NHL Scores And More: Of Course Jaroslav Halak Had A Shutout In Montreal

Considering how tight the Eastern Conference currently is - only eight points separate sixth from 11th - every win counts. Coincidentally, the sixth-place team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the 11th place team, the Buffalo Sabres, met Tuesday with the Leafs prevailing in a 2-0 win.

Nikolai Kulemin and Mikhail Grabovksi scored in the first period and Jonas Gustavsson made 32 saves to lead the Leafs to victory. Toronto finished their four-game homestand undefeated, picking up eight crucial points. Grabovski had five points in those four games, while Gustavsson won his fourth straight game and earned his second shutout in three games.

With the win, the Leafs are alone in sixth place in the East. Only the conference-leading New York Rangers are hotter right now with five straight wins.

The Leafs now hit the road for their next game Friday against these same Sabres. When you think about, Buffalo is essentially another home game for Toronto, so perhaps the good vibes will follow the Leafs there.

When you play St. Louis now, you'll probably need that first goal of the game to get ahead -- the Canadiens were unable to establish the tone -- therefore, the Habs lost the game to the Blues, 3-0. In Jaroslav Halak's first return to Montreal, he stopped all of Montreal's 19 shots with his stellar defense.

The Canadiens have struggled to score goals and that makes it much more difficult to score when you face the team that has allowed the fewest goals in the Western Conference in the St. Louis Blues, especially with Halak's chip on his shoulder -- which was the story of this game.

The Blues established the tone in Montreal physically, which, despite Randy Cunneyworth's emphasis on this aspect, stopped Montreal's push. Once the Habs were unable to take control of the game early on, Jason Arnott took the first strike in the second period to began the offensive output for the Blues. After Arnott's goal, two more goals from David Backes and Chris Stewart gave St. Louis the dagger for the victory. It also didn't help that Montreal gave up 21 giveaways, which the Blues took advantage of, especially on Stewart's goal:

St. Louis has bounced ahead of the Chicago Blackhawks in the division, taking second place in the Western Conference. They'll have a more formidable opponent in the Vancouver Canucks, who defeated the Boston Bruins Saturday and defeated the Lightning Tuesday. The Bruins also just happen to be the Habs' next opponent.

Though the San Jose Sharks and Minnesota Wild have been bound together by the wholesale exchange of rosters this offseason, tonight's matchup was even more memorable than usual for Matt Cullen. The Minnesota native skated onto the ice for game No. 1,000 of his NHL career, 15 years after being being called up by the Anaheim Ducks, who originally drafted him as the 35th overall pick in 1996.

The third meeting between the teams this season, it was also the first in Minnesota, giving the Xcel Energy Center crowd a chance to offer former Wild defender Brent Burns a warm welcome, but the applause quickly settled into catcalls after the initial rush of goodwill faded.

Another unusual story came into play after the warmup skate, when the Wild announced that former Shark Devin Setoguchi was scratched for "disciplinary reasons", which Star Tribune reporter Mike Russo later clarified as a punishment for missing a team meeting Tuesday morning.

The game started well for the home crowd despite the loss of Setoguchi and top six forward Pierre-Marc Bouchard, as the Minnesota offense tested Antti Niemi early before Cal Clutterbuck opened the scoring on a perfect backhand shelf move.

Dan Boyle responded with just his third goal of the year late in the first period, but the Wild took a 2-1 lead in the second period thanks to Jason Peters, and then extended it to 3-1 and 4-2 advantages thanks to Nick Johnson and Cullen through the third period. The Cullen goal, though crowd pleasing, came with a fair amount of controversy: San Jose coach Todd McClelland felt that Niemi had covered the puck, but the lack of a whistle meant that the Wild continued to battle in the crease.

Even as fans in the Xcel Center cheered for the hometown hero, the Sharks renewed their efforts, showing why they have been so consistently dangerous in the Western Conference over the past few seasons. Fittingly, Brent Burns set up Logan Couture with a long shot from the point with just over three minutes to go that the sophomore poked past a sprawling Josh Harding. Thirty seconds later, the stunned crowd saw Patrick Marleau redirect a Joe Thornton shot, and a storybook ending seemed in jeopardy as time ran with the game tied at 4-4.

Patrick Marleau nearly capped the Sharks' comeback less than thirty seconds into OT on a shot that slid through the crease, but Harding was able to poke it away with his outstretched glove just in time. The Sharks continued to pressure the Minnesota defense, leading the shots 5-2 in OT, but were forced to accept a shootout when neither side could capitalize during the extra time.

Wild head coach Mike Yeo made the decision to lead his shooters with Cullen, who came into the game with a 4-for-8 record in shootouts this season, and the veteran scored with a slow rolling shot that ran up the side of Niemi's leg pads and into the net.

Josh Harding made a neat glove save on Michal Handzus, and Mikko Koivu went forehand-backhand before scoring on his attempt to put the game in the hands of Ryan Clowe and Josh Harding.

Clowe attempted to move in and try for a close-range stuff attempt, similar to the goal that Logan Couture sparked the San Jose rally with, but Harding was prepared on the attempt and sealed his legs to the ice, trapping the puck and kicking it out of danger to complete the win.

Sergei Bobrovsky made 35 saves, while Brayden Schenn and Sean Couturier scored to lead the Philadelphia Flyers over the Carolina Hurricanes by a 2-1 score Tuesday night at RBC Center in Raleigh, NC.

Bobrovsky, getting the call in place of Ilya Bryzgalov for just his 13th start in the club's 41st game of the season, made it obvious early that he was on his game. He was called upon to make difficult stops on Eric Staal and Jiri Tlusty in rapid succession in the contest's first minute, and showed a brash confidence throughout.

Following a scoreless first period, Schenn, who scored his first career goal on Jan. 2 at the Winter Classic, picked up a Wayne Simmonds rebound in front of the Carolina net, and chipped it up and over a fallen Cam Ward and under the crossbar to give Philadelphia a 1-0 lead at 4:20 of the second period. After having not recorded a single point while battling injuries in his first eight games this season, Schenn now has picked up points in three of the last five contests.

Despite a high number of shots on goal and some quality scoring chances, Schenn's goal held up until eight minutes after Schenn's goal.

Just nine seconds after Flyers' defenseman Kimmo Timonen was whistled for interfering with recently recalled forward Jerome Samson, the 24-year-old would score his first career NHL goal. Bobrovsky had made two stops on booming slap shots, one off the stick of Staal and the other by Justin Faulk, but couldn't control the rebounds on either. The result was half of an empty net with which to shoot for Samson, who quickly snapped a shot past the defenseless Bobrovsky to tie the score at 1-1 at the 12:37 mark of the middle frame.

Samson is the fifth player to have scored their first career NHL goals against the Flyers this season, with the previous being New Jersey's Adam Henrique, the Rangers' Carl Hagelin, Montreal's Louis Leblanc, and Chicago's Andrew Shaw.

The goaltenders were matching each other, save for save, until Philadelphia gained the lead for good thanks to the efforts of a couple of rookies early in the third period. Harry Zolnierczyk hustled down the puck and sent Couturier in on the right wing side in the Carolina zone. Couturier whipped a wrist shot from the right hash marks, beating Ward to the far side for his seventh goal of the year. Couturier has goals in consecutive games, and has picked up points in four of the six games he has played since returning from a concussion. It was the 19-year-old's only shot on goal of the game in just 9:58 of ice time, but he made it count by registering his first career game-winning goal.

Zolnierczyk similarly didn't get much time on ice (7:00), but he did manage to get four shots on Ward, blocked a shot, was credited with a takeaway, and most importantly, assisted on Couturier's game-winner.

As the Flyers nursed the one-goal lead late in regulation and with Ward pulled for an extra attacker, Philadelphia's defense turned the puck over in their own zone, only to be redeemed by Bobrovsky, who made a tremendous save on a blistering Staal one-timer from the right faceoff circle with less than a minute left in regulation to preserve the victory.

The win was Peter Laviolette's 100th win as head coach of the Flyers. He is now 100-59-21 with the club.

Philadelphia improved their road record to a sizzling 15-6-2, and kept pace with the conference-leading New York Rangers with the win. The Flyers trail the Blueshirts by four points (58-54). Bobrovsky increased his excellent numbers this year to 9-3-1, with a 2.45 goals-against average and .919 save percentage.

Even though he stopped 35 of 37 Philadelphia shots, Ward dropped to 14-16-6, as the Hurricanes fell to the bottom spot in the Eastern Conference standings.

The Flyers' top line of Claude Giroux, Jaromir Jagr, and Scott Hartnell was held off the score sheet for a third consecutive game, but the youngsters were there to pick them up.