Stars pull out late victory over Avalanche

Antti Miettinen punched a loose puck through Peter Budaj’s pads with 6:02 left to give the Dallas Stars a 5-4 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Monday night at Dallas.

Miettinen’s fifth goal of the season came only two minutes after Eric Lindros stormed through the slot and took a cross-ice pass from Mike Modano to score the tying goal.

Stars captain Brenden Morrow scored twice in the final three minutes of the first period to tie the score, 2-2, before leaving because of a groin injury.

Morrow said after the game that it was a “groin tweak” and that he would be evaluated again today.

Ottawa 5, Minnesota 3 -- Andrej Meszaros, Chris Kelly and Chris Neil scored first-period goals and Ray Emery made 42 saves at Ottawa, Canada.

The Senators, who won consecutive games for only the second time this season, are 4-6 at home this season, and 9-11-1 overall.

Toronto 4, New York Islanders 2 -- Darcy Tucker scored his 13th goal and the Maple Leafs held on at Toronto. John Pohl, Kyle Wellwood and Alexei Ponikarovsky also scored for the Maple Leafs, who ended a two-game losing streak.

The Maple Leafs have had offensive trouble lately without captain Mats Sundin (torn elbow ligament), but Tucker continued to impress on the power play.

Buffalo 7, Tampa Bay 2 -- Thomas Vanek and Paul Gaustad each scored twice in the Sabres’ seven-goal second period at Buffalo, N.Y.

It was the fifth time the Sabres scored six or more goals this season, and the second time in five games that they had seven.

Pittsburgh 5, Philadelphia 3 -- Ryan Whitney had a goal and two assists, and Sidney Crosby and Dominic Moore each added a goal and an assist for the Penguins at Philadelphia.

Crosby, who leads the Penguins with 30 points, came up with a sore groin shortly after scoring a goal at 5:47 of the second period.

Nashville 3, Columbus 1 -- Paul Kariya and Martin Erat each had a goal and an assist at Columbus, Ohio, as the Predators moved two points ahead of Detroit atop the Central Division.

Florida 3, Boston 2 -- Alex Auld made 29 saves, Martin Gelinas scored a power-play goal at Boston and the Panthers ended the Bruins’ season-high, four-game winning streak.