s Tampa Bay with 32 goals and 78 points. … One day after being obtained in trade with Chicago, Capitals D Michal Kempny participated i

BOSTON (AP) Buffalo star Jack Eichel went down with an injury and his teammates responded with one of their best performances of the season.Scott Wilson had a goal and an assist during Buffalo’s big second period Mike Smith Jersey , helping the Sabres cool off Tuukka Rask and the Boston Bruins with a 4-2 victory on Saturday night.”I thought the guys made a terrific effort tonight,” Buffalo coach Phil Housley said. ”One of the best games I’ve seen us check.”Eichel left midway through the opening period, favoring his right knee after falling awkwardly on a check by Boston defenseman Matt Grzelcyk along the boards behind the Bruins’ net.”He got tangled up in the corner,” Housley said. ”We’ll know tomorrow when he sees our doctors.”Evander Kane and Benoit Pouliot also scored during the second and Rasmus Ristolainen added an empty-netter with 29 seconds remaining. Former Bruins goalie Chad Johnson made 25 saves as the Sabres picked up the road win with their fathers along for the trip.”To see Jack go down like that, that’s a big hole to fill,” Pouliot said. ”(The win) feels good for the dads and for everyone.”The Sabres had lost four of five and entered with the NHL’s second-fewest points.Rask stopped 24 shots, but lost in regulation for the first time since Nov. 26. It snapped his career-best 21-game streak with at least a point (19-0-2), the fourth-longest in team history.The Bruins were bothered by their subpar effort.”I think it was pretty obvious that wasn’t our best game – the way we want to play – but those games happen,” Rask said.Boston center Patrice Bergeron agreed they had a poor effort from the start.”We were flat,” Bergeron said. ”When you do that, you don’t deserve it – plain and simple.”Ryan Spooner and David Backes accounted for Boston’s goals. The Bruins failed to get a point for just the second time in 24 games (18-2-4).Backes scored with 59 seconds left after Rask was replaced by an extra skater. But Ristolainen fired one nearly the length of the ice for his fifth of the season.Kane made it 1-0 when he broke in on a clean breakaway after Bruins forward David Pastrnak flubbed a pass near the right point and Sam Reinhart passed the puck to the winger. Kane fired a hard wrist shot that beat Rask on the glove side inside the right post 7:44 into the second.Wilson made it 2-0 just over five minutes later when he collected a loose puck that was blocked by Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid and slipped a wrist shot into the net.Spooner’s goal sliced the lead in half before Pouliot one-timed Wilson’s pass by Rask at the end of a 3-on-1 break with 71 seconds left in the second.Rask made a pair of nice pad stops in a relatively quiet opening period. Boston’s first shot on goal by a forward came in the final minute.NOTES: Kane’s goal snapped his 10-game scoreless stretch. … Sabres C Jacob Josefson played his 300th NHL game. … Bruins D Kevan Miller missed his fourth straight game because of an upper-body injury. … The teams play again Feb. 25 in their final regular-season matchup.UP NEXTSabres: Host Colorado on Sunday. They beat the Avalanche in the only other meeting this season.Bruins: At New Jersey on Sunday. Boston won the first meeting Artemi Panarin Jersey , at home on Jan. 23. WASHINGTON (AP) The plan was simple: Score early against a weary opponent and ride the momentum the rest of the way.The Tampa Bay Lightning carried out the strategy perfectly, turning a big first period into a huge 4-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Tuesday night in a showdown between division leaders in the Eastern Conference.Washington had played in Buffalo one day earlier, and that played significantly into the game-plan of Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper.Article continues below ...”The big thing for us is, we knew they played (Monday). The key for that is you’ve got to get the lead,” Cooper said.Brayden Point sandwiched two goals around a tally by Chris Kunitz to make it 3-0 after the first period. That proved to be enough of a cushion for goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, who stopped 35 shots to earn his NHL-leading 35th win.”A good first period, and then we kind of hung on,” Point said.After Alex Ovechkin notched his NHL-high 36th goal for Washington to make it 3-2 at 11:02 of the third, Nikita Kucherov clinched it with a breakaway goal with 7:02 remaining.The victory improved Tampa Bay’s NHL-best record to 40-17-3 and kept the Lightning ahead of surging Boston in the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference.”I liked a lot what happened in the first period. I thought we deserved to have a 3-0 lead,” Cooper said. ”There are a lot of positives to take out of the game, especially the fact that we got two points.”Lars Eller scored a power-play goal for the Capitals Shane Doan Jersey , who lead Pittsburgh by one point in the Metropolitan Division.Coach Barry Trotz was encouraged by his team’s play over the last 40 minutes, but lamented Washington’s miscues in the early-going.”We made three mistakes and they got all three of them,” Trotz said. ”They didn’t have very many shots … but they had three goals and we dug ourselves a hole.”Seeking to end a five-game losing streak in Washington, Tampa Bay took control early behind Point, a 21-year-old playing in his second NHL season. After Point beat Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby with a power-play goal at 2:30, Kunitz scored on a deflection at 16:00 before Point split two defenders and delivered a backhander for his 23rd goal of the season at 17:52.””That’s how we wanted to start off the game,” Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman said.It was the fifth career two-goal game for Point, who’s still seeking his first hat trick.”You think about it for sure, but the win is the most important thing,” he said.The All-Star center did, however www.floridapanthersteamshops.com , extend his point-scoring streak to five games.Eller scored his 12th goal of the season at 9:32 of the second period, but Vasilevskiy stiffened after that.”The goaltenders in this league are erasers,” Trotz said. ”Tonight, their eraser was really good, and so we take the loss.”NOTES: Kucherov leads Tampa Bay with 32 goals and 78 points. … One day after being obtained in trade with Chicago, Capitals D Michal Kempny participated in pre-game warmups but was scratched. … Holtby fell to 9-3-2 lifetime against Tampa Bay. … The Lightning won the season series 2-1. … Ovechkin is now six goals short of 600 for his career. He’s scored 43 against Tampa Bay in 65 games. … Washington fell to 20-9-2 at home but had its 395th consecutive sellout.UP NEXTLightning: At Ottawa on Thursday night, the second of three straight road games.Capitals: At Florida on Thursday night. Series tied 1-1, with each team winning on road.—