By The Associated Press

MONTREAL – The Montreal Canadiens are getting solid goaltending even though Jose Theodore is in the worst slump of his career.

Cristobal Huet got his first Montreal shutout and Andrei Markov scored in his return to the lineup, leading the Canadiens to a 2-0 win over the Boston Bruins on Saturday.

Huet, acquired from Los Angeles following the 2003-04 season, made 35 saves for his fifth career shutout, his first since Feb. 23, 2004 against Nashville with the Kings.

The 30-year-old Frenchman made his second consecutive start against the Bruins – who beat Montreal 3-1 at home Thursday – after relieving struggling starter Jose Theodore in three of the Canadiens’ previous four games.

“I can’t tell you how much that meant to us,” said Canadiens defenseman Sheldon Souray, who scored into an empty net with 21.2 seconds remaining.

Markov, who missed eight games with a shoulder injury, scored a power-play goal 10:22 into the third period, putting a rebound of Alex Kovalev’s shot off the left post into an open left side.

“He happened to score the goal in the third period, which is terrific, but I think he brought another presence to our defense, an elevation in our ability to find the open man,” said Canadiens GM and coach Bob Gainey, whose record improved to 5-6 since he moved behind the bench after firing Claude Julien.

Huet made several big saves throughout and caught a break late in the game when Sergei Samsonov hit the left post during Boston’s seventh power play opportunity of the game with less than a minute remaining.

Blues 4, Stars 3

ST. LOUIS – Barret Jackman scored at 2:16 of overtime to give the St. Louis Blues a 4-3 victory over the Dallas Stars.

Rangers 4, Flyers 3

PHILADELPHIA – Jaromir Jagr scored 1:24 into overtime and the New York Rangers beat Philadelphia 4-3 on Saturday to move one point ahead of the Flyers for first place in the Atlantic Division.

Petr Sykora scored with 41.1 seconds left in regulation to force the extra period and Marcel Hossa and Michael Nylander also scored for New York, which trailed the Flyers by nine points less than one month ago.

Red Wings 3, Avalanche 0

DENVER – Dan Cleary broke a scoreless tie in the third period and Manny Legace handed Colorado its first shutout of the season, leading Detroit past the Avalanche 3-0.

Legace (22-6-2) stopped 28 shots.

Islanders 5, Penguins 4

PITTSBURGH – Miroslav Satan notched his seventh career hat trick and added a shootout goal to help the New York Islanders defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-4.

Sabres 2, Senators 1

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Thomas Vanek scored the winning goal in the shootout to give the Buffalo Sabres a 2-1 win over the Ottawa Senators in a matchup of the two top teams in the Northeast Division on Saturday night. In the second round, Vanek faked a shot before depositing a wrist shot into the top right corner past Ottawa goalie Dominik Hasek.

Lightning 5, Capitals 0

TAMPA, Fla. – John Grahame made 29 saves for his third shutout in his past four games and Brad Richards had two goals to help the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Washington Capitals 5-0 on Saturday night.

Preds 6, Blackhawks 0

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Scott Hartnell picked up his first NHL hat trick and added an assist to lead the Nashville Predators to a 6-0 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night.

Maple Leafs 4, Devils 2

TORONTO – Ed Belfour made 36 saves, Alex Ponikarovsky scored twice and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the New Jersey Devils 4-2 Saturday night for just their second victory in 12 games.

Thrashers 6, Panthers 4

ATLANTA – Ilya Kovalchuk scored his NHL-leading 36th goal and the Atlanta Thrashers beat the Florida Panthers 6-4 to snap a seven-game losing streak. The Thrashers’ losing streak was their worst since opening the 2002-03 season.

with nine straight losses.

Peter Bondra had two goals, and Marc Savard a goal and two assists for Atlanta’s first win since Jan. 18 at Dallas.