Red-hot Bruins edge Sabres for 10th win of season

Reuters, Buffalo

Joe Thornton scored a pair of goals as the red-hot Boston Bruins became the third team to hit 10 wins this season, downing the Buffalo Sabres 4-3 in National Hockey League action on Tuesday.

Boston (10-2-2-1) has lost just once in 14 games since opening night while the Sabres saw their winless streak hit nine games (0-7-2).

With just nine points, the Sabres have the second worst record in the NHL ahead of only Atlanta.

The Eastern Conference leading Bruins also picked up their historic 1,000 win on the road with the victory.

Marty McInnis and P.J. Axelsson also scored for the Bruins, while Steve Shields made 34 saves in goal.

Thornton now has 10 points in his past five games.

Chris Gratton with a pair and J.P. Dumont with a single scored for the Sabres before 13,573 fans and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.

Bettman met with Sabres officials and media to update the team's proposed sale, which he said is progressing toward a conclusion.

In Raleigh, North Carolina, Ron Francis had a goal and one assist to lead the Carolina Hurricanes past the Phoenix Coyotes 3-2.

Carolina (8-4-2-2) has lost just once in six games while the Coyotes lost their third straight to slip to 6-10-0-1.

Jan Hlavac and Bret Hedican also scored for the Hurricanes, while David Tanabe added two assists. Kevin Weekes made 27 saves in goal.

Shane Doan and Kelly Buchberger replied for Phoenix.

In Uniondale, rookie Martin Prusek made 29 saves, including one on a penalty shot for the second straight game, as the Ottawa Senators downed the New York Islanders 5-3.

Prusek, making his first NHL start, stopped Dave Scatchard on a penalty shot early in the third period.

The 26-year-old Czech also stopped Boston's Glen Murray on a penalty shot in relief of starter Patrick Lalime Saturday.

Zdeno Chara had two goals and one assist to lead the Ottawa offense, including an empty net goal.

Todd White and Shaun Van Allen scored the other goals for Ottawa.

Adrian Aucoin, Arron Asham and Eric Manlow scored the goals for New York.

In Detroit, Brendan Shanahan had two goals and one assist to lead the Red Wings past the Nashville Predators 4-1.

Sergei Fedorov had a goal and two assists for the Wings, while Darren McCarty scored the other goal for Detroit (8-5-2-0). Curtis Joseph made 22 saves.

Martin Erat had the lone Nashville marker as the Predators ended a seven-game road trip at 2-2-1-2.

In Montreal, Ron Tugnutt made 21 saves as the Dallas Stars edged the Canadiens 4-2.

Sergei Zubov, Manny Malhotra, Jason Arnott and Jere Lehtinen into an empty net scored for the Stars, who improved to 9-4-3-1.

Oleg Petrov and Richard Zednik scored for Montreal, which was out-shot 33-23.

Jose Theodore played in goal for the Canadiens, who have lost just twice in their past eight games.

In East Rutherford, Jamie Langenbrunner's second goal of the game 3:04 into overtime gave the New Jersey Devils a 3-2 win over the Anaheim Mighty Ducks.

In Toronto, Mats Sundin scored his second goal of the game 3:20 into overtime to give the Maple Leafs a 4-3 win over the Los Angeles Kings.

In Minneapolis, Mike Comrie had a pair of goals and Tommy Salo made 21 saves as the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Minnesota Wild 3-2.

In Denver, Milan Hejduk scored a pair of goals and Peter Forsberg had a goal and one assist as the Colorado Avalanche finally won a home game, defeating the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-4.