Sabres tie mark with 20th victory

Daniel Briere scored the lone goal in the shootout and Ryan Miller made 36 saves -- including six in overtime -- in the Buffalo Sabres’ 4-3 victory over the New York Rangers on Friday night at Buffalo, N.Y.

The Sabres (20-3-2) swept the four-game season series from the Rangers, and became the fifth team in NHL history to accumulate at least 20 victories through 25 games, the first since Ottawa won 21 of its first 25 last season.

After Briere beat goalie Kevin Weekes in the first round of the shootout, Miller stopped Michael Nylander, Brendan Shanahan and Petr Prucha to win for the fourth time in his last six starts.

Chicago 5, St. Louis 2 -- Tuomo Ruutu scored his fifth goal in six games and Nikolai Khabibulin made 29 saves to lead the host Blackhawks, who are 2-0 under new Coach Denis Savard, who replaced Trent Yawney on Monday.

New Jersey 5, Pittsburgh 2 -- Checking forward Jay Pandolfo scored the tiebreaking goal at East Rutherford, N.J., and the Devils ended a four-game losing streak. They avoided their longest winless streak since a seven-game skid (0-4-2-1) in 2001.

Detroit 3, Minnesota 0 -- Dominik Hasek needed only 20 saves to record his 72nd career shutout in the host Red Wings’ victory.

The Wild was shut out for the first time since Nov. 1, 2005, a span of 93 games that was the second-longest streak in the NHL behind Detroit’s 144.

Calgary 2, Columbus 1 -- Jarome Iginla and Chuck Kobasew scored third-period goals to lead the Flames, who have won seven in a row on home ice. The Blue Jackets have one win in their last 11 games (1-9-1). Ken Hitchcock is 1-3-0 since taking over as coach on Nov. 22.