Bourque Joins Rare Company in Bruin Win

Ray Bourque and Gordie Howe. Ray Bourque and Wayne Gretzky. Boston’s all-star defenseman is now linked with two of the NHL’s greatest players.

Bourque tied Howe for third place with 1,049 career assists and joined Gretzky among only 10 players to appear in 1,400 games as he helped the Bruins end a two-game losing streak with a 5-2 victory over the Senators on Thursday night at Boston.

“For a defenseman to put up those kinds of numbers, you’ve got to stick around for awhile. Playing 20 years is a special feat,” said Bourque, who assisted on both Boston’s power-play goals on shots from the right point.

St. Louis 3, Phoenix 2--Pavol Demitra scored on his own rebound with 3:21 to go as the Blues beat the suddenly struggling Coyotes at St. Louis, ending a six-game winless stretch.

Phoenix got off to a franchise-best 17-3-4 start, but is 0-2-1 in its last three games and goaltender Jimmy Waite absorbed his first loss after going 6-0-2.

Rookie Marty Reasoner and Scott Pellerin also scored for the Blues, who won for the first time in December. They had been 0-4-2 in their previous six games, one shy of Coach Joel Quenneville’s worst winless slump since becoming coach in January 1997.

Grant Fuhr stopped 20 shots to win for the first time since Nov. 4. He missed a month because of a groin injury and had been 0-1-1 since returning Dec. 12.

Washington 3, Chicago 1--Steve Konowalchuk scored a power-play goal with 1:13 left in the game to break a tie and help the visiting Capitals stop a four-game losing streak.

With Chicago’s Mike Maneluk serving a double-minor penalty for roughing, Konowalchuk redirected Calle Johansson’s shot from the right point past Blackhawks goaltender Jocelyn Thibault.

Peter Bondra added an empty-net goal with 5.1 seconds for the Capitals, who also got a second-period goal from Sergei Gonchar.

Philadelphia 3, Calgary 3--Cory Stillman’s power-play goal at 6:59 of the third period helped the Flames erase a pair of two-goal deficits in a penalty-filled game at Philadelphia.

Clarke Wilm and Jeff Shantz also scored for the Flames in a game that featured three goals in a 1:49 stretch in the third period.

Petr Svoboda, Mikael Renberg, and Mark Bureau scored for the Flyers, who were unable to hold on to a 2-0 lead in the second period and a 3-1 advantage in the third.

Vancouver 2, Colorado 1--Adrian Aucoin scored a power-play goal with 2:15 left in regulation as the Canucks beat the banged-up Avalanche at Vancouver, Canada.

Aucoin’s shot from the left circle banked in off Colorado defenseman Greg De Vries’ skate and into the open side as the Canucks beat the Avalanche for the first time in their last 10 visits to Vancouver. Before Thursday, Colorado had never lost a regular season game at General Motors Place, going 8-0-1.

San Jose 3, Nashville 1--Stephane Matteau and Marco Sturm scored first-period goals to lead the Sharks at San Jose.

The Sharks opened the scoring at 12:36 of the first period when Matteau scored on a 12-footer from the right side. It was his first goal of the season.