NHL ROUNDUP | Thursday’s other games

Canadiens 4, Bruins 2

BOSTON — The Montreal Canadiens moved back into first place in the Eastern Conference, yet their attention was still focused on the team they just beat. Alex Kovalev had two goals and an assist, and Carey Price made 34 saves to lift the Canadiens to their 10th straight victory over the Boston Bruins. Montreal has won all seven meetings this season, and tied a franchise record for the most consecutive wins against Boston. That mark was set in the 1944-45 season. “Some teams just play well against other teams, and that’s just the way it goes,” Price said. The Canadiens moved one point ahead of the idle New Jersey Devils in the race for the top seed in the East playoffs. Boston has one more chance this season to beat the Canadiens, and that comes Saturday night in Montreal. “We are playing against them the way Ottawa plays against us,” Kovalev said. “It’s still just two points.” The Bruins also are perplexed about why this Original Six rivalry has been so one-sided lately. “The onus is on us to change this,” defenseman Aaron Ward said. “It sounds bad to say, but I thought we were better against them tonight. Shame on us if we are not ready for them on Saturday.” Boston’s home arena was about half-filled with Canadiens fans, and they could be heard from the opening faceoff.

Red Wings 6, Predators 3

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Johan Franzen’s third-period goal broke a tie and led Detroit. Niklas Kronwall, Chris Chelios, and Brian Rafalski each scored second-period goals for the Red Wings, and Pavel Datsyuk added an insurance tally late in the third. Dominik Hasek earned his 385th NHL victory, tying him for 10th place with Mike Vernon on the career list. Alexander Radulov scored twice for Nashville, and Martin Erat had the other Predators goal. The Red Wings are one win away from 50 this season. Nashville lost its franchise record-tying sixth consecutive home game.

Senators 3, Blues 2

OTTAWA — Jason Spezza scored his 31st goal and Martin Gerber stopped 24 shots to lead Ottawa over St. Louis. Antoine Vermette and Christoph Schubert also scored for Ottawa, fifth in the Eastern Conference with 89 points, two more than the New York Rangers. The Senators remain three points behind Montreal, the leader in the Northeast Division and the East. “It’s kind of good, the fact that we play our division the rest of the way,” Spezza said. “It makes for tough games, but it gets you ready for the playoffs.” Jamal Mayers and Jeff Woywitka scored 2:44 apart midway through the first period to give St. Louis a short-lived 2-1 lead. Blues defenseman Barret Jackman left St. Louis short-handed for 4 minutes with 8:20 remaining in the game when he had an unsportsmanlike penalty added for arguing after he was called for high-sticking Mike Fisher. “We didn’t capitalize but we still didn’t allow them any chances,” Fisher said. “For the most part we played a pretty solid game. It was a good win for us to find a way. That’s what you’ve got to do at this time of year, and just build off of it.”

Hurricanes 2, Panthers 1, SO

SUNRISE, Fla. — Sergei Samsonov and Eric Staal scored in the shootout for Carolina, which snapped Florida’s team-record tying, seven-game winning streak. Carolina won the shootout 2-0, sealing the victory when Staal’s wrist shot trickled through the Tomas Vokoun’s pads. Trevor Letowski scored in the first period for Carolina, which won for the 10th time in 13 games. The Southeast Division-leading Hurricanes have 87 points, seven more than second-place Washington. Stephen Weiss scored Florida’s only goal in the third period. The 11th-place Panthers are four points behind seventh-place Boston and three behind eighth-place Philadelphia.

Associated Press