St. Louis blue after 9-game win streak ended in NHL

Reuters, St. Louis

Andrew Cassels scored two goals and Ray Whitney had a goal and two assists to help the Columbus Blue Jackets end the St Louis Blues's nine-game winning streak with a 5-2 victory Thursday.

It was the Blues's first loss since opening night as the team came within one win of tying a franchise record for consecutive victories.

Marc Denis made 26 saves for the Blue Jackets (6-5-1-1) as Columbus won for the first time in seven tries in St Louis.

Geoff Sanderson and Derrick Walser scored the other goals for the Blue Jackets. St Louis (9-2-1-0) had two goals from Eric Boguniecki for the second game in a row.

It was the first road win for Columbus in 12 games, dating back to last March.

In Philadelphia, Martin Brodeur made 23 saves for his 56th career shutout as the New Jersey Devils blanked the Flyers 1-0 in the first showdown this season between the Atlantic Division rivals.

It was the ninth 1-0 shutout of Brodeur's career as the Devils improved to 8-3-0-0 while allowing just 17 goals, the fewest in the NHL.

Philadelphia slipped to 9-2-2-0 and had its six-game winning streak snapped. Jamie Langenbrunner scored the lone goal of the game with 7:43 remaining on Roman Cechmanek, who made 26 saves in the Flyers goal.

In Raleigh, North Carolina, Kevin Weekes picked up his first shutout of the season as the Carolina Hurricanes blanked the Buffalo Sabres 2-0.

Jeff O'Neill and Craig Adams scored the goals for Carolina (6- 4-2-2), with Weekes making 26 saves to earn his ninth career shutout.

Buffalo (3-7-3-0) ended its six-game road trip winless with four losses and two ties. The Sabres scored just six goals in the six games.

In New York, Brian Leetch scored the only goal of the game 51 seconds into overtime to lead the Rangers past the Calgary Flames 1-0.

Dan Blackburn made 26 saves to pick up his first NHL shutout as the Rangers (6-8-2-0) won two consecutive games for the first time this season.

Jamie McLennan made 34 saves for the Flames, who lost for just the third time in 14 games this season.

In Washington, Jaromir Jagr scored a shorthanded goal at 3:56 of overtime to give the Capitals a 2-1 win over the Florida Panthers.

Olaf Kolzig made 32 saves in his first game back from injury as the Capitals improved to 7-6-1-0. Robert Lang scored the other Washington goal on an assist from Jagr.

Kristian Huselius scored the lone goal for the Panthers (5-6-1-2).

In Montreal, Jose Theodore made 42 saves for his first shutout of the season as the Canadiens blanked the New York Islanders 3- 0.

The Islanders outshot the Canadiens 42-21 but Theodore, who has struggled this season, was brilliant in recording his 16th career shutout.

Craig Rivet, Jan Bulis and Doug Gilmour all scored for Montreal, which is 3-1-2 in its last six games despite being outshot in all of them.

In Detroit, Sergei Fedorov scored at 2:08 of overtime to lift the Red Wings past the Boston Bruins 2-1.

Niklas Lidstrom assisted on the game-winner and scored Detroit's other goal in the third period as the defending Stanley Cup champion broke a three-game winless streak and improved to 7- 5-2-0.

The Wings had gone 121:36 without a goal before Lidstrom's marker. Joe Thornton scored the lone goal for Boston (7-2-2-1) on Manny Legace, who made 33 saves for Detroit.

In Chicago, Jocelyn Thibault made 17 saves to record his second consecutive shutout as the Blackhawks blanked the Atlanta Thrashers 5-0.

In Phoenix, Shane Doan scored two goals to lead the Coyotes past the Minnesota Wild 4-1.

In San Jose, Marcus Ragnarsson's goal in the third period gave the Sharks a 2-2 tie with the hard-luck Nashville Predators.