21, stopped 23 shots.
Lightning 2 Thrashers 1: In Atlanta, Antero Niittymakistopped 26 shots for his 16th straight win over Atlanta and Tampa Bay earned a rare road victory.
Stephane Veilleux and Martin St. Louis scored first-period goals and Niittymaki protected the lead, giving up only a second-period goal to Todd White. The Lightning improved to 4-1 against the Thrashers this season with their fourth straight win in the series, including three victories with Niittymaki in the net.
Niittymaki, in his first season with the Lightning after five with Philadelphia, improved to 11-0 at Philips Arena.
Tampa Bay snapped a two-game losing streak and improved to 9-15-5 in road games.
Canadiens 3 Canucks 2: In Montreal, Jaroslav Halak made 45 saves, Sergei Kostitsyn, Maxim Lapierre and Tomas Plekanec scored, and Montreal snapped Vancouver’s seven-game winning streak.
Halak, who stopped 34 shots in Saturday’s 3-2 overtime loss in Ottawa, started after recording a loss for the first time in 10 such occasions this season.
Montreal had lost three in a row and six of eight (2-4-2).
Mikael Samuelsson and Ryan Kesler scored power-play goals for Vancouver, which won at Toronto on Saturday to open its NHL-record 14-game road trip. Roberto Luongo stopped 25 shots.
Coyotes 1 Predators 0, SO: In Nashville, Adrian Aucoinlifted a wrister over the glove of Nashville goalie Pekka Rinnein the 10th round of the shootout to give Phoenix its fifth straight win.
Lauri Korpikoskiscored in the second round for Phoenix with a wrister over Rinne’s stick, but David Legwandtied it as Nashville’s third shooter. The Predators had a chance to keep the tiebreaker going after Aucoin scored, but Shea Weber’sshot went wide left.
The Coyotes, who have won eight of 10, matched their best winning streak of the season.
Stars 4 Wild 2: In Dallas, Marty Turcomade a season-high 40 saves, Mike Modanoscored his 556th career goal, and Dallas stretched its home-winning streak over Minnesota to 12 games.
Brad Richards added a power-play tally, James Nealnotched his team-high 22nd goal, and rookie Jamie Benn scored in the third period for Dallas.
The Stars improved to 6-1 in their last seven home games and 14-3-2 in their last 19 in Texas despite being outshot 42-18.
Minnesota’s last win in Dallas was March 21, 2003.
Avalanche 5 Blue Jackets 1: In Denver, Brandon Yiphad two goals, including the go-ahead score, Ryan O’Reilly added a pair of short-handed goals, and Colorado snapped a three-game losing streak by beating Columbus.
T.J. Galiardi had four assists, and Craig Andersonmade 20 saves for Colorado, which completed a sweep of the four-game season series with the Blue Jackets.
O’Reilly’s second two-goal game of the season came with Avalanche center Paul Stastnyin the penalty box, serving a double minor for high-sticking.
Kings 2 Rangers 1: In Los Angeles, Anze Kopitar scored a short-handed goal and Jonathan Quick made 20 saves as Los Angeles earned its seventh straight victory by topping the punchless New York Rangers.
Ryan Smythscored with 8:46 to play for the Kings, who are on their longest winning streak since early 1992, when Wayne Gretzky’s Kings won a franchise-record eight straight.
Marian Gaborik scored with 2:37 left to ruin Quick’s shutout bid, but New York lost its sixth in seven games despite the arrivals of new forward Olli Jokinenand Brandon Prust, acquired in a trade with Calgary less than 24 hours earlier.
Henrik Lundqvist stopped 19 shots for New York, which had a handful of tantalizing chances after Gaborik scored his fourth goal in two games.
Red Wings 4 Sharks 2: In San Jose, Calif., Derek Meech scored a tiebreaking power-play goal early in the third period and Detroit rallied from an early two-goal deficit to beat San Jose.
Dan Cleary, Henrik Zetterberg, and Patrick Eaves also scored for the Red Wings, who are 3-0 against the Western Conference-leading Sharks but have struggled against almost everyone else this season.
The Red Wings, who have won the Western Conference the past two seasons, are fighting just to make the playoffs this year in a season hampered by injuries.
