It’s 30 for the Stars After Beating Blues

Grant Marshall scored 57 seconds into overtime as the Dallas Stars became the first NHL team to reach 30 wins with a 2-1 victory Wednesday night at St. Louis over the Blues.

Guy Carbonneau won a faceoff against Pierre Turgeon in the St. Louis zone and the puck came to Derian Hatcher at the left point. Marshall deflected Hatcher’s wrist shot past goalie Grant Fuhr for the game winner.

St. Louis had tied the score at 1-1 when Al MacInnis scored 2:18 into the third period.

Ed Belfour made 23 saves for the Stars (30-11-8), who stayed two points ahead of Detroit in the Central Division standings with 68 points heading into the all-star break. The Stars are also a league-best 17-6-3 on the road.

Boston 5, Pittsburgh 2--The Bruins, the NHL’s worst team last season, head into the all-star break with a seven-game unbeaten streak after beating the Penguins at Boston.

The Bruins, revived by the defensive system implemented by Coach Pat Burns, are 4-0-3 in their last seven games and 21-16-9 overall. Last season, they lost their last three games before the all-star break when they were 16-22-6.

Detroit 4, Vancouver 0--Chris Osgood stopped 26 shots for his second consecutive shutout as the Red Wings took a five-game unbeaten streak into the all-star break.

The Red Wings shut out two straight opponents for the first time in Joe Louis Arena history. The last time it happened was 1966 in Olympia Stadium.

Detroit (28-11-10) trails Dallas by two points for the NHL’s best record.

N.Y. Islanders 7, Tampa Bay 1--Zigmund Palffy and Robert Reichel each scored two goals at Tampa to help the Islanders snap an 11-game winless streak.

The Lightning has lost six in a row and is winless in its last seven (0-6-1).

Chicago 4, Carolina 1--The Blackhawks won their fifth consecutive road game, getting a goal and two assists from Gary Suter, as they improved to 7-1-3 in their last 11 away from the United Center.

The loss dropped the Hurricanes to a season-worst eight games under .500 heading into the all-star break.

New Jersey 4, N.Y. Rangers 1--The victory at East Rutherford, N.J., was the third in as many games with the Rangers and it assured the Devils that they would enter the all-star break in first place in the Atlantic Division.

Buffalo 4, Toronto 1--Dominik Hasek made 36 saves at Toronto as the Sabres handed the Maple Leafs their third consecutive loss.

Hasek was brilliant in shutting out the Leafs over the last two periods and has returned to form after a slow start. The Maple Leafs are 1-22-3 when trailing after the first period.

Montreal 3, Philadelphia 3--The tie, combined with Pittsburgh’s loss to Boston, moved the Canadiens into first place in the Northeast Division with 57 points, one ahead of the Penguins.

Montreal, unbeaten in its last eight road games (6-0-2), remains winless in its last six games against the Flyers (0-3-3), and hasn’t won in Philadelphia since Oct. 25, 1992.

Phoenix 3, Florida 2--Jeremy Roenick scored his 700th career point on a first-period goal and Keith Tkachuk scored his 29th goal to lead the Coyotes at Phoenix.

Phoenix, unbeaten in its last five home games (3-0-2), heads into the all-star break with a 21-18-8 record compared to 20-23-4 at this time last year.

Edmonton 5, Calgary 2--Doug Weight, Valeri Zelepukin and Mats Lindgren scored third-period goals at Edmonton as the Oilers extended their winning streak to a season-high five games.

Notes

An arbitrator ruled that holdout center Petr Nedved can return to the NHL this season without clearing waivers. But before he can return, the Pittsburgh Penguins must first sign him to a contract. The two were $900,000 apart in their most recent negotiations.