ST. PAUL, Minn. – Marco Sturm scored his fourth goal in six games since coming to Boston and it gave the Bruins a 3-2 win over the Minnesota Wild on Thursday.

Sturm, who came to the team from San Jose in the Nov. 30 Joe Thornton trade, tipped David Tanabe’s shot midway through the third period as the Bruins recorded their first win versus the Wild.

Minnesota is 2-5-2 in its last nine games and has failed to score more than two goals in any game during the streak.

Former Bruins forward Brian Rolston had a goal and an assist in his first game against his former team.

Marc Chouinard left a no-look pass for Rolston in the high slot, and Rolston’s long wrist shot beat Andrew Raycroft low on the glove side.

Boston tied the game 90 seconds later by taking advantage of a fortuitous bounce off the end boards. Brian Leetch dumped the puck into the Minnesota zone where it traveled around the boards before hitting a seam behind the Wild net and bouncing to the front of the crease.

Minnesota goalie Manny Fernandez, who’d gone behind the net to play the puck, scrambled back but couldn’t get set between the pipes in time to stop Patrice Bergeron’s shot.

Alexi Zhamnov gave the Bruins their first lead in the second period when he tipped Tom Fitzgerald’s shot past Fernandez. Raycroft, who finished with 29 saves, stopped Rolston on a short-handed breakaway later in the second, but the Wild tied the game 2-2 on another power play when Randy Robitaille tapped in the rebound of Kurtis Foster’s shot.

Canucks 5, Flyers 4

PHILADELPHIA -Anson Carter scored twice in the third period, leading the Vancouver Canucks to a 5-4 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers.

Markus Naslund, Trevor Linden and Nolan Baumgartner also scored for the Northwest Division-leading Canucks..

Carolina 2, Blue Jackets 1

RALEIGH, N.C. – Rod Brind’Amour scored twice and Martin Gerber made 25 saves to help Carolina hold off the Columbus Blue Jackets 2-1.

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Stars 2, Senators 0

OTTAWA – Marty Turco earned his second shutout of the season, and Brenden Morrow scored his 10th goal and assisted on Jere Lehtinen’s 17th, leading the Dallas Stars to a 2-0 victory over the Ottawa Senators . Turco stopped 25 shots for his 23rd career shutout.

Thrashers 3, Devils 2

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Marc Savard scored a power-play goal with five seconds left in overtime and Atlanta beat the New Jersey Devils 3-2 just over a minute after the Thrashers failed to win it on a penalty shot.

New Jersey defenseman Dan McGillis pulled down Marian Hossa during a breakaway at 3:31 of the extra session.

Hossa didn’t convert on the attempt, but the Thrashers immediately went on a power play as McGillis was also called for roughing. During the power play, Savard took a pass between the circles from Ilya Kovalchuk and beat Brodeur with a low shot to the goalie’s right to send the Devils to their fifth loss in six games.

Preds 5, Blackhawks 3

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Pekka Rinne stopped 33 shots in his NHL debut and the Nashville Predators beat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-3.

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Panthers 3, Red Wings 2

SUNRISE, Fla. – Olli Jokinen scored a power-play goal 1:36 into overtime, pushing the Florida Panthers past the Detroit Red Wings 3-2.

Lightning 3, Coyotes 1

GLENDALE, Ariz. -Vincent Lecavalier netted a short-handed goal, and Fredrik Modin also scored to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning past the Phoenix Coyotes 3-1.

Oilers 5, Canadiens 3

EDMONTON – Ethan Moreau scored a power play goal with 1:23 left to lift Edmontom past Montreal 5-3.

Penguins fire Olczyk, promote Therrien

PITTSBURGH – Penguins coach Eddie Olczyk was fired in the midst of one of the most disappointing starts in franchise history and replaced by former Montreal Canadiens coach Michel Therrien.

Olczyk was dismissed following a run of eight losses in nine games.

Only St. Louis (6-17-4) has fewer wins in the NHL, and general manager Craig Patrick decided to fire Olczyk after a string of dismally played losses in the last week.

Patrick said it became obvious during a 5-0 loss to Minnesota last Thursday that the players were tuning Olczyk out and no longer respected him.


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