“I’m not talking about anything ahead of Game 5,” the Pittsburgh captain said when asked about a potential Eastern Conference final against the Boston Bruins.

But after the Penguins’ 7-3 victory Wednesday night, it’s hard to imagine Crosby and his teammates aren’t starting to think about facing the Bruins, who are up 3-0 over the New York Rangers.

Jarome Iginla and James Neal each scored twice, Crosby, Chris Kunitz and Pascal Dupuis added goals, and Tomas Vokoun made 30 saves. Down 2-1 after the first period, the Penguins scored twice in a 40-second span early in the second and added four goals in the first 10 minutes of the third.

Milan Michalek, Kyle Turris and Daniel Alfredsson scored for Ottawa. Senators goalie Craig Anderson was benched after Pittsburgh’s sixth goal, and Robin Lehner finished the game.

“There was a sense like, ‘OK, this might take as many shots as we can muster to break this guy.’ And fortunately, we kept on that mindset,” Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said. “It was a matter of, ‘We are going to have to fire anything and everything we can at this guy to get one by him.'”

Game 5 is Friday night in Pittsburgh.

“I know what we’re going to do,” Alfredsson said. “We’re going to go out and play one hell of a game. That doesn’t worry me at all. We never quit and that’s not going to stop now. We know the odds are against us in every way, but we never quit and that’s going to continue.”

But Alfredsson also conceded that the Senators faced long odds of rallying against the top-seeded Penguins.

“Probably not,” Alfredsson said, according to NHL.com. “[Pittsburgh’s] depth and our play right now … it doesn’t look too good.

“When you look at what we did, it wasn’t good enough. Does that mean [Pittsburgh] was good? Did we make them good? Who really cares? From our point of view, we didn’t manage the puck [well], we didn’t execute our passes, and subsequently, we got punished in the neutral zone. We turned way too many pucks over and gave them some freebies. It would have been nice to have the lead for a little bit longer, but now we’re back on our heels again. We didn’t shut them down when it matters.”

The 40-year-old captain was seen retrieving the puck at the end of the game, NHL.com reported, but Alfredsson insisted that the puck was a memento for his family and not a sign that he was considering retirement at season’s end.

Senators coach Paul MacLean didn’t take a single question after the game. Instead, he held up the scoresheet and said: “I think everything’s right here. It’s 7-3. See you in Pittsburgh. We’re going to Pittsburgh and we’re coming to play. Have a good night.”

The Senators, coming off a double-overtime victory Sunday night in Game 3, opened the scoring on Michalek’s short-handed goal at 2:29 of the first period. With defenseman Sergei Gonchar in the penalty box, Alfredsson fed the puck up the middle to a streaking Michalek, who broke through the defense and beat Vokoun low on the glove side for Ottawa’s second short-handed goal of the series.

It was the Senators’ first lead of the series. It wouldn’t last.

Neal tied it with 5:04 left in the period, picking up the loose puck in the slot and putting it in the back of the net. Turris put Ottawa back in front off a rebound with 3:45 left in the first.

Pittsburgh tied it early in the second when Kunitz got behind the defense and went in alone to beat Anderson. Less than a minute later, Anderson gave up a rebound on Kris Letang’s shot that landed on the tape of Iginla’s stick to make it 3-2.

Neal started the third-period flurry with a power-play goal at 1:59. Dupuis added a short-handed goal at 8:07, Crosby followed at 8:39, and Iginla scored on a power play at 9:53.

Alfredsson finished the scoring with a late power-play goal for his 100th career playoff point.

The post Penguins score 4 goals in third period, take 3-1 series lead appeared first on IdealCapper.

Chicago is moving on in the postseason for the first time since the championship run in 2010, and will face either San Jose or Detroit if the Red Wings get past Anaheim.

“We knew we hadn’t done it in two years,” Hossa said. “Minnesota, they still have a great team and are missing some players. We found a way. Now we get ready for the next round.”

The way the Blackhawks have dominated, anything less than a trip to the Stanley Cup finals would be a disappointment for them.

They got off to a record start and captured the Presidents’ Trophy for finishing with more points than any other team.

Now, they’re eyeing the biggest prize of all. And after bowing out in the first round the past two years, they sure are looking good.

Hossa scored off a feed from Jonathan Toews late in the first period. Marcus Kruger made it 2-0 with a wraparound early in the second, and Hossa chased the Wild’s Josh Harding when he knocked in a rebound minutes later.

Then, after Torrey Mitchell scored for Minnesota, Chicago’s Andrew Shaw scored against Darcy Kuemper. Patrick Sharp added his fifth goal of the series early in the third period, and that was more than enough for Crawford.

Coming off his second career playoff shutout, he saved 21 shots, and the Blackhawks became the third team to advance in this postseason, along with San Jose and Ottawa. They also bucked a recent trend of early exits for Presidents’ Trophy winners.

The team with the most regular-season points had been eliminated in the first round in three of the previous four years. The Wild were hoping to replicate what the Los Angeles Kings did last year and win the Stanley Cup as the eighth seed, but the Blackhawks simply had too much skill, speed and depth.

The Wild were also short-handed after losing one of their top scorers in Dany Heatley to season-ending left shoulder surgery late in the season. They also had to get by without goalie Niklas Backstrom after he suffered a leg injury in warm-ups before Game 1.

That forced the Wild to go with Harding, who played in just five games during the regular season after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis last summer. And he also got banged up in this series. He left Game 4 after a collision with Toews in which his legs got straddled around the left goal post, and he wasn’t sharp in this one, allowing three goals on 18 shots even though he was deemed well enough to start.

Coach Mike Yeo turned to Kuemper after Hossa’s second goal. He also insisted the injury in Game 4 wasn’t a factor in Harding’s performance in this one.

“It wasn’t,” Yeo said. “I don’t want to pin this loss on Josh, either. Credit them and their team.”

There was also a question about Yeo’s job security after this loss. The Wild were widely considered Stanley Cup contenders after they gave free agents Zach Parise and Ryan Suter identical 13-year, $98 million contracts last summer. But they never quite lived up to expectations.

“I can’t answer that,” Yeo said. “All I can say is if you want to look at it objectively, statistically, if you really want to look at it properly, then there’ve been a lot of improvements in our organization and our team. I feel that we’re going in the right direction.”

For a moment, the Wild looked like they might get back into this one.

Moments after Minnesota’s Jared Spurgeon hit the right post, Mitchell ripped a one-timer past Crawford midway through the second period. But Shaw answered 35 seconds later with his first career playoff goal when he swept the puck in from a bad angle just to the right of the net, making it 4-1.

Crawford, meanwhile, continued to erase doubts about his ability to perform in the postseason. That was a big question coming into this series after he let in several soft goals in last year’s first-round loss to Phoenix. He’s been nothing but solid in this series.

“He’s making saves that he needs to make and he’s making saves that he shouldn’t be making,” Sharp said. “When he does that, it breeds confidence throughout the lineup and it filters through everybody.”

He even had the fans chanting his name at several points. For example, when Crawford stopped a routine shot by Jason Pominville from the wing and scrambled back toward the middle of the net for a neat pad save against Mikko Koivu on the rebound. That foiled another power play by the Wild after they went 0-for-15 in the first four games.

The Blackhawks took a 1-0 lead late in the first period when Hossa took a feed from Toews in the left circle and fired the puck between Harding’s glove and the post. The assist gave Toews his first point of the playoffs.

Kruger made it 2-0 when his wraparound deflected off Harding’s pad and into the net for his first career playoff goal.

Game notes

Blackhawks C Dave Bolland and G Ray Emery remain sidelined by lower body injuries, although coach Joel Quenneville said they’re “real close.” Bolland said it’s 50-50 he would have been able to play if “it was do-or-die” for the Blackhawks, but he expects to be ready in the next round. … Quenneville moved ahead of Mike Keenan and took sole possession of second place on the Blackhawks’ playoff wins list with 34. Billy Reay is the club record-holder with 57 from 1963-77.

The post Blackhawks blow out Wild, advance in playoffs for first time since 2010 appeared first on IdealCapper.

They turned that, just barely, into a critical win over the Los Angeles Kings.

Charlie Coyle and Cal Clutterbuck scored 16 seconds apart late in the first period, helping the Wild break their five-game home losing streak and hang on to beat the Kings 2-1 on Tuesday night.

“I really believe that competitors in games like that find a way to go out and be really good,” Wild coach Mike Yeo said. “And that’s what we had.”

Jeff Carter’s slap shot whizzed past Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom with an improbable 0.8 seconds left before the second intermission, pulling the Kings within one. It was Carter’s 26th goal, tied for third in the NHL. Then as the Kings created some late energy, Slava Voynov’s shot from the far edge of the right circle was stopped by a sprawling Backstrom with 11 seconds remaining in the game to preserve the lead.

“You’ve got to play 60 minutes playing a desperate hockey team,” Kings coach Darryl Sutter said, adding: “We turned the puck over too much in the first period. Eventually, when you have that much skill on the other side, they’re going to score.”

With a 3-7-1 record in the last 11 games since this month began and that playoff spot still unsecured, the Wild badly needed a victory. After losing their past two games by a combined 10-2 margin, their hold on seventh place in the Western Conference was tenuous with two games left in the regular season after this.

“The bar has been set, and we’ve got to make sure we’re ready to bring at least that the next game,” Yeo said.

Clutterbuck snapped an 18-game streak without a goal. Relentless on both ends all night with his new linemate Devin Setoguchi, Clutterbuck raised his arms in celebration after his tight-angle shot sneaked between Kings goalie Jonathan Bernier and the left post. He jumped against the boards, with the Wild ahead 2-0.

“This was probably the biggest game I’ve ever played in for this franchise, so I was excited,” Clutterbuck said.

The Kings failed to get a point for only the third time in their last 15 games. Bernier, in the net for the first time in seven games in relief of Jonathan Quick, made 23 saves. The Kings can’t do better than the fourth seed, but they don’t want to fall to fifth or sixth and lose that home-ice advantage for the first round. San Jose and St. Louis have been right behind all month.

“We didn’t play three periods. We didn’t deserve to win the game,” Kings captain Dustin Brown said.

Brown fired up the Wild with a vicious-looking elbow to the jaw of Jason Pominville in the second period that went without penalty and knocked Pominville on his back. He woozily and slowly skated off the ice with a trainer’s guidance and didn’t return to the bench. Yeo said he had no update on Pominville’s condition and declined to comment on the hit. Brown, who had the puck on his stick at the time, said he was trying to brace himself for a hit from Pominville.

“We’ve seen it on the replay, but I’m sure someone will look at it,” Setoguchi said. “The game’s going fast. From our end, it was right in the head on the face.”

The Wild already without one of their top scorers in Dany Heatley for the remainder of the season. Losing Pominville for any stretch would be a significant setback.

“I think we handled it really well, and that’s something to be focusing on,” said Backstrom, who stopped 22 shots. “Grow on that, that nothing rattles us no matter what happens there.”

Game notes

Kings C Anze Kopitar has his goal-less streak reach 14 straight games. … The Wild’s AHL affiliate, moving to Des Moines, Iowa, next season, will be called, naturally, the Iowa Wild. … Josh Harding was on the active roster as Backstrom’s backup for the first time since early February. Harding was placed on injured reserve after developing complications from the multiple sclerosis medication he’s been taking, and he was returned from a conditioning stint with Houston on Monday. … Bernier’s shutout streak against the Wild ended at 89:06. … Fourth-line enforcer Zenon Konopka returned from a foot injury for the Wild.

The post Cal Clutterbuck, Charlie Coyle help Wild stay alive in playoff race appeared first on IdealCapper.

Tlusty scored twice, Semin had a goal and two assists and Staal chipped in with a pair of assists — all in the first period — to lead the Hurricanes to a 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday night.

Dan Ellis stopped 34 shots to make a 3-0 lead stand up and help Carolina to its first win over Tampa Bay this season.

“We came out hard, and that was the difference in the first period,” Tlusty said. “We kept it going throughout the game.”

Semin scored for Carolina 16 seconds in, taking a feed in the slot from Staal and whipping it over the shoulder of Lightning goalie Anders Lindback.

Tlusty’s first goal came shortly after the Hurricanes failed to score on a power play when he dumped the puck on goal from inside the blue line and it bounced off of Lindback’s pads and into the back of the net.

Later in the period, Tlusty was stationed in front of the net and was in the perfect position to direct a deflection off of Staal’s shot past Lindback.

“I don’t know what the problem is with us in first periods,” said Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman. “We always battle back hard from being down in games, which is the good part, but we would rather be up a few goals in the first instead of behind.”

The Lightning, who lost their sixth straight game, got on the board with a power-play goal from Steven Stamkos in the second period — his 28th goal of the season.

Martin St. Louis added a third-period goal to narrow the deficit to 3-2 but Ellis turned away the final 12 shots he faced, including point-blank opportunities by Eric Brewer, Ryan Malone and B.J. Crombeen.

“(Ellis) stepped up and had a good, strong game,” Hurricanes coach Kirk Muller said. “That’s what you need from him. His performance was good.

“They’ve had our number recently, but I think it was just important to us because we had a tough game last night and the guys have been playing so hard through the stretch. We got off track last night and we wanted to get back on track tonight and do the right things and we did.”

With less than 20 seconds left, the Lightning pulled Lindback and created a lot of traffic in front of Ellis but could not tie the game.

“I have gotten lit up by this team forever so this was a good night,” Ellis said. “They play with a lot of pride and so do we. We are not pushing for playoff spots but we are pushing to honor our fans, honor the crest on our jersey.”

St. Louis got his league-leading 42nd assist on Stamkos’ goal and his 55 points are only one behind injured Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby for the league lead.

Game notes

Staal thought he had a goal in the second period but officials declared his shot deflected off Brewer’s skate but did not completely cross the goal line. A video review upheld the call. … In their previous four contests this season, the Lightning outscored the Hurricanes 18-4. … Semin has 31 assists this season. … The Lightning outshot the Hurricanes 16-4 in the third period.

The post Dan Ellis, Hurricanes finally figure out Lightning appeared first on IdealCapper.

With a thorough 4-1 victory Sunday, the Broadway Blueshirts took care of both.

Ryan Callahan scored a goal in the opening minute and another in the third period, and Henrik Lundqvist made 26 saves as the Rangers eliminated the Devils from the Eastern Conference playoff race.

Callahan provided the lead 34 seconds in, Derek Stepan added a goal in the first period, and Taylor Pyatt snapped a long drought in the second for the eighth-place Rangers, who are inching closer to a playoff berth.

“It’s always nice to beat them,” said Brad Richards, who had two assists. “It was a big win for us. They’re out now, but that’s not why we were playing. We were playing because we need to stay alive. Now we’re down to nine teams, so the odds are better.”

Of the teams behind the Rangers, only Winnipeg can catch them. New York is even in points with seventh-place Ottawa, but the Senators have four games remaining — one more than the Rangers. Winnipeg is three points behind with three games left.

New York has won three straight and is 8-2-1 in its last 11. The Rangers aren’t looking too far ahead. After a trip to Florida and Carolina, they will wrap up their season at home Saturday against the Devils.

“We’re playing our best hockey we’ve played all year,” Callahan said. “Now is the time to do that. We’ve been playing playoff-style hockey the last couple of games. These are must-wins for us. It gives us a dress rehearsal for the playoffs.”

Callahan made it 4-0 at 5:13 of the third with a power-play goal, flipping a shot over sprawled-out goalie Martin Brodeur, who tried to poke away the puck. Brodeur heard derisive chants of “Mar-ty, Mar-ty” throughout and finished with 18 saves.

“It’s difficult to take,” Brodeur said of the elimination. “We’ve competed real hard all year.”

Lundqvist was solid in his 12th straight start, allowing only Andrei Loktionov’s goal with 6:30 remaining. The Rangers had more space between games recently. The extra rest has helped Lundqvist stay sharp.

He told coach John Tortorella he won’t ever ask out of the lineup.

“It’s like the playoffs have been going on for a couple of weeks,” Lundqvist said. “It’s fun to be out there. I don’t want to sit on the bench.”

The Devils won’t get a chance to defend their conference title. New Jersey had won two straight — including 6-2 on Saturday against Florida — following a 10-game skid (0-6-4).

“We pride ourselves on being there every year,” forward Stephen Gionta said. “Unfortunately, we’re not. It definitely hurts. The organization prides itself on winning and being in the playoffs every year. Anything less is a disappointment.”

Madison Square Garden fans serenaded the Devils with chants of “Season’s over” as time ticked down in the third.

“It hasn’t sunk in,” said Devils coach Pete DeBoer, who was ejected in the closing seconds for unsportsmanlike conduct. “You don’t want to think about it until it’s actually a reality. No other word but disappointment.”

The Devils had already been called for two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, one that cost them a power-play goal, before DeBoer was ushered out.

“A little frustration on my part,” he said. “Two of our players were given unsportsmanlike conducts in an elimination game. The sensitivity of some of the officials is beyond me.”

With a 3-0 lead heading into the third period, the Rangers had all but sealed New Jersey’s fate. New York is 85-0-6 when leading after two periods, dating to Feb. 4, 2010.

The Rangers came out quickly, seemingly motivated to put the Devils away early. New Jersey knocked out New York in last year’s conference finals.

New York connected right away, scoring while Brodeur was looking the opposite way from where the puck was. Carl Hagelin worked to get free from defenders behind the net, and flung the puck in front to Callahan, who was near the left post.

While Brodeur had his head turned away from him, trying to find the puck he thought was behind the net, Callahan nudged it forward off of Brodeur’s skate and into the net for his 13th goal.

“They were waiting for us. We played yesterday,” Brodeur said. “They were able to score the first goal, and that made a big difference in the momentum.”

Game notes

Pyatt played in his 800th NHL game. … Rangers C Brian Boyle missed his third straight game because of a right leg injury. … Volchenkov returned after serving a four-game suspension for elbowing.

The post Ryan Callahan scores twice as Rangers eliminate rival Devils appeared first on IdealCapper.

The 22-year-old from London, Ontario, scored on a one-timer against Ottawa’s Ben Bishop at 4:48 of the third period to complete his hat trick. Resumption of play was delayed as hats littered the ice and chants of “KA-DRI” broke out.

“Leafs Nation is everywhere,” Kadri said. “We obviously appreciate the support and want to give back as much as we can. To see everyone, especially at the start of the game with that ‘Go Leafs Go’ chant, and to hear it throughout the whole building, it kind of got everyone going. We took advantage of that.”

Joffrey Lupul scored and added three assists for the Leafs, who have won three in a row and continued an eight-game point streak.

Bishop made 19 saves for the Senators, who were coming off a 3-0 shutout over the New York Rangers on Thursday.

“We thought it was going to be a lot closer,” Senators forward Zack Smith said. “We’re used to playing tight games.

“It was 4-0 but I don’t think it was a 4-0 game. We had a lot of chances, just maybe not the quality third and fourth chances that we’re used to scoring on.”

The Leafs led 1-0 after the first period and 2-0 after the second.

“I think we had a great start, and that’s one of the things we’ve been focusing on. Any time you can get a decent start on the road, it puts more pressure on the home team to perform,” Toronto coach Randy Carlyle said.

The first of Kadri’s goals came at 12:45 of the second after a giveaway as Senators forward Jakob Silfverberg tried to clear the puck, but instead gave it right to Lupul leading to a 2-on-0 break in front of Bishop. Lupul fed a pass to Kadri at the side of the goal and he put the puck into a wide-open net.

Lupul took advantage of another Senators’ giveaway to set up Kadri again for the game’s final goal.

The Senators appeared to score in the third period as Erik Condra tucked a loose puck in from beside the post, but the referee had blown the play dead.

Senators coach Paul MacLean said whether it was in or not was irrelevant as they didn’t score any others. When asked what went wrong for his team, MacLean said giveaways would be a good place to start.

“Two of them right in front of your net in the third period makes it kind of hard for your goaltender to save you,” MacLean said. “That little bug-a-boo that we’ve had in the past about execution in came back to bite us.

“I don’t know if Toronto had better puck luck than we did, but at the end of the day they ended up playing better than we did and they win.”

The second period produced just one goal, by Kadri on a delayed penalty call. There were also just four minutes in penalties, two delay of game calls against the Leafs, which was a stark contrast to the first period.

The opening 20 minutes also produced a single goal, a power-play effort from Lupul, but there were 40 minutes in penalties, including six fighting majors.

Ottawa’s Matt Kassian was the busiest player in the opening period as he took on both Colton Orr and Frazer McLaren in fights.

“They put the puck in the net and we didn’t. Reimer made some good saves and they got a couple bounces that helped them out too, but we just weren’t good enough from the drop of the puck and they wanted it more,” Kassian said.

“I don’t think we got pushed around or got dominated physically. We just got outworked, outskilled and outplayed. That’s the bottom line.”

The Leafs also held an 11-5 edge in shots over the opening 20 minutes, but the Senators turned the table in that department during the second period as they outshot the Leafs 12-6 in the second.

Ottawa held a 31-23 advantage in shots overall.

Game notes

Clarke MacArthur and Jake Gardiner were scratches for Toronto. Mike Lundin and Peter Regin were the Sens’ healthy scratches for the second straight game. … Going into Saturday, the Leafs led the NHL in hits with 1,143, blocked shots with 590 and fighting majors 34, a number they increased by three in the first period. … The Senators remain just one of four teams (New York Islanders, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota Wild) that have yet to allow a short-handed goal this season. … The loss was just the third in regulation on home ice for the Senators in 19 games this season.

The post Leafs’ Nazem Kadri records hat trick; James Reimer blanks Senators appeared first on IdealCapper.

He helped them pick up two Wednesday night.

Couture scored twice in regulation and added a shootout goal, and Dan Boyle netted the tiebreaker winner in the Sharks’ 4-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.

After Couture pulled the Sharks within a goal on a power play at 6:50 of the third, Tommy Wingels tied it at 9:15. San Jose snapped a two-game losing streak with its second victory in eight games.

“It’s a battle every night,” Couture said. “There are no easy points in this conference, every single team is so good. To win the way that we were able to and come back with two goals in the third, hopefully that can get us going in the right direction.

“We needed something. We need all the points we can get right now,” Couture said. “We need to find ways to get points every single night right now.”

Sharks head coach Todd McLellan credited Couture for being a real spark for the team in the comeback win.

“Logan is always really determined, but he gets excited to come here and play in Edmonton, I don’t know why,” he said. “He had six shots on goal, a couple of goals, and an amazing shot in the shootout. We’re really proud of him and we’re happy to have him.”

Sam Gagner, Shawn Horcoff and Ryan Jones scored for Edmonton. The Oilers have earned eight points in their last five games.

The Oilers opened the scoring midway through the first period on a power play. Nail Yakupov fed the puck across the ice to Gagner, who had time to tee up a slap shot from the top of the circle that beat Antti Niemi to the glove side. It was Gagner’s 12th goal of the season.

“It is very disappointing losing the penalty shots,” Oilers coach Ralph Krueger said. “We are a good team at that.

“It’s painful, but we have to look at the fact that we have points in five games and move forward,” he said. “But right now of course the pain of giving up a 3-1 lead dominates.”

Couture tied it off a rebound with just under six minutes to play in the period.

Edmonton regained the lead with 8 minutes left in the second period. Nick Schultz picked up a pass as he stepped on the ice from the penalty box, raced in on a 2-on-1 and fed Horcoff.

The Oilers made it 3-1 early in the third period when Jones stole the puck from defender Matt Irwin behind the San Jose net and hooked around to send the puck through Niemi’s legs.

Couture scored his 14th goal of the season to make it 3-2, sending a shot through traffic and past Dubnyk, and Wingels tied it with a quick wrist shot.

Game notes

Both teams are off until Saturday. Edmonton closes out a four-game homestand against St. Louis, and the Sharks are at Minnesota for the fourth game of a five-game trip. … It was the last of three meetings between the two teams. The Sharks spoiled the Oilers’ home opener Jan. 22 by scoring six first-period goals in a 6-3 win, and San Jose won 3-2 at home in a shootout. … Edmonton’s Ryan Nugent-Hopkins missed the game because of the flu. … Defenseman Marc-Edouard played in his 500th NHL game, all with San Jose.

The post Logan Couture, Dan Boyle key Sharks in SO win vs. Oilers appeared first on IdealCapper.

Turris scored twice, including the winning goal 3:54 into overtime, and added an assist to help the Senators overcome an early two-goal deficit and beat the unraveling Buffalo Sabres 4-3 on Saturday.

“I don’t know what it was, but my legs didn’t feel the best in the first period,” Turris said, before noting how the massage and injection of caffeine provided him a boost during the first intermission. “I felt much better in the second and much better in the third. I don’t know why, but it happens like that sometimes.”

Turris capped the Senators’ three-goal second period by scoring on a wraparound goal with 63 seconds left. After Buffalo’s Drew Stafford tied it at 3 with 7:54 left in regulation, Turris sealed the win with a power-play goal in overtime.

With Christian Ehrhoff off for interference, Daniel Alfredsson fed Turris in the lower left circle, where he one-timed a shot over goalie Ryan Miller’s shoulder on the short side.

Patrick Wiercioch had a goal and assist, and Chris Phillips also scored for Ottawa, which won for only the second time in eight games (2-2-4). Ben Bishop made 33 saves in his first start in four games. The Senators also extended their string of games decided by one goal to 11, one short of matching the NHL record set by Chicago during the 1997-98 season.

Stafford scored twice, and Mike Weber added a goal for Buffalo, which dropped to 1-2-3 in its past six games.

While the Senators celebrated their ability to bounce back after a sloppy first period, the Sabres lamented yet another inconsistent outing.

“I thought the first (period) was probably one of our best periods of the year, and the second was probably one of our worst,” Sabres interim coach Ron Rolston said. “We must have just got comfortable.”

The Sabres (10-14-4) can’t afford to get comfortable given how coach Lindy Ruff was fired a month ago.

Their fans continued to express their displeasure of a high-priced team that opened the season with high expectations. An hour after the game, one fan was heard inside the near-empty arena yelling, “Darcy’s got to go!” in reference to Sabres general manager Darcy Regier.

“It’s disappointing,” Sabres captain Jason Pominville said. “We just can’t get one point. We have to be able to get two points. We had a two-goal lead, and it just wasn’t good enough.”

That two-goal lead Buffalo enjoyed was its largest entering a second period in 32 games, dating to March 27 of last season. And the Sabres promptly squandered it.

Ottawa scored twice in the first 10:14, during a stretch in which it outshot Buffalo 12-2. Turris then gave the Senators their first lead by avoiding Jochen Hecht’s weak stick check attempt and banking the puck in off Miller’s skate.

Senators coach Paul MacLean was impressed by how his team rallied.

“That’s what we had to do — respond,” MacLean said. “Down 2-0 on the road, the next goal is huge. And I thought we came out and established our game finally and put some pressure on their goaltender.”

The Senators took full advantage of the flat-footed Sabres less than two minutes into the second period. During a 10-second span, Miller was forced to stop four shots — two by Jakob Silfverberg and two by Peter Regin — from in close. They all came after defenseman Robyn Regehr’s lazy giveaway inside his blue line.

Miller finished with 30 saves, including foiling Guillaume Latendresse, who was set up on the doorstep shortly before Turris scored in overtime.

Bishop was sharp, too. His best save came with 2:27 left in regulation during a Sabres power play. That is when he got his right pad out just in time to stop Thomas Vanek’s one-timer.

He had no chance on Stafford’s second goal, which deflected in off Senators forward Zack Smith’s stick in front.

“It’s going to happen sometimes,” Bishop said. “We responded well, so, no big deal.”

Game notes

Sabres LW Ville Leino had an assist in his season debut. He missed the first 27 games with a hip injury. … Senators D Sergei Gonchar had two assists to extend his point streak to six games. … Sabres RW Patrick Kaleta completed his five-game NHL suspension for an illegal hit, and is available to return to play at Washington on Sunday. … Senators LW Matt Kassian made his NHL season debut after being acquired in a trade with Minnesota on March 12. Kassian had been playing with Houston of the AHL.

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Known more for his shot, the Minnesota Wild forward clanged a pair of line drives off the goal post, only to have the puck carom straight to teammates and result in two assists for Heatley.

That’s just how things have been going of late for the Wild, who scored a season-high four goals in the first period to beat the slumping Colorado Avalanche 6-4 on Saturday.

Even shots slightly off the mark eventually find their mark.

“I’ll take it,” Heatley said. “We have four lines rolling right now.”

The Wild sure do, with 11 players earning at least a point in this game. Devin Setoguchi led the way with two goals along with adding the 100th assist of his NHL career.

“Anytime you can get that, it’s fun,” Setoguchi said. “More importantly, I got my 100th and we got the win.”

Ryan Suter started a four-goal scoring spree in the first period to help the Wild win for the fourth time in five games. Cal Clutterbuck, Kyle Brodziak and Pierre-Marc Bouchard also added goals.

This was the second half of a home-and-home between the two teams, with Minnesota winning 5-3 on Thursday night.

John Mitchell, P.A. Parenteau, Gabriel Landeskog and Chuck Kobasew had goals for an Avalanche team that has dropped three in a row. Jean-Sebastien Giguere was roughed up in his first home start of the season, allowing four goals on 14 shots before giving way to Semyon Varlamov at the start of the second period.

Niklas Backstrom was solid in net, stopping 28 shots to move to 23-5-3 lifetime against the Avalanche.

Setoguchi all but wrapped up the win with his second goal midway through the third period when he slipped a shot through the pads of Varlamov. It was Setoguchi’s first two-goal game of the season.

“We’ve got such a big, strong team that can skate,” Setoguchi said. “It’s tough to defend.”

Kobasew scored with 1:53 remaining to make it a two-goal game, and the Avalanche pulled Varlamov but couldn’t take advantage of the extra skater.

Colorado worked its way back into the contest in the second period with goals from Parenteau and Landeskog. But the Avalanche made a costly mistake in their zone, when Landeskog tried to send a pass across the middle. Bouchard intercepted the puck and backhanded a shot by Varlamov to make it 5-3.

Landeskog lamented his poor choice after the game.

“Any team is going to capitalize on those chances,” the Avalanche captain said. “It’s deflating, especially because we battled back so hard and got back to 4-3 and then I throw that puck away. It’s frustrating.”

Time is slipping away for the Avalanche as they tumble farther and farther in the standings.

“We’ve got to figure it out here and start to work together,” said Duchene, who had two assists, giving him 10 points in his last five games. “It’s not effort and it’s not talent. We’ve got both of those. I think it’s just concentration. Everyone is so scared to make mistakes.”

The first period featured two fights, three roughing calls and two Wild goals before fans even had a chance to settle into their seats. Suter got Minnesota started on the right note with a shot over Giguere’s left shoulder.

Soon after, Setoguchi scored on a similar shot on a screened Giguere. Clutterbuck and Brodziak also added goals on “passes” from Heatley.

The four goals in the opening 20 minutes brought the day to an end for Giguere. He sat on the bench as Varlamov took his spot in goal.

Minnesota was without forward Jason Zucker for a second straight game. The rookie has what the team is calling an upper-body injury after a violent blindside collision with Corey Perry that brought the Anaheim right winger a four-game suspension.

Zucker is on the trip with the Wild and possibly could play Monday night in Vancouver against the Canucks, a team the Wild are chasing in the Northwest Division race.

“That’s our biggest challenge now,” Clutterbuck said. “I don’t think we expect to score four goals in the first period every game but we expect to play the same way every game.”

Game notes

Wild D Brett Clark was a scratch for a second straight game after being signed for the rest of the season on Thursday. Clark played five-plus seasons for Colorado. … Avs D Ryan Wilson (ankle) was a scratch. … Colorado dropped to 2-1 in day games this season. … Avs F Milan Hejduk was a scratch after returning to the lineup Thursday at Minnesota, his first game back after sitting out five straight with a torso injury.

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The Portugal international slotted home Alex Sandro’s pinpoint pass 11 minutes into the second half to earn Porto victory in a match of few clearcut chances at the Estadio do Dragao.

The defeat was Malaga’s first in its maiden Champions League campaign, but Manuel Pellegrini’s men will be hopeful of turning things round at La Rosaleda, where they beat both AC Milan and Zenit St Petersburg in the group stages.

Two-time former European champions Porto will also be optimistic about their chances of going through to the quarterfinals, although they would have preferred a bigger advantage for the trip to Andalusia.

Vitor Pereira’s hosts dominated the first half in terms of possession and territory, but created little to trouble visiting goalkeeper Willy Caballero.

The majority of Porto’s efforts before the break were off-target, although Marat Izmailov did bring a diving save out of Caballero in the fourth minute.

Porto’s next two chances saw Fernando and Silvestre Varela head Moutinho corners just wide before Caballero was called into action again on the half-hour mark to comfortably gather an optimistic Fernando shot.

At the other end Malaga only ventured deep into Porto territory sporadically as the respective defenses — the tightest in the Portuguese and Spanish leagues this season — held the upper hand.

The home side would have been disappointed not to have worked Caballero more in the first period, but they came out strongly at the start of the second half and took just six minutes to fashion the best chance of the game so far.

Sandro sent over a cross from the left and the stretching Izmailov almost managed to turn it into the net, despite not getting a clean connection on his half-volley.

That was a major let-off for Malaga, but they were not so fortunate five minutes later as 1987 and 2004 champions Porto took the lead through Moutinho following more good work from Sandro.

The Brazilian did well to create space before picking out his teammate’s run into the box with an inch-perfect pass between the Malaga defence and goalkeeper Caballero, which the highly-rated Moutinho clinically side-footed home first time.

That proved to be the only goal of the match as defenses continued to dominate during the closing stages, leaving things finely poised for the second leg.

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