NHL ROUNDUP : Devils’ Billington Quiets the Lightning, 2-0

How effective was New Jersey goalie Craig Billington against Tampa Bay on Friday night at Tampa?

“It seemed like there was a big 4-by-6-foot board in front of the net,” the Lightning’s Doug Crossman said.

Billington stopped 29 shots to get his second shutout of the season, leading the Devils past the Lightning, 2-0.

The loss ended a three-game winning streak for expansion Tampa Bay, which was shut out for the first time.

Defenseman Scott Stevens scored New Jersey’s first goal at 14:44 of the first period. His shot from the left point deflected off the stick of Tampa Bay’s Joe Reekie past goaltender J.C. Bergeron.

Both teams’ penalty-killing units excelled in a scoreless second period, which featured 42 penalty minutes, 24 against New Jersey and 18 against Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay failed to score on seven power plays during the game, while New Jersey missed on all five tries.

The Devils’ Claude Lemieux added an empty-net goal with 27 seconds to play when Tampa Bay pulled Bergeron for an extra attacker.

Billington made two clutch saves during the third period, gloving Brian Bradley’s shot from inside the faceoff circle early in the period and blocking Mikael Andersson’s point-blank shot in the final minute.

Washington 4, Hartford 3--Washington killed all 10 Hartford power plays and rookie Keith Jones scored the tiebreaking goal with 6:04 to play as the Capitals won at Landover, Md.

Kevin Hatcher and Al Iafrate had power-play goals for the Capitals, who have won five in a row at home and eight of nine overall. After Jones made the score 3-2, Peter Bondra scored 48 seconds later. Murray Craven scored for Hartford with 2:14 remaining.

Patrick Poulin and Geoff Sanderson also scored for the Whalers. It was Hartford’s first loss in five games at the Capital Centre since Feb. 3, 1989.

Detroit 6, Boston 1--Keith Primeau had his first two-goal game and Tim Cheveldae made 34 saves as the Red Wings won at Detroit.

Detroit, which also got two goals from Steve Yzerman, had not beaten Boston at Joe Louis Arena since Nov. 18, 1988, a span of four games. It was also only the second victory in 10 games for the Red Wings over the Bruins.

Red Wing forward Sergei Fedorov left the game during the second period after suffering a shoulder injury. He sat out seven games earlier this month because of a strained shoulder but is expected to be back in action tonight against the Minnesota North Stars.

Vancouver 8, San Jose 1--Sergio Momesso scored twice and Pavel Bure added four assists at Vancouver as the Canucks handed the Sharks their 10th consecutive loss.

Vancouver improved to 10-1 lifetime against the Sharks and 4-0 this season.

Momesso opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 6:33 of the first period. Dana Murzyn, Petr Nedved and Anatoli Semenov all scored in a 3:26 span midway through the period to give the Canucks a 4-0 lead.