By The Associated Press

BOSTON – Petr Sykora scored in the sixth round of the shootout to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Boston Bruins on Saturday night.

Sykora also had a goal in regulation to stake New York to a 2-0 lead.

In the shootout, Jaromir Jagr scored on the Rangers’ first chance. After a pair of saves each by New York’s Henrik Lundqvist and Boston’s Tim Thomas, Patrice Bergeron scored to get the Bruins even and send the tiebreaker into extra frames.

In the third bonus round, Sykora slipped a backhander inside the right post. Lundqvist then made a left pad stop on Brad Isbister to end it.

The Rangers improved to 5-1 in the shootout – including 3-0 on the road – while Boston dropped to 0-4.

Jason Ward also scored for the Rangers in regulation. Marco Sturm and Brad Stuart scored in the second period to tie it for the Bruins, who have gone to overtime in three of four games.

Michael Nylander stole a pair of bad clearing passes by the Bruins to set up both New York goals, helping the Rangers grab a 2-0 lead early in the second period.

Ward gave New York a 1-0 edge 7:27 in after Nylander picked off Brad Boyes’ pass at the blue line and fed Ward alone behind the defense. Ward shifted Thomas out of position and tucked the puck into the net.

Sykora scored off the rebound of Ville Nieminen’s shot to make it 2-0 at 2:39 of the second. Sturm backhanded a pass into the middle of his own end and Nylander stole it, setting up Nieminen in front.

Sturm made up for his mistake by scoring from in close 5:24 later, cutting it to 2-1.

Capitals 5, Hurricanes 2

WASHINGTON – Olie Kolzig made 31 saves, Matt Pettinger and Brooks Laich both had a goal and an assist, and the last-place but suddenly surging Washington Capitals stretched their winning streak to four with a 5-2 victory over Carolina that snapped the Hurricanes’ nine-game victory run Saturday night.

The Hurricanes got plenty of power-play chances against the NHL’s worst penalty-killing team, rallied late with two quick goals, and kept Alexander Ovechkin in check for most of the game. But it wasn’t nearly enough.

Flyers 2, Penguins 1

PITTSBURGH – Playing in his first game in more than a month, Robert Esche made 32 saves and helped the Philadelphia Flyers snap a four-game losing streak with a 2-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday.

Pittsburgh has lost nine straight and 10 of its last 11.

Devils 3, Islanders 2

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Zach Parise scored in the fifth round of the shootout, extending the New Jersey Devils’ winning streak to nine games with a 3-2 victory Saturday over the New York Islanders.

Miroslav Satan, the first Islander up, beat Martin Brodeur over the right shoulder for New York’s only goal in the shootout.

Lightning 2, Thrashers 0

ATLANTA – Vincent Lecavalier and Fredrik Modin scored for Tampa Bay, and John Grahame shut out the Atlanta Thrashers for the second time this season in a 2-0 victory Saturday night that lifted the Lightning back into second place in the Southeast Division.

Tampa Bay won its third in a row, while the Thrashers have lost two straight after winning seven of eight.

The Lightning improved to 53 points – one ahead of the Thrashers, who slipped into the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Senators 7, Leafs 0

OTTAWA – Dominik Hasek earned his 67th career shutout, and Ottawa’s Pizza Line combined for nine points during a 7-0 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night in the Senators’ 1,000th regular-season game.

Hasek made 23 saves for his fourth shutout of the season and moved ahead of Patrick Roy into 12th place on the NHL career list.

Wings 4, Avalanche 3

DENVER – Robert Lang broke a tie late in the second period and the Detroit Red Wings killed two 5-on-3 disadvantages in a 4-3 win over the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday afternoon.

The Red Wings snapped the Avs’ five-game home winning streak, Colorado’s longest since closing out the 2002-03 season with six straight home wins.

Sharks 4, Kings 3

LOS ANGELES – Patrick Marleau’s power-play goal with 8.9 seconds left in overtime lifted the San Jose Sharks to a 4-3 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.

With Kings forward Dustin Brown in the penalty box, Marleau took a feed from Joe Thornton in the slot and fired the puck over the right shoulder of goalie Mathieu Garon to give San Jose its third victory in four games against Los Angeles this season.

NBA

Magic 83, Kings 78

ORLANDO, Fla. – Steve Francis had 18 points and nine rebounds, and made four free throws in overtime to give the Orlando Magic an 83-78 win over the Sacramento Kings on Saturday night.

Francis also made the basket that forced overtime on a layup with 21 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Mike Bibby then dribbled to the baseline and kicked it out to Brad Miller, who missed a long jumper that would’ve given the Kings the win.

Hornets 109, Knicks 98

NEW YORK – Chris Paul had 27 points, 13 assists and seven rebounds to lead the New Orleans Hornets over the New York Knicks 109-98 on Saturday night.

Paul, who leads NBA rookies in points and assists, recorded his 12th double-double of the season.

Bucks 101, Bobcats 91

MILWAUKEE – Michael Redd scored 23 of his 35 points in the second half as the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Charlotte Bobcats 101-91 Saturday night.

Milwaukee won for the second time in two nights and improved to 6-0 against Charlotte.

Redd, who has scored 30 points or more 15 times this season, scored 15 points in the third quarter.

Bulls 101, Pacers 89

INDIANAPOLIS – Andres Nocioni scored 20 points and Tyson Chandler added 15 points and 14 rebounds to help the Chicago Bulls beat the Indiana Pacers 101-89 on Saturday night.

Kirk Hinrich added 16 points and seven rebounds as the Bulls handed the Pacers their worst home loss of the season.

Cavaliers 108, Jazz 90

SALT LAKE CITY – LeBron James scored 51 points, becoming the youngest player in NBA history with 5,000 in his career, and the Cleveland Cavaliers snapped a six-game losing streak Saturday night by beating the Utah Jazz 108-90.

James wasn’t even sure he’d play Saturday because of a sore right knee he had X-rayed earlier in the day, but decided shortly before the game to see how it held up. It looked just fine as James and the Cavaliers avoided going winless on a six-game road trip.

James, who just turned 21 on Dec. 30, needed 45 points to pass Kobe Bryant as the youngest player to reach 5,000. Bryant was 22 when he scored his 5,000th poin