Potvin, Salo Flawless in 1-0 Victories

<br>One goal was enough to win, thanks to Felix Potvin and Tommy Salo. Both goaltenders were flawless in 1-0 victories. <br><br>Potvin stopped 27 shots in his 31st career shutout and the visiting Boston

Friday, January 16th 2004, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

One goal was enough to win, thanks to Felix Potvin and Tommy Salo. Both goaltenders were flawless in 1-0 victories.

Potvin stopped 27 shots in his 31st career shutout and the visiting Boston Bruins beat the Buffalo Sabres for their fifth consecutive win Thursday night.

``We have to keep winning,'' Potvin said. ``It seems like every team in the East is winning. You have to keep trying to climb the standings.''

Salo made 28 saves in Edmonton, and the Oilers extended Anaheim's winless streak to eight games by edging the Mighty Ducks.

``Tommy played great, especially in the second period when they had a couple of power plays,'' Edmonton coach Craig MacTavish said. ``They could've easily tied the game if it wasn't for Tommy.''

In other games, it was: New Jersey 3, the New York Rangers 3; Tampa Bay 5, Carolina 4; the New York Islanders 4, Ottawa 4; St. Louis 5, Columbus 3; Nashville 4, Phoenix 3; Colorado 4, Dallas 1; and San Jose 3, Vancouver 1.

Ales Hemsky scored in the first period for Edmonton, and Salo got his second shutout in four games. The Oilers have won three of their last four and are 5-2-0-1 in their last eight.

Salo, who shut out the Flyers 3-0 in Philadelphia on Jan. 10, has two shutouts this season and 36 in his career.

``No question, your best player has to be your goalie,'' Oilers forward Ryan Smyth said. ``Your goalie has to make key saves for you to be successful, and that's what Tommy did for us tonight.''

Sergei Samsonov scored his ninth goal in the second period for the Bruins, unbeaten in seven games (6-0-1-0). Boston got its first shutout in Buffalo since April 4, 1993.

Potvin, 3-0-1 in his last four starts, kept his shutout intact with 12 third-period saves.

Five minutes into the third, he made consecutive saves in traffic, stopping Jason Botterill from the slot and foiling Ales Kotalik on the rebound while sprawled on the ice.

``I played the way I usually play,'' said Potvin, who hadn't seen action since Jan. 3. ``I want to play all the time. It's been tough this year.''

Lightning 5, Hurricanes 4

At Tampa, Fla., Martin St. Louis had the second hat trick of his career, Dave Andreychuk got his 1,300th point and the Lightning hung on for their fifth straight victory.

St. Louis scored all three of his goals during Tampa Bay's five-goal first period. Andreychuk got his 622nd career goal, making him the 25th player in NHL history with 1,300 points.

Predators 4, Coyotes 3

At Nashville, Tenn., Scott Hartnell's power-play goal with 47 seconds left won it for the Predators.

Andrew Hutchinson, Marek Zidlicky and Martin Erat also scored for Nashville, which got 21 saves from Tomas Vokoun.

Daymond Langkow, Daniel Cleary and Brian Savage scored for the Coyotes.

Devils 3, Rangers 3

At New York, Matthew Barnaby scored with 1:49 remaining in regulation to give the Rangers a tie.

Sergei Brylin's goal in the third period put the Devils ahead. Martin Brodeur made 30 saves in his 50th straight start against the Rangers, who are 1-21-13-1 vs. New Jersey since Feb. 17, 1997.

Mike Dunham had 30 stops for New York, which also got goals from Anson Carter and Chad Wiseman. New Jersey's Scott Niedermayer assisted on goals by Erik Rasmussen and Jay Pandolfo.

Islanders 4, Senators 4

At Ottawa, Todd White, Martin Havlat and Zdeno Chara scored in the third period to help the Senators overcome a four-goal deficit.

Patrick Lalime made 34 saves for Ottawa, which earned a point for the 14th time in 15 games (10-1-4).

Michael Peca scored twice, and Mattias Weinhandl and Mariusz Czerkawski had power-play goals as New York built a 4-0 lead 14:13 into the second.

Blues 5, Blue Jackets 3

At St. Louis, Eric Boguniecki scored twice for the slumping Blues, and Mark Rycroft added a goal and an assist.

Chris Pronger and Dallas Drake also scored for St. Louis, which won for just the fourth time in 14 games.

Backup goalie Reinhard Divis made 23 saves to improve to 3-0 and keep the Blues perfect against the Blue Jackets (4-0). Geoff Sanderson, Nikolai Zherdev and Todd Marchant scored for Columbus.

Avalanche 4, Stars 1

At Denver, Peter Forsberg scored twice, David Aebischer stopped 29 shots and Colorado won its fourth straight.

Brad Larsen scored his first goal in nearly two years and Dan Hinote added his fourth of the season for the Avalanche, 9-1-2-1 in their past 13 games. Forsberg has five goals and 11 assists in an eight-game point streak.

Sergei Zubov scored for Dallas.

Sharks 3, Canucks 1

At San Jose, Calif., Alex Korolyuk had a goal and an assist, and Evgeni Nabokov made 34 saves for the Sharks in a meeting of division leaders.

Alyn McCauley and Jonathan Cheechoo also scored for the surprising Sharks, who moved seven points ahead of Los Angeles in the Pacific Division. San Jose, widely thought to be in a rebuilding season, has the largest division lead in the league.

NHL scoring leader Markus Naslund got the only goal for the Canucks, whose franchise-record eight-game road winning streak was snapped.