BOSTON - Tuukka Rask made 21 saves and the Boston Bruins took the top spot in the Eastern Conference, beating the Phoenix Coyotes 2-1 on Thursday night for their seventh consecutive victory.
Zdeno Chara and Jarome Iginla scored for Boston. The Bruins have 93 points, one more than Pittsburgh.
Lauri Korpikoski scored for Phoenix with 12 minutes left in the game to spoil Rask's shutout. Mike Smith made 18 saves for the Coyotes, who had won two straight.
SHARKS 4, BLUE JACKETS 3, SO
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Patrick Marleau scored twice and Joe Pavelski had the lone shootout goal in Jose Sharks' victory over Columbus.
After tying his career high of 66 points with an assist on Marleau's second goal, Pavelski deked Sergei Bobrovsky and roofed a backhander in the tiebreaker to give San Jose its fourth straight win.
Marleau scored his 27th and 28th goals. Matt Nieto also scored and Logan Couture had two assists for the Sharks, who are 8-1-1 in their last 10 to move into a tie with Anaheim for the Pacific Division lead.
Ryan Johansen, R. J. Umberger and James Wisniewski scored for the Blue Jackets.
LIGHTNING 5, PANTHERS 4
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Steven Stamkos scored his first goal since returning from a major injury, Ryan Callahan had his first goal with Tampa Bay, and the Lightning beat Florida.
Stamkos gave Tampa Bay a 5-2 lead on a power play at 10:47 of the third. Playing his fourth game since missing 45 games after breaking his right shin, Stamlos also had an assist after three pointless games.
Callahan put Tampa Bay up 3-2 at 12:04 of the second. The Lightning obtained the right wing from the New York Rangers for former captain Martin St. Louis at the trade deadline.
Sami Salo, Michael Kostka and Tyler Johnson also scored for Tampa Bay. Tomas Fleischmann, Quinton Howden, Scottie Upshall and Brandon Pirri scored for Florida.
HURRICANES 4, SABRES 2
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Alexander Semin and Jiri Tlusty scored in a 1:55 span in the third period to give Carolina the lead in its victory over Buffalo.
Semin tied it at 2 on a power play with 8:12 left, and Tlusty scored with 6:17 to go.
Jeff Skinner had a first-period goal — his 26th — and Nathan Gerbe had an empty-net goal.
Tyler Ennis scored on a penalty shot and Drew Stafford added a goal for Buffalo. Michal Neuvirth made a season-high 51 saves in his second start for the Sabres since being acquired in a trade with Washington.