Associated Press
TAMPA, Fla. ó Joni Pitkanen and Justin Williams each had a goal and an assist, and the Carolina Hurricanes rallied from an early two-goal deficit for a 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night.
Chad LaRose also scored for the Hurricanes, who have won three straight and 7 of 10.
The Lightning got goals from Ryan Craig and Vinny Prospal. Tampa Bay has lost three in a row and 20 of 25.
Sabres 4, Bruins 2
BOSTON ó Matt Ellis scored a pair of goals to lead the Buffalo Sabres to a 4-2 win over Boston on Saturday, snapping the Bruins’ 10-game winning streak and handing them their first home loss since late October.
Panthers 6, Penguins 1
PITTSBURGH ó Nathan Horton scored twice and Florida snapped a four-game losing streak, sending Pittsburgh to its fourth straight loss.
Flames 3, Predators 2
NASHVILLE, Tenn. ó Todd Bertuzzi scored with 23.4 seconds remaining to lead Calgary to its fifth straight win. Nashville lost for the fourth game in a row.
Capitals 2, Rangers 1
WASHINGTON ó Alex Ovechkin’s tiebreaking short-handed goal with a half-minute left in the second period lifted Washington past the New York Rangers, extending the Capitals’ winning streak to a season-high six games.
Maple Leafs 3, Senators 1
TORONTO ó Alexei Ponikarovsky’s go-ahead goal midway through the third period lifted Toronto.
Blues 5, Blue Jackets 2
ST. LOUIS ó Keith Tkachuk scored the go-ahead goal against Steve Mason in the second period on one of St. Louis’ four power-play goals and B.J. Crombeen had short-handed for the Blues, last in the Western Conference.
Red Wings 3, Wild 2, SO
ST. PAUL, Minn. ó Chris Osgood made 33 saves through overtime and then two big ones in the shootout in his first game since Dec. 15 to lift Detroit over Minnesota.
DANICA
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. ó Danica Patrick paid a $196 fine to settle a speeding ticket after the star race car driver was caught going 54 mph in a 35 mph zone last month.
The 26-year-old driver was pulled over by Scottsdale police Dec. 9 in her hometown while driving a 2007 Mercedes. A year ago, she was ticketed for driving 57 mph in a 40 mph zone in Scottsdale and was ordered to attend traffic school.
NASCAR
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. ó Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 88 fired up, the rumble of its exhaust echoing through the Adirondack Mountains. That can mean only one thing: The Geoff Bodine Bobsled Challenge is ready for its fourth run.
And even though the embattled economy forced Chevrolet to pull out as a sponsor this year, Bodine had positive news on Friday ó dedication of a new building for U.S. athletes to work on their bobsleds.
“It’s hard to tell you how excited we are and what this means for our project and bobsledding in general,” Bodine said. “It was time to upgrade the facilities. The problem has been that we’ve built so many bobsleds we couldn’t find a place to store them. We really, really needed this building.”
The Bobsled Challenge is an effort to raise funds to keep the U.S. men’s and women’s bobsled teams at the forefront of international racing. It will again feature NASCAR and NHRA drivers piloting specially made bobsleds down the Mount Van Hoevenberg track outside Lake Placid.
Earnhardt’s No. 88, which is sponsored by the Army National Guard, was used to promote the event even though NASCAR’s most popular driver wasn’t in the field.