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PITTSBURGH – Niklas Backstrom finally stole a win for the Minnesota Wild on the road, and in the most unlikely of places.Backstrom made 34 saves and the Wild won an away game for the first time this season, beating the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 on Saturday night

MONTREAL – A wild game between the rival Canadiens and Maple Leafs came down to a shootout, where Montreal has been unbeatable this season.Mike Cammalleri and Scott Gomez scored as the Canadiens pulled out a 5-4 shootout win after blowing a two-goal lead in the third period

Martin Biron wore a hard hat and a grin after a big night of milestones for the New York Islanders.As a reward for earning 200th NHL win and 26th career shutout, Biron donned the Islanders’ informal reward for the player of the game

TAMPA, Fla. – The New Jersey Devils have become road warriors.David Clarkson scored the lone shootout goal in the fourth round of the tiebreaker and the Devils extended their season-opening, road-winning streak to seven games with a 2-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday

OTTAWA – The Ottawa Senators won’t be anxious to see Ondrej Pavelec any time soon.The Atlanta Thrashers goalie stopped 50 shots en route to a 3-1 win over the Senators on Saturday

BOSTON – Vladimir Sobotka did his best work in the third period after a frustrating middle frame.The Bruins centre, denied a goal in the second period when the puck entered the net after the final horn, set up Blake Wheeler 2:47 into the third and then finished off a 2-on-1 feed from Wheeler 4:15 later to give Boston a 2-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday

PHILADELPHIA – Flyers defenceman Braydon Coburn waited five years for his first two-goal game in the NHL. Then he took care of the feat in 1½ minutes

MONTREAL – Former Canadiens defenceman Mike Komisarek expects the boo-birds to be out when he returns to the Bell Centre for the first time as a Toronto Maple Leaf on Saturday night

The shuffling of chairs at the NHLPA continues.

After yesterday’s news that Ian Penny and the union had parted ways, TheHockeyNews.com has learned Mike Ouellet, the association’s chief of business affairs, has been tabbed as interim executive director until a permanent replacement is found

Scoring summaries from Friday’s NHL games:Canadiens 2 at Blackhawks 3First Period1. Chicago, Versteeg 3 (Bolland, Hjalmarsson) 13:46Penalties – Chipchura Mtl (double roughing), Ladd Chi (roughing, elbowing major, game misconduct) 3:48, Gill Mtl (cross-checking) 11:37, Kopecky Chi (slashing) 15:31, Gomez Mtl (holding) 16:01, Lapierre Mtl, Keith Chi (roughing) 17:01

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Ryane Clowe had reason to smile. He finally scored a goal this season and it came at an opportune moment.Evgeni Nabokov made 24 saves, and Clowe and Jamie McGinn scored their first goals of the season to help the San Jose Sharks beat the Western Conference-leading Colorado Avalanche 3-1 on Friday night

ANAHEIM, Calif. – The two-goal efforts by Corey Perry and Bobby Ryan were hardly a surprise to the Anaheim Ducks. The goals by Mike Brown and tough guy George Parros were a complete shock – especially because of their timeliness

DALLAS – Steven Reinprecht had a natural hat trick in a 5:11 span of the first period, and Rostislav Olesz scored in the second round of a shootout to give the Florida Panthers a 6-5 victory over the Dallas Stars on Friday night

WINNIPEG – Sergei Shirokov scored Manitoba’s lone goal in regulation and the shootout winner as the Moose earned a 2-1 American Hockey League win over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Friday

CHICAGO – Patrick Sharp ended a long goal drought – and finished off the Montreal Canadiens, too.Sharp, who had just one assist in his previous six games, scored with 4:10 left to give the Chicago Blackhawks a 3-2 victory over Montreal on Friday night

Ryan Miller and Tim Connolly were at their best with the game on the line for the Buffalo Sabres.Connolly scored on a power play 1:04 into overtime – his second goal of the game – and Miller made 33 saves to help the surging Sabres beat Toronto 3-2 on Friday night

WASHINGTON – The New York Islanders have quickly become experts at playing overtime. On Friday night, they became the first NHL team to play seven overtime games before Nov

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The big pads circled the puck and Steve Mason thought he had it corralled. Then it started tumbling away, wobbling inches over the goal line

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Petr Sykora tried to act as if it wasn’t a big deal. Minnesota coach Todd Richards, however, saw a motivated player.Two days after being banished to the press box as a healthy scratch, Sykora had a goal and to help Minnesota win for the first time in regulation this season, 3-2 over the New York Rangers on Friday night

CHICAGO – Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews missed his fourth straight game because of concussion-like symptoms, sitting out Friday night against Montreal