Blue Jackets' Leclaire zeroes in on Sabres
Pascal Leclaire made 21 saves for his third shutout of the season and Rick Nash had a goal and an assist to help the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the host Buffalo Sabres, 3-0, last night.
Nash scored in the second period, 62 seconds after he was denied by goalie Ryan Miller (26 saves) on the NHL's first penalty shot of the season.
Michael Peca also had a goal and assist, and Nikolai Zherdev scored an empty-net goal for the Blue Jackets in their first road victory in three tries.
Buffalo, last season's highest-scoring team, was shut out for the first time since April 2006 - a span of 95 games - and had its three-game winning streak snapped. The Sabres finished their four-game homestand 3-1. Nash was awarded a penalty shot with nearly eight minutes left in the second period. He tried to beat Miller with a wrist shot on the stick side on the penalty shot, but the goalie stopped the drive with his blocker.
Undaunted, Nash scored his fourth of the year with 6:50 left in the second on the power play. From behind the goal line, the big forward skated with the puck to the inner edge of the right circle before depositing a wrist shot into the net on Miller's stick side.
Peca, who was the Sabres captain from 1997-2000, gave the Blue Jackets a 1-0 lead 6 1/2 minutes into the second frame. After Miller stopped Nash's shot, Peca chipped home the rebound for his first point of the season.
Penguins 4, Hurricanes 3 - Sidney Crosby had the winning shootout goal and host Pittsburgh defeated Carolina.
All three Penguins shooters, Erik Christensen, Petr Sykora, and Crosby, scored in the shootout against goalie Cam Ward.
Matt Cullen and Jeff Hamilton scored in the shootout for Carolina, but Ray Whitney's wrist shot was stopped by goalie Dany Sabourin.
Justin Williams had a goal and an assist and Rod Brind'Amour had two assists for the Hurricanes.
Blackhawks 5, Avalanche 3 - Tuomo Ruutu tipped in Magnus Johansson's shot from the point with 1:25 left in the third period to snap a tie, and host Chicago rebounded after giving up a three-goal lead to beat Colorado.
Robert Lang added an empty-net goal with 50 seconds left to complete the scoring.
Chicago rookie Patrick Kane scored his first NHL goal and added two assists, including one on Ruutu's winner. The 18-year-old Kane was the first overall pick in the 2007 draft.
Kings 4, Canucks 2 - Mike Cammalleri scored his league-leading eighth goal as part of a three-goal outburst in the second period as Los Angeles won at Vancouver.
Jack Johnson scored his first NHL goal and Alexander Frolov also scored during a seven-minute stretch, and Dustin Brown was credited with an empty-net goal as the Kings won for the second time in three games.
