VANCOUVER, British Columbia: The Anaheim Ducks beat Vancouver 4-3 Wednesday to inflict only the third regulation-time defeat on the Canucks in 30 NHL games. Bobby Ryan scored twice and Curtis McElhinney made 34 saves for Anaheim. Jason Blake opened the scoring 56 seconds in, Brandon McMillan doubled the lead 3:26 into the second period, and Ryan scored his first goal 46 seconds later. Daniel Sedin, Alex Burrows, with his 100th NHL goal, and Ryan Kesler, scored for the Canucks. Predators 4, Red Wings 1: In Detroit, Nashville won to close within five points of Detroit for leadership of the Central Division. Martin Erat, David Legwand, Colin Wilson and Sergei Kostitsyn all scored by midway through the second period to give Nashville an unassailable lead and force the removal of Detroit goaltender Jimmy Howard. Pekka Rinne made 34 saves for the Predators, allowing only Ruslan Salei's goal late in the second; the Belarussian's first goal this season. Bruins 8, Canadiens 6: In Boston, the host outslugged and outlasted Montreal to go clear top of the Northeast Division. Bruins goalie Tim Thomas allowed a season-worst six goals, but made up for an off-night in the net by squaring off with Montreal counterpart Carey Price during a second-period fight that left the penalty boxes overflowing and the ice littered with equipment. Milan Lucic and Michael Ryder had two goals each for Boston while Nathan Horton, Brad Marchand, Dennis Seidenberg and Adam McQuaid also scored. Coyotes 3, Stars 2, OT: In Dallas, Radim Vrbata scored a power-play goal early in overtime to lift Phoenix over Dallas and extend the Stars' losing streak to a season-worst four games. Elsewhere it was: Sharks 3, Blue Jackets 2; Wild 3, Avalanche 2; Flames 5, Senators 2; Blackhawks 4, Oilers 1.
