NHL Scores & More: Blue Jackets Robbed At Buzzer; Panthers Extend Lead On Caps

The Anaheim Ducks were on a tear for the month of January, going 8-1-1 coming into Wednesday's match with the Dallas Stars. On the back-end of a back-to-back, however, Anaheim was due for a bad game and it came in the form of a 6-2 loss to Dallas.

The Ducks got the scoring started just over five minutes in the game, but after that it was all Stars. Dallas was able to get six different scorers on the board, especially Jamie Benn, who recorded three points including a goal of his own on the night. Eric Nystrom, Vernon Fiddler, Stephane Robidas, Sheldon Souray and Michael Ryder also got in on the scoring action. To top it off, Kari Lehtonen aided in helping his squad, taking 35 shots and stopping 33 of them.

The Stars, at their best and healthiest, began the season 11-3-0. Injuries halted their tear, but they kept hanging in there. Now that Dallas is healthy again and still near a playoff spot (just one spot behind the Minnesota Wild), they can truly take on their "pesky" persona and make a real run this second-half.

Of course, though, Anaheim was playing the second game in a back-to-back set to open their season's second half -- probably contributing to their struggle in Wednesday's game. The loss snaps a six-game home winning streak, but the Ducks will have three more games at the Honda Center -- the next game being against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The Ducks are still far behind with 45 points, but in piecing things together, they, too may be able to take on a "pesky" role to close out the year.

Despite both the Buffalo Sabres and New York Rangers having played in games on Tuesday night, both teams had an incredible level of energy as they took the ice at the First Niagara Center.

With Henrik Lundqvist and Ryan Miller in net, it was not a stretch to expect world class goaltending, but this game defied even the loftiest expectations.

For sixty five minutes, both goaltenders turned aside every chance, helped in no small part by both defenses putting on a shot blocking clinic.

A physical affair, more than a few battles along the boards and duels for position ended with both combatants heading back to their benches with bruises and cuts. The crowd fed off the energy of the players and vice versa as each team battled back and forth, cheering for the incredible efforts from each side.

Despite both teams getting power play opportunities in overtime, Miller and Lundqvist continued to make highlight reel saves, in particular a last second save by Lundqvist on Brad Boyes and a stunning leg pad stop on Ryan Callahan by Miller at the side of the net during the four on three power play.

As the crowd saluted both teams following the extra period for the incredible effort, the Sabres would see Nathan Gerbe stopped by King Henrik, while Marian Gaborik scored on the opening attempt for the Rangers with a rising shot that hit both inside posts before bursting out of the net.

Brad Boyes made the next attempt for Buffalo, and Lundqivst performed an exceptional diving save to shut him down, while Miller stopped John Mitchell.

Jason Pominville finally solved Lundqvist with a rocket wrist shot to keep the Sabres alive, and Miller made an impressive glove save on Brad Richards to send the contest into extra shooters.

Tyler Ennis, Derek Stepan, and Ville Leino were all stopped, leaving the game in the hands of Rochester native Ryan Callahan, who delivered the game winning goal to move the Rangers into a tie for the President's Trophy, while the struggling Sabres move into a tie with Tampa Bay for 11th place, still nine points back of the final playoff spot in the East.

James Reimer turned aside all 25 shots he faced and Clarke MacArthur scored the game's lone goal with 6:05 remaining in regulation, as the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins in the back end of a home-and-home series, 1-0, at Air Canada Centre.

The Penguins had pulled off a near miracle on Tuesday night when they came back from a 4-1 third period deficit, with Evgeni Malkin tying the game with just 6.6 seconds left in regulation to send the contest to extra time. After overtime did not settled the outcome, Malkin promptly won the game in the shootout.

With the win, Toronto took three points in the two-day series and jumped a point ahead of the New Jersey Devils for seventh place in the Eastern Conference playoff race, while the loss snapped an eight-game winning streak for the Penguins. The Pens missed out on an opportunity to tie the Philadelphia Flyers with 64 points.

Reimer was called on early to make a big save, stopping a Matt Cooke backhander on a partial breakaway nearly seven minutes into the contest.

Part of the Leafs' game plan was to hit All-Star defenseman Kris Letang at ever opportunity, and the tactic caused some severe contention over the course of the entire evening. Letang was hit with an inadvertent high stick from Phil Kessel, who was engaged in a check with another Penguin. The blade of Kessel's stick sliced a gash open on the left side of Letang's nose, and the defender spent a lot of the game hitting every Leaf that moved in retaliation.

Late in the opening stanza, a Joey Crabb shot trickled under Pittsburgh starter Brent Johnson but Ben Lovejoy, who was back in the lineup in place of injured blueliner Deryk Engelland, punched the puck out of harm's way while sprawled in the crease behind the Penguins' netminder.

Pittsburgh appeared to take the lead early in the second period following some great work along the boards by Malkin. The Hart Trophy candidate dug the puck out of a defender's skates along the left wing wall, then made an excellent pass to linemate Chris Kunitz in front of the Maple Leafs' net. Kunitz got the puck past Reimer but upon video review, it was obvious the winger had employed a distinct kicking motion to beat the goalie. The goal was correctly disallowed, and the teams entered into a scoreless third period.

A sequence with just over six minutes left in regulation would determine the game's outcome and as happens so many times, a close call at one end then leads to another at the opposite end of the rink.

James Neal deflected a Brooks Orpik shot over Reimer and off the cross bar, and Toronto headed out on a rush in the other direction. Mikhail Grabovski hit MacArthur with a perfect feed as he was cutting in on net to Johnson's left and when it looked like he was going to the backhand, the goalie bit on the move. MacArthur instead flipped the puck back over to the forehand side, and was able to stuff the puck into the gaping cage.

MacArthur's 16th goal of the season gave the Leafs a 1-0 lead with just 6:05 left on the clock, and gave the Toronto winger four goals in his last three games. He now has seven goals and 18 points in 20 lifetime game against the Penguins.

A night after Pittsburgh came back on netminder Jonas Gustavsson, they would not be as fortunate against Reimer. He shut the door the rest of the way in posting his first whitewash since opening night in a 32-save effort against the Montreal Canadiens. The win for Reimer broke a personal three-game losing skid (0-2-1)