NHL Scores & More: Detroit Wins 23rd Straight Game At Home

On "Hockey Day In America," the Detroit Red Wings, who have not lost at home since Nov. 3, continued to make Joe Louis Arena an impossible place to win with a 3-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks.

Detroit broke the single-season record last week with its 21st consecutive win at home Tuesday, then took control of the multi-season record with its 23rd win Sunday, breaking the previous record started by the 1929-30 Boston Bruins (who originally set the 20-game record) and finished by the 1930-31 Bruins. The Red Wings also broke another streak: their five-game regular season losing streak to the Sharks, who have eliminated them from the playoffs in each of the last two seasons.

The Red Wings head to the United Center to face the Chicago Blackhawks Tuesday before returning to Detroit Thursday against the Vancouver Canucks.

Derek Roy scored two goals and added an assist, Jason Pominville scored a goal and posted three points, and goaltender Ryan Miller made 24 saves to lead the Buffalo Sabres to a 6-2 trampling of the Pittsburgh Penguins Sunday afternoon at the First Niagara Center. The names of both Roy and Miller have made the recent rounds in the rumor mill as the Sabres, who snapped a four-game losing streak (0-3-1), appear to be ready to become sellers as the NHL trade deadline approaches on Feb. 27.

Pittsburgh fell to just 4-4-1 in February.

Buffalo opened the scoring in the game's first minute. Roy attempted to dump the puck behind the net along the left wing wall, but it bounced into the slot to Tyler Myers. The big defenseman flipped a pass toward Pominville, who was stationed to the left of Pittsburgh starter Brent Johnson, and the Sabres' captain was able to chip a shot past the goaltender for his 23rd goal of the season just 52 seconds after the opening faceoff for a 1-0 Buffalo lead.

The home team added to the margin shortly thereafter, with Roy and Pominville once again being involved. Defenseman Christian Ehrhoff sent a pass from his own blueline up the left wing boards, where Pominville tipped the puck to Roy in full flight. As Pens' defender Brooks Orpik stood Roy up at the left circle, the center sent a backhander past a startled Johnson for his 12th goal of the year and a 2-0 Sabres' lead after the first period.

As they did in the first, the Sabres got off to a good start in the middle frame. With Buffalo still pressuring the Penguins' net after the expiration of a Pascal Dupuis high-sticking minor, Nathan Gerbe carried the puck around the net and attempted a shot that Johnson stopped. Paul Gaustad was there to pick up the garbage and promptly deposited the rebound top shelf over the fallen netminder to increase the Buffalo lead to 3-0 just 2:52 into the second.

Having stopped just nine of the 12 shots he faced, Pens head coach Dan Bylsma had seen enough and sent out the hook for Johnson, replacing him with their number one goalie, Marc-Andre Fleury.

The move seemed to spark Pittsburgh, as the Penguins were finally able to answer back less than a minute later. The NHL's leading scorer sent a pass from the right wing boards to Deryk Engelland straight away at the blue line. The low-scoring blueliner one-timed a shot past Miller for just his third goal of the season to get the Penguins on the board and cut the deficit to 3-1.

Fleury would deny Patrick Kaleta with a glove save on a penalty shot attempt midway through the period to keep Pittsburgh within two goals at the second intermission.

The Penguins took advantage of an early power-play opportunity in the third, when winger James Neal found Jordan Staal with separation from defenseman Jordan Leopold in the low slot. Staal's backhander went beneath Leopold's sliding attempt to block the shot and trickled through Miller's pads, just crossing the goal line before coming to rest for the center's 19th goal of the year to bring the Pens to within 3-2 at the 5:05 mark.

But that would be it for Pittsburgh.

Just over a minute later Buffalo entered the Pens' zone and Drew Stafford's redirection of a Thomas Vanek pass went just wide, but Stafford was able to gather his rebound behind the Pittsburgh cage, The winger skated around the net and whipped a bad angel shot that banked off of a sprawling Fleury's arm and bounced into the net for Stafford's 10th of the season to give the Sabres some breathing room at 4-2.

A crucial sequence in the outcome of the contest would play out when Leopold went to the penalty box for holding at 6:39. As the Buffalo minor was winding down, Ehrhoff sent a slap pass from deep in his own end up the left wing boards onto the stick of Pominville at the Pittsburgh line. Pominville carried the puck, pulled up at the half boards, then sent a pass to the front of the net that Roy was able to deflect through Fleury's five-hole for a shorthanded tally, his second of the afternoon and 13th of the year with 11:28 remaining in regulation and a 5-2 Sabres' lead.

The assist was Ehrhoff's third of the afternoon.

Buffalo put the game out of reach late in the third, with Tyler Ennis tapping his own rebound past Fleury for his sixth goal of the season shortly after a Neal charging minor had expired to give the home club a 6-2 lead with just 3:17 left in the third to close out the scoring.

Fleury finished the game with the exact same numbers as Johnson, stopping just nine of the 12 shots he faced over the last 37:08 of the contest.

Miller, who has suffered through a down year, evened his record at 17-17-4. He snapped a three-game losing skid (0-2-1) and won for the first time since Feb. 10.

Roy and Myers each finished the game with a +4, and at the other end of the spectrum, Kris Letang and Paul Martin both ended with an awful -4 rating.

Earlier in the day, the Penguins re-signed Neal to a 6-year, $30 million contract extension.

While the Sabres sit in the 14th spot in the Eastern Conference and trail the eighth-place Toronto Maple Leafs by seven points, Pittsburgh missed out on a glorious chance to pass the idle Philadelphia Flyers for the fourth seed. With the loss in regulation, the Penguins fell to sixth in the East when the New Jersey Devils dumped the Montreal Canadiens later in the afternoon, moving NJ past both the Pens and the Flyers into fourth.

After suffering an 0-8-1 streak through much of the new year, Hockey Day in America looked like a very grim prospect for the Chicago Blackhawks. Fortunately, victories over the Rangers and Blue Jackets have diminished the air of panic that seemed to be settling over the club, but the matchup against their unexpected Central Division rivals in St. Louis still provided a tall order for head coach Joel Quenneville. The Blackhawks survived the test, 3-1.

Playing in the second game of back-to-back starts, Chicago goaltender Corey Crawford was exceptional. Despite St. Louis outshooting the home squad by a 15-4 margin, Crawford was able to turn away every attempt until the final thirty seconds of the period, when Andy McDonald scored his third goal in the last three games. Muscling into the crease in pursuit of a loose puck after Crawford was unable to cover up, the veteran center poked it into the goal through the chaos to give St. Louis the 1-0 lead.

With the Blues clamping down through the second period, the home team finally broke through when Duncan Keith took a pass from Patrick Sharp in full flight and unleashed a powerful slapshot to knot things up.

Invigorated by the goal, the Hawks began to put pressure on St. Louis, forcing the Blues back into their zone until a long possession culminated in Dave Bolland firing a puck against into the crease before David Backes accidentally knocked it into his own net.

With Elliot on the bench for the final minutes of play, Marian Hossa deposited an empty-net goal to secure the game for Chicago, but an altercation between Alex Pietrangelo and John Scott escalated into a brawl in the final seconds of the game, including Blues' enforcer Ryan Reaves dropping the gloves with Scott, and both B.J. Crombeen and Jamal Mayers being awarded game misconduct penalties.

The Montreal Canadiens have suddenly believed that they are a team in the race for a playoff spot after a few wins and only being six points out of eighth place. Still, their new-found confidence wasn't enough for Martin Brodeur and the hot New Jersey Devils, who won on the road, 3-1.

In Hockey Day in America's "late" game, it was appropriate that the U.S.-born players took advantage of the national spotlight. Three of the four goals in this game were scored by Americans. Minnesota's own, Zach Parise started the night's scoring with just under two minutes to go in the first period. The only player to break up the national pride on the scoresheet was Canadian David Clarkson, who scored with 18 seconds left in the second period. The Devils ability to get traffic on Carey Price was a factor in all three of their goals this evening.

It seemed as though the Devils would run away with the game; however, after a third power-play opportunity, Connecticut-native Max Pacioretty scored to cut New Jersey's lead in half. Montreal fed off the goal and got some pretty good chances, but the Devils stuck to their game-plan and Matt Taormina, who hails from Michigan, swung the momentum back on the visitors' side with a goal for the 3-1 lead (Just for kicks, Mark Fayne, who had an assist on Taormina's goal, is from New Hampshire). The Habs put on a bit of pressure on at the end, but as usual, Brodeur stood in the way of any signs of a comeback with a 21-save performance.

The Canadiens had the Devils' number in the first two matchups this season -- of course, that was before the Devils turned it on to the point where they have lost only once in regulation in the month of February. The Devils, who came into the game 7-1-2 in their last 10.

Before the game, the Canadiens held a tribute to former Montreal Expo Gary Carter, who passed away last Thursday. It did not air in the United States, but CBC had coverage on it. Martin Brodeur grew up cheering for Carter and the Expos and said, "For us, he was a part of our family." Via Sports Illustrated: