BOSTON (AP) — Marco Sturm's reaction after his first goal in over a month showed what the goal-starved Boston Bruins had been going through.

Mark Recchi and Zdeno Chara scored first-period power-play goals as the Bruins halted a rough stretch with a 4-2 win over Buffalo on Saturday night, sending the Sabres to their first consecutive losses of the season.

"A lot of guys were do," said Sturm, who yelled and pumped his first more enthusiastically than usual when he scored late in the second period. "A lot of relief. As a forward you never want to go through that. Hopefully I can relax a little now."

Chara scored his first of the season, Sturm had his first since the second game of the year and Byron Bitz tallied first since early October.

"Nice to celebrate," Sturm said, still smiling. "It's been a while."

The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Bruins, who had scored just once in their previous three games - that coming with 52 seconds remaining in regulation of a 2-1 shootout loss to Montreal in its last game on Thursday.

"That's what we've been telling them - to relax," Boston coach Claude Julien said. "Eventually you're going to score goals. You know if you stick with it, it's going to turn."

Boston also snapped an 0-for-20 run on the power play.

Derek Roy and Jason Pominville had the Sabres' goals. Buffalo was 0 for 7 on the power play.

"The greater issue is our game has lacked energy the last three games," Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said. "I think the old me might have gone irate and done something a little bit stranger. We've dealt with some sickness. We're going to back off. We're going to get the guys some rest."

Tuukka Rask stopped 28 shots for Boston. Buffalo rookie netminder Jhonas Enroth, recalled from Portland of the AHL on Wednesday, made 33 saves in his NHL debut.

The Bruins made it 1-0 just 3:17 into the game when Recchi tipped Derek Morris' shot from the point past Enroth during their initial man-advantage opportunity.

Boston, which entered the night with the NHL's worst ranked power play, made it 2-0 on Chara's first goal of the season at 16:31.

Chara, the 2009 Norris Trophy winner, looked to the ceiling and raised both arms, possibly showing a bit of relief over his tough start. He scored a career-high 19 last season.

"There's no doubt it was probably a big sigh of relief for him and hopefully it gets him going in the right direction," Julien said.

Facing a rookie goaltender and a team playing on consecutive nights appeared like the perfect recipe for the Bruins, who made it 3-0 on Bitz's goal 1:22 into the middle period. Center Steve Begin collected defenseman Steve Montador's errant pass in the slot and fed Bitz in front.

"I wasn't that nervous," Enroth said. "I felt pretty confident before the game and I just wanted to go out there and enjoy the moment."

The Sabres cut it to 3-1 when Roy batted a bouncing puck by Rask from the slot, but Sturm one-timed a shot from the left circle that caromed into the net off the far post, making it 4-1 late in the second.

Boston had scored just four goals in its previous five games.

Former Sabre Daniel Paille, acquired from Buffalo on Oct. 20, was stopped on clean breakaway by Enroth's right-pad stop midway into the opening period. Bergeron flubbed a bid going in alone midway into the third.

NOTES: Rask made his first start since shutting out Edmonton 2-0 on Oct 31. ... Buffalo had a pair of players reach milestones: C Tim Connolly played his 500th career game and D Henrik Tallinder played his 400th. ... It was the Sabres' third game in four nights. They lost 5-2 at home against Philadelphia on Friday. ... Buffalo pulled its goalie and had the net empty for most of the final 1:40.Devils 3, Senators 2

OTTAWA - Zach Parise and David Clarkson each had a goal and an assist on the power play, and the New Jersey Devils won their eighth straight road game with a 3-2 comeback victory over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night.

The Devils are 8-0 away from New Jersey, the second-longest road winning streak to open a season in NHL history. The Buffalo Sabres started 10-0 on the road to start the 2006-07 season.

New Jersey's power play led the way, scoring three unanswered goals. Parise, Clarkson and Andy Greene had goals for the Devils. Martin Brodeur faced 21 shots.

Milan Michalek and Brian Lee scored for the Senators. Pascal Leclaire, celebrating his 27th birthday, stopped 22 shots.

Predators 3, Kings 1

LOS ANGELES - Francis Bouillon, Cody Franson and Joel Ward scored to lead Nashville over Los Angeles.

Dan Ellis made 27 saves in his first start since Oct. 28.

Franson, playing in his ninth NHL game, scored his second goal of the season to give the Predators a 2-0 lead.

The Kings got on the board with 11:35 to play as Dustin Brown scored his sixth of the season during a power play.

But Ward restored Nashville's two-goal margin just 80 seconds later.
Maple Leafs 5, Red Wings 1

TORONTO - Phil Kessel scored his first goal with Toronto and Jonas Gustavsson made 35 saves to lead the Maple Leafs over Detroit.

After a rough start, the Maple Leafs have been improving - buoyed in large part by Gustavsson taking over the No. 1 goaltending job. Toronto moved out of the NHL basement by winning two in a row and earning points in seven straight games (3-0-4).

Wayne Primeau, Jeff Finger, John Mitchell and Alexei Ponikarovsky also scored for Toronto.

Daniel Cleary had the Red Wings' goal.

Capitals 7, Panthers 4

WASHINGTON - Tomas Fleischmann scored twice during a five-goal third period, and short-handed Washington beat Florida for a sweep of the home-and-home series.

Washington played a third straight game without two-time NHL MVP Alex Ovechkin, who has an upper body injury. The Capitals were also without injured defensemen Mike Green and Jeff Schultz, both of whom were hurt Friday during a 4-1 victory in Florida.

The Capitals got 23 saves from Jose Theodore and goals 40 seconds apart from Mathieu Perreault and Quintin Laing. Perreault's goal was his first in the NHL.

Fleischmann extended his point streak to a career-high five games with a goal off an excellent pass from Nicklas Backstrom.

Mike Knuble's second goal of the game with 8:54 remaining made it 6-4, and Fleischmann scored again with 6:22 left. The seven goals were a season high for the Capitals.

Cory Stillman scored twice for the Panthers, who have lost two straight after winning three in a row.

Blue Jackets 3, Hurricanes 2

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Rick Nash scored Columbus' third goal in a 2:41 span of the third period to send Carolina to a franchise-record 12th consecutive loss.

Nikita Filatov and Jared Boll also scored for the Blue Jackets, who have points in their last five games. Steve Mason, who had 24 saves, assisted on Boll's go-ahead goal.

Erik Cole and Tim Gleason had goals for Carolina, which lost goalie Cam Ward after he was cut by a skate during the first period and taken to a hospital.

The Hurricanes, who lost their sixth in a row overall, have not won since a 7-2 victory over Florida on Oct. 9. Since then, they have gone 0-9-3, eclipsing an 11-game winless streak in 2003. They are also winless in their last nine road games (0-7-2) and remain the only NHL team without a victory away from home.

Flyers 2, Blues 1

PHILADELPHIA - Mika Pyorala scored in the shootout to lead Philadelphia over St. Louis.

Pyorala's goal in the fourth round was the difference as the Flyers won their fourth consecutive game. Philadelphia's Claude Giroux and St. Louis' Brad Boyes each scored in the first round.

Scott Hartnell scored in regulation for Philadelphia, which moved to 83-39-17 overall against the Blues, including 47-12-10 at home.

The struggling Blues, who entered with the NHL's fourth-worst record, have dropped four straight. St. Louis tied it in the third period when T.J. Oshie scored.

Islanders 6, Thrashers 3

UNIONDALE, N.Y. - Sean Bergenheim, Blake Comeau and Jack Hillen each scored their first goals of the season to help the New York Islanders break out of a two-game offensive drought and beat Atlanta.

The Islanders (6-6-5) have been streaky. They went winless in their first six (0-3-3). But they had won four straight before taking a two-game losing streak into this game, scoring one goal over 120 minutes. Their six goals and 45 shots were season highs.

New York outscored Atlanta 3-1 in the first period on goals by Andy Sutton, Bergenheim and Hillen. The Islanders outshot Atlanta 21-11 in the frame.

Zach Bogosian, Pavel Kubina, and Christoph Schubert scored for Atlanta.
Lightning 3, Canadiens 1

MONTREAL (AP) - Ryan Malone and Alex Tanguay each had a goal and an assist to lead Tampa Bay over Montreal.

James Wright also scored for Tampa Bay, which went 2-0-1 after dropping the opener of a four-game road trip at Philadelphia on Monday.

Antero Niittymaki made 36 saves in his third straight start for the Lightning (6-4-5).

Brian Gionta scored his seventh goal for Montreal (8-9-0), which has lost four of six.

Carey Price, who stopped 18 shots, fell to 3-7.
Wild 3, Stars 2

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Cal Clutterbuck and Mikko Koivu scored first-period goals and Minnesota held on to beat Dallas.

Marek Zidlicky also scored for the Wild, which has won three of four.

Loui Eriksson scored twice on the power play for the Stars, who have allowed at least three goals in 11 of their 17 games - including five of six.