Grahame Wins With His Job on the Line

Boston goaltender John Grahame picked the perfect time to come up big.

Playing for his job, Grahame made 26 saves to earn his first career shutout as the Bruins defeated the Buffalo Sabres, 3-0, Saturday night at Boston.

Starter Byron Dafoe signed a three-year deal Friday, so Grahame and Robbie Tallas are battling for the backup spot.

“Grahame looks a little unorthodox at times but he sure does cover a lot of net,” Buffalo Coach Lindy Ruff said. “I imagine Robbie [Tallas] would have liked to have seen a few of those go in.”

The Bruins failed to win in their first nine games of the season but are 4-0-1 since.

Tampa Bay 2, Dallas 1--Vincent Lecavalier and Fredrik Modin scored first-period goals and Lightning goalkeeper Dan Cloutier made them hold up with 22 saves in the Lightning’s first road victory this season.

St. Louis 5, Detroit 4--Facing a 4-3 loss with less than a minute to play, Chris Pronger scored with 34.4 seconds left in regulation and then set up Pavol Demitra’s game-winner 56 seconds into overtime to lead the Blues past the Red Wings at St. Louis.

Philadelphia 5, New Jersey 3--Dan McGillis and John LeClair beat goaltender Martin Brodeur as the Flyers scored three goals in the final three minutes at Philadelphia.

New York Rangers 2, Montreal 2--Saku Koivu’s power-play goal 30 seconds into the third period lifted the Canadiens to a tie at home with the Rangers, ending both teams’ four-game losing streaks.

Carolina 4, New York Islanders 0--Jeff O’Neill had a goal and three assists and Eric Fichaud stopped 24 shots for his second career shutout as the Hurricanes defeated the Islanders at Uniondale, N.Y.

Toronto 2, Calgary 1--Curtis Joseph made 29 saves as the Maple Leafs extended their winning streak to four, their longest in five years, with a victory at Toronto.

Phoenix 5, Colorado 3--Travis Green had two goals, his seventh and eighth, and added an assist as the Coyotes overcame a two-goal deficit early in the second period and dealt the Avalanche its first home loss of the season.

Ottawa 5, Florida 0--Ron Tugnutt stopped 21 shots for his second shutout of the season and Joe Juneau scored a goal in his first game as a Senator as they won at Kanata, Canada.

Vancouver 4, Nashville 1--Alexander Mogilny had a goal and two assists and the Canucks ended a three-game home losing streak, nearly shutting out the Predators.

Pittsburgh 1, San Jose 1--Vincent Damphousse scored in the first for the Sharks and Robert Lang scored early in the second for the Penguins as the teams tied at San Jose. The Sharks dropped out of a first-place tie with the Kings in the Pacific Division.