By The Associated Press

BOSTON – Trent Hunter tipped in Miroslav Satan’s shot to snap a tie with 5:01 left and the New York Islanders beat the struggling Boston Bruins 3-1 Saturday night.

The Islanders, 5-1 since the Olympic break, won all four games with the Bruins this season. Boston, which climbed into the Eastern Conference playoff chase in February, is 1-5 since the break.

New York won for the second straight night, despite unloading four veteran players – two forwards and two defensemen – at the trading deadline. The Islanders entered in a 10th place-tie with Toronto, seven points behind eighth-place Montreal, and moved four points ahead of Boston.

Satan circled from the right wing to the point and sent a seemingly harmless wrist shot toward the net. Hunter, positioned in front, got a stick on it, sending it past goaltender Tim Thomas. Alexei Yashin added an empty-net goal with 23.3 seconds left.

Rick DiPietro made 32 saves for the Islanders. Thomas stopped 42 shots.

DiPietro made a sliding stop on Marty Reasoner, who was alone in front, with 2:27 to play. He also had a pair of nice saves against Brad Stuart in the closing 1:10.

After a scoreless opening period in which each team had a decent number of good scoring chances, Boston took a 1-0 lead on Brian Leetch’s power-play goal 13:46 into the second. Leetch slipped a wrist shot between DiPietro’s pads from the slot after collecting Brad Boyes’ pass.

The Islanders tied 1-1 on Mike York’s goal 2:04 later. York redirected Hunter’s pass at the edge of the crease after defenseman Joel Bouchard picked up an errant clearing pass at the blue line and slipped a pass to Hunter.

The game became somewhat chippy midway into the second period after Boston’s Hal Gill and New York’s Eric Godard fought. The teams even had a scrum along the boards when the second-period horn sounded. Boston’s David Tanabe was called for roughing, the only penalty that came from the skirmish.

Maple Leafs 5, Lightning 1

TORONTO – Jason Allison scored twice and had an assist, and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-1.

Matt Stajan, Mats Sundin and Nik Antropov also scored for the Maple Leafs.

Sharks 3, Predators 2

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Christian Ehrhoff scored a power-play goal with 2:04 left in overtime, and the San Jose Sharks overcame Tomas Vokoun’s 39-save performance for a fight-filled 3-2 victory over the Nashville Predators .

Paul Kariya forced overtime by scoring his second goal of the game on a crafty backhand with 10.9 seconds left in regulation.

Penguins 6, Devils 3

PITTSBURGH – Sidney Crosby helped chase Martin Brodeur by late in the second period with two goals and an assist during a 6-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils.

Blue Jackets 4, Oilers 3

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Rostislav Klesla scored from a hard angle in a wild final minute of overtime to give the Columbus Blue Jackets a 4-3 victory over Edmonton.

Red Wings 6, Blackhawks 4

DETROIT – Steve Yzerman scored twice and the Detroit Red Wings had three goals in each of the first two periods of a 6-4 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Panthers 4 Hurricanes 3

SUNRISE, Fla. – Joel Kwiatkowski scored in overtime to give the Florida Panthers a 4-3 win over the Carolina Hurricanes.

Sabres 6, Flyers 5

PHILADELPHIA – Mike Grier’s goal with 4.6 seconds remaining lifted the Buffalo Sabres to a 6-5 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers.

Canadiens 1, Rangers 0

MONTREAL – Cristobal Huet recorded his second shutout in two games and Craig Rivet scored on a power play in the first period, leading Montreal to a 1-0 victory over the New York Rangers.

The sold-out crowd observed a moment of silence prior to the game in honor of Bernie “Boom Boom” Geoffrion, who died earlier in the day in Atlanta.

Moments earlier Geoffrion’s wife Marlene – the daughter of Canadiens great Howie Morenz – and the couple’s three children raised Geoffrion’s signature No. 5 to the rafters alongside the No. 7 of her father.

Huet, who made 28 saves in Thursday’s 3-0 win in Boston, stopped 26 shots in his 13th straight start and earned his fifth shutout of the season.

Huet had shutouts on consecutive days over Boston and Philadelphia on Feb. 5-6.

Rivet scored his sixth goal at 17:15, beating Henrik Lundqvist with 10 seconds remaining in New York defenseman Tom Poti’s hooking penalty.

New York was unable to score against Huet despite enjoying a 5-on-3 advantage for the first 1:41 of the third. The French-born goalie made a fine glove save off Petr Sykora among several big stops during that stretch.

The Canadiens, who began the day one point behind Tampa Bay for seventh place in the Eastern Conference, won their second in a row and have claimed points in 11 of 12 games (8-1-3). The Rangers, who lost 3-2 in a shootout Wednesday in Atlanta, have dropped four in a row following a season-high, seven-game winning streak.

Huet extended his shutout streak to 131 minutes, 19 seconds just three days after Montreal’s acquisition of David Aebischer from Colorado in the trade that sent 2001-02 NHL MVP Jose Theodore to the Avalanche.

Geoffrion’s death came exactly 69 years after Morenz’s casket was viewed by thousands of fans as it laid in state at the Montreal Forum, three days after he died on March 8, 1937.

Marlene, married to Bernie for 54 years, flew from their home in Atlanta along with their daughter, Linda, as the pre-planned ceremony proceeded according to Geoffrion’s wishes.

With the lights dimmed and spotlights in the shape of No. 5 moving throughout the crowd, the first big cheer of the ceremony came when a clip was shown on the videoboard of Geoffrion at an Oct. 15 press conference explaining his reaction to learning that his number would be retired.

Notes: Actor Will Ferrell attended the game, drawing a big cheer when he was shown holding up a miniature No. 5 banner. … Lundqvist made 23 saves. … Geoffrion, who won six Stanley Cups with Montreal from 1950-64, came out of retirement with the Rangers in 1966 and played his final two seasons in New York. His No. 5 was painted on the ice behind both nets. … It was the 10th anniversary of the Canadiens’ last game at the Montreal Forum. On March 11, 1996, Montreal beat Dallas 4-1 before moving into its new home five days later with a 4-2 win over the Rangers. … Wearing No. 30, Aebischer backed up Huet. The No. 1 he wore with Colorado was retired by the Canadiens in honor of Jacques Plante.

AP-ES-03-11-06 2230EST