Bruins hold off Hurricanes to sit alone atop Northeast
By Wire services
Published March 31, 2004
RALEIGH, N.C. - Sergei Samsonov scored the go-ahead goal as the Bruins moved into sole possession of first in the Northeast with a 3-2 victory Tuesday over the Hurricanes.
It was 1-1 before the Bruins, 9-2-1 in their past 12, took control in the second. Samsonov put them ahead to stay 5:00 in, taking a pass from Patrice Bergeron along the boards and beating Kevin Weekes from between the circles.
Boston then withstood Carolina's five-on-three and maintained the lead late in the period when Craig Adams' shot ricocheted off the skate of teammate Kevyn Adams and struck the right post. The Bruins made it 3-1 2:40 into the third on Joe Thornton's 23rd goal of the season.
DEVILS 5, RANGERS 0: Host New Jersey tied Philadelphia for the lead in the Atlantic and made coach Pat Burns the ninth coach with 500 wins.
The Devils broke it open with three in the second. Scott Gomez made it 1-0 at 6:40 with a drive from the top of the left circle. Eric Rasmussen ended a 16-game goal drought with a drive off Stephen Valiquette's glove at 11:33. Gomez took a return pass from Scott Niedermayer and whipped it past Valiquette from the right faceoff dot with 2:23 left.
PREDATORS 5, BLACKHAWKS 2: Host Nashville kept alive its bid for its first playoff berth. The Predators took the first seven shots and led 2-0 after Vladimir Orszagh scored on a one-timer 35 seconds in off an assist from Martin Erat, who made it 2-0 at 6:16 by beating a sprawling Jocelyn Thibault. David Legwand made it 3-0 with 8:02 left in the second when he skated into the slot and put back a rebound of Erat's shot from near the blue line.
BLUES 1, OILERS 0: Doug Weight scored his first goal in 18 games for host St. Louis, which won its fourth in a row. Edmonton had earned a point in 16 consecutive games, going 10-0-2-4 before the loss. Its most recent regulation loss was 4-2 on Feb. 25 at Anaheim.
Weight deflected in a slap shot from the top of the slot by Chris Pronger for a power-play goal with 6:14 left in the first.
CAPITALS 4, PENGUINS 2: Trent Whitfield had two goals and an assist and Matt Yeats earned his first victory for host Washington. Whitfield made it 3-1 when he redirected a slap shot by Brendan Witt past Jean-Sebastien Aubin 25 seconds into the second.
Joseph to sit final three games
DETROIT - Red Wings goalie Curtis Joseph is not expected to play in the final three games of the regular season, coach Dave Lewis said. But he did not rule out Joseph as the No. 1 goalie for the playoffs.
An MRI last week showed a small piece of cartilage pulled away from a bone in Joseph's right ankle. If Joseph does not play, Manny Legace, who has only 10 minutes of playoff experience, would start.
RANGERS: Goalie Dan Blackburn will have surgery today to repair nerve damage in his left shoulder. Blackburn, injured last summer during the team's prospects camp, has not played this season.
