Montreal's Andrei Kostitsyn recorded his first career hat trick on Saturday night, while Carey Price stopped 31 shots, including 16 in the third period to lead the Canadien's to a 3-2 victory in Pittsburgh. With the win, Montreal moves ahead of the Penguins in the Eastern Conference standings, while the Penguins failed to win consecutive games yet again -- they haven't won two in a row since November 13-15. Just sayin'.Kostitsyn scored a pair of goals in the first period before completing the hat trick early in the third period with a quick slap shot that beat Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury through the five-hole.
Following Kostitsyn's goal, Price turned into a brick wall, as the Penguins had a trio of power plays in the final period, and peppered the Montreal netminder. Of course, if you're Pittsburgh, you have to be a tad frustrated you failed to convert on five power plays, after going 0-for-5 one night ago in New Jersey. How a power play that features Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, Petr Sykora and Ryan Whitney, among others, can consistently have so many 0-for-5 and 0-for-6 nights seems to defy all logic. Yet, here we are.
Crosby and Pascal Dupuis each finished with a goal and an assist for Pittsburgh.
New Jersey Finds Some Offense
So, after Tom made that awesome post -- and it was awesome -- about how the Devils offense was scoring goals at a surprising, under the radar rate, they, naturally, went seven straight periods without lighting the lamp. On Saturday, they finally snapped that drought with a pair of goals in the first five minutes, when Brian Rolston and Patrik Elias scored goals for New Jersey.
Travis Zajac and Zach Parise also scored for the Devils, while Zajac added a pair of assists, as Scott Clemmensen stopped 31 shots in New Jersey's 4-2 win over the Rangers. Nigel Dawes and Dmitri Kalinin scored for New York in its second consecutive loss.
The Rest of the Action
... Columbus' Steve Mason picked up his third shutout of the season, turning aside 20 shots in a 3-0 win over Philadelphia.
... Blake Wheeler had another two-goal night for the Bruins, as they continued their assault on the Eastern Conference with a 4-2 win in Carolina. Michael Ryder and Chuck Kobasew also potted goals for the B's, while Tim Thomas stopped 29 shots in net.
... Three wins in a row for Tampa Bay? Break up the Lightning! Vincent Lecavalier scored twice in a 6-4 win, while Martin St. Louis finished with a four-point night. The current three-game winning streak comes after St. Louis flipped his lid following a loss in Atlanta way back on December 20, when the veteran forward told the local scribes that he was "[expletive] fed up." Seems he can motivate the team better than Barry Melrose and Rick Tocchet.
... Trailing 3-1 with less than two minutes to play in regulation in Buffalo, the Islanders were looking at yet another loss. After Mike Comrie notched a power play tally with 1:34 to play, Chris Campoli tied the game with two seconds remaining in regulation, sending the game to overtime. It ultimately went to a shootout, where Ales Kotalik and Drew Stafford scored for the Sabres, giving them a 4-3 win.
... After Mike Ribeiro tied the game for Dallas with a minute remaining in regulation, Mike Modano potted the game-winner in overtime, lifting the Stars to a 4-3 win over Anaheim.
... On the same night they found out Paul Kariya won't be returning to the lineup anytime soon, the Blues managed to defeat the Sharks, 3-2, in a shootout. David Perron and Brad Winchester scored in regulation for St. Louis, while each player also tallied goals in the shootout.
... After a rough start to his career in his first two appearances, Los Angeles goalie Jonathan Quick has been quite solid in net for the Kings in each of his past three starts. He posted his second shutout of the season Saturday, stopping 26 shots in a 4-0 win over Phoenix. Alexander Frolov scored twice, while Jarret Stoll and Raitis Ivanans also tallied goals for the Kings.
... Despite blowing a 3-0 lead against Detroit on Saturday, the Avalanche rebounded to defeat the Red Wings, 4-3, in a shootout. Wojtek Wolski scored the game-winner in the shootout, while Ruslan Salei, Ryan Smyth and John-Michael Liles scored for Colorado in regulation. Pavel Datsyuk, Tomas Holmstrom and Johan Franzen provided the offense for the Red Wings, scoring three goals in the final six minutes of the second period.
... Rene Bourque picked up a hat trick in Calgary's 6-3 win over Ottawa, while Andre Roy, Adrian Aucoin, and Todd Bertuzzi also scored goals for the Flames.
