NHL Scores Thursday Night: Scores and Highlights from around the National Hockey League

NHL Scores

Buffalo (11-0-1) scored three goals in the third period to force overtime and went on to beat the Boston Bruins (3-5-2) 5-4 after going to a shootout. The Sabres got two goals from Maxim Afinogenov and Marc Savard added a goal and two assists. Jason Pominville scored his ninth goal of the season for Buffalo.

Cristobal Huet stopped all 31 shots he faced and the Montreal Canadians (7-2-3) went into Carolina and knocked off the Hurricanes (6-6-2) 4-0. Mike Komisarek had a goal and an assist in the Montreal victory.

Martin St. Louis had two goals and an assist while Vincent Lecavalier had a goal and two assists as the Tampa Bay Lightning (6-7-0) handed the Philadelphia Flyers (3-8-1) another home loss 5-2.

With three assists from Alexei Yashin and a goal and two assists from Jason Blake, the N.Y. Islanders (6-4-2) beat the New Jersey Devils (6-5-1) 5-2.

The Florida Panthers (6-7-2) used a former Maple Leaf to beat the Maple Leafs, Ed Belfour stopped 23 shots and the Panthers managed to put 42 shots on goal. Four of those goals hit the back of the net for the Panthers who went on to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs (7-5-3) 4-2.

Doug Weight totaled four assists and Manny Legace stopped 44 shots as St. Louis (4-5-3) beat the Colorado Avalanche (6-5-2) 4-1. Bill Guerin had his sixth goal of the year for the Blues in the win.

After giving up two goals in under a minute, the Minnesota Wild (10-2-0¬) went with rookie goalie Niklas Backstrom and came back to beat the Vancouver Canucks (7-6-1) 5-2. Backstrom stopped all 19 shots he faced in only his second NHL game.

Henrik Zetterberg had a hand in both goals for Detroit (8-4-1), scoring once and gathering an assist on the other as the Red Wings stopped the Chicago Blackhawks (4-9-0) 2-1.

Matt Cullen scored with one second remaining in the first period and Martin Straka added another goal in the second period as the New York Rangers (7-6-0) went into San Jose (9-5-0) and beat the Sharks 3-1. Brendan Shanahan had an empty netter for his 12th goal of the year. Playing in only his third game of the season Kevin Weekes stopped 29 0f 30 shots for the Rangers.