National Hockey

BUFFALO, N.Y. — On a night the Sabres celebrated the tradition of their old building, Jack Eichel and his Buffalo teammates continued to establish a home-ice advantage in their current arena.

TAMPA, Fla. — The Boston Bruins came up just short on back-to-back nights. Steven Stamkos had two goals to extend his recent tear and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the suddenly slumping Bruins 3-2 on Thursday.

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins, already without captain Sidney Crosby, learned early Thursday they would be without star forward Evgeni Malkin against the Columbus Blue Jackets. No problem.

GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Chicago Blackhawks placed defenceman Calvin de Haan on injured reserve Thursday with a right shoulder injury. The 28-year-old de Haan got hurt during Tuesday night's 5-1 loss at Vegas.

Montreal Canadiens forward Matthew Peca will be out for approximately six weeks with a knee injury, the NHL team announced Thursday. Peca suffered the injury during the game in Pittsburgh on Tuesday. The 26-year-old from Petawawa, Ont.

Boston Bruins (20-6-6, first in the Atlantic Division) vs. Tampa Bay Lightning (15-11-3, sixth in the Atlantic Division) Tampa, Florida; Thursday, 7 p.m. EST BOTTOM LINE: Brad Marchand leads Boston into a matchup with Tampa Bay.

New Jersey Devils (9-16-5, eighth in the Metropolitan Division) vs. Colorado Avalanche (20-8-3, first in the Central Division) Denver; Friday, 9 p.m. EST BOTTOM LINE: Nathan MacKinnon and Colorado square off against New Jersey.

DENVER — Mikko Rantanen put his first shot right where Carter Hart could make a great save. He didn't give the Philadelphia goaltender a chance on his next two scoring opportunities.

WASHINGTON — T.J.

MONTREAL — Cayden Primeau did not have to wait very long for his first NHL victory. The 20-year-old Primeau made 35 saves in his second NHL start as the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Ottawa Senators 3-2 in overtime on Wednesday.