Andre Fleury made 17 saves for Pittsburgh's first shutout of the season in the Penguins' 3-0 victory over the Boston Bruins Thursday. Cooke, whose blindside hit sidelined Boston's Marc Savard indefinitely with a Grade 2 concussion in Pittsburgh on March 7, took the ice for the first time 1:53 into the game as fans booed loudly. Just 5 seconds later, he and Shawn Thornton brushed against each other in the faceoff circle to the left of the Penguins net. They dropped their gloves and, in a brief exchange, traded punches before Cooke's helmet fell off and he went to the ice. Thornton, who kept swinging while Cooke was crouched in a vulnerable position, was given a 10-minute misconduct. Tyler Kennedy, Alex Ponikarovsky and Michael Rupp scored. Coyotes 4, Panthers 3, SO: At Sunrise, Florida, Radim Vrbata scored with a minute left in the third period to force overtime, then added the winner in the third round of a shootout for Phoenix's franchise-record 44th victory of the season. Martin Hanzal and Lee Stempniak also scored in the third period to help the Coyotes stretch their winning streak to seven games. The Coyotes broke the franchise mark set by the 1984-85 Winnipeg Jets – before overtime ties were broken in shootouts. David Booth, Cory Stillman amd Stephen Weiss scored for Florida. Hurricanes 4, Capitals 3, OT: At Raleigh, North Carolina, Ray Whitney scored at 4:02 of overtime as Carolina edged Washington. Eric Fehr forced the overtime for Washington, scoring with 10 seconds left in regulation and goalie Semyon Varlamov off for an extra attacker. Washington played without captain and scoring leader Alex Ovechkin, who is serving the second of a two-game suspension for his hit on Chicago defenseman Brian Campbell. Eric Staal had a goal and set up Whitney's winner, and Brett Carson and Chad LaRose also scored for Carolina. Defenseman Joe Corvo, obtained from the Hurricanes in a March 3 trade, had Washington's first two goals. Sabres 6, Lightning 2: At Tampa, Florida, Jason Pominville scored three goals as Buffalo moved within four points of New Jersey for the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. Pominville scored twice in the first period and Tyler Myers added a goal to help Buffalo take a 3-0 lead. Derek Roy had a short-handed goal and an assist, Thomas Vanek also scored, and Ryan Miller made 23 saves for Buffalo. Steve Downie and Vincent Lecavalier had third-period goals for Tampa Bay. Blackhawks 3, Kings 0: At Los Angeles, Tomas Kopecky scored twice in a 3:20 span in the third period, and Antti Niemi made 17 saves for Chicago for his fifth career shutout. Troy Brouwer opened the scoring in the second period. Canucks 3, Sharks 2: An Vancouver, British Columbia, Ryan Kesler and Alexander Edler each had a goal and an assist for Vancouver, and Ryan Johnson scored his first goal of the season. Blues 4, Rangers 3: At New York, Paul Kariya scored his 400th NHL goal to snap a third-period tie as St. Louis took advantage of uncharacteristically shaky New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist, scoring four times on its first 14 shots. Thrashers 6, Senators 3: At Atlanta, Nik Antropov and Colby Armstrong scored two goals each as Atlanta gave itself hope in the playoff race with a second straight victory. Maple Leafs 2, Devils 1, SO: At Toronto, Phil Kessel scored in regulation and in a shootout to help Toronto win for the fifth time in six games. Flyers 3, Stars 2: At Dallas, Scott Hartnell scored the tiebreaking goal in the third period, and Simon Gagne and Mike Richards had a goal and an assist each for Philadelphia. Predators 5, Wild 0: At Nashville, Tennessee, Pekka Rinne made 17 saves for his fifth shutout of the season, and Colin Wilson, Jason Arnott, and Patric Hornqvist each had a goal and an assist for Nashville.
