NEWARK: Ilya Kovalchuk scored for the fourth straight game and Johan Hedberg made 15 saves to give the streaking New Jersey Devils a 1-0 victory over the New York Rangers in the NHL Friday night. New Jersey won its season-high sixth straight and improved to 14-1-2 in its past 17 games to turn its season around. Even with the surge, the Devils will need to jump over five teams to make the playoffs with only 24 games remaining. They trailed the seventh-place Rangers by 31 points on Jan. 8, but are now only 14 points behind. Blues 3, Sabres 0: In Buffalo, New York, Ty Conklin stopped 25 shots to lead St. Louis over Buffalo shortly after the Blues traded captain Eric Brewer. Bruins 4, Senators 2: At Ottawa, Brad Marchand scored twice and Nathan Horton had a goal and an assist to lead Boston. Tuukka Rask made 32 saves and Dennis Seidenberg also scored for the Bruins, who acquired three-time All-Star defenseman Tomas Kaberle from Toronto in a trade earlier in the day. Red Wings 4, Panthers 3: In Sunrise, Florida, Todd Bertuzzi had two goals, including the gamewinner with 7:32 remaining, to lift Detroit. Wild 5, Ducks 1: At St. Paul, Minnesota, Matt Cullen scored a short-handed goal and Eric Nystrom scored his first career power-play goal as Minnesota beat Anaheim. Hurricanes 3, Flyers 2: In Raleigh, North Carolina, Erik Cole scored with 3:03 left to lift Carolina past Philadelphia. Blue Jackets 4, Blackhawks 3: In Chicago, Antoine Vermette, Derek MacKenzie and Anton Stralman scored in a span of 5:54 in the second period as Columbus topped Chicago. Matt Calvert added a goal and an assist for the Blue Jackets, who improved to 6-1-1 in their last eight and have climbed back into the Western Conference playoff race.
