It's late enough into the NHL season to finally believe that the Boston Bruins aren't kidding.
After finishing with the worst record in the NHL last season, the Bruins find themselves among the leaders with the schedule into the second month.Sunday night's 3-1 victory at Ottawa sent the Bruins into a first-place tie with the Senators in the Northeast Division, not to mention the Eastern Conference. Technically, the Bruins (9-5-1) are first because they have one more victory than the Senators (8-4-3).
"It's a young team and they want to win," said new Bruins coach Pat Burns. "I'm not the one on the ice - give them the credit."
The Bruins have been especially impressive away from home with a 7-2-0 record, the most road victories of any NHL team.
Rob DiMaio's tie-breaking goal with 2:41 gave the Bruins their latest victory. After DiMaio broke a 1-1 tie with his third goal of the season, Ted Donato scored an empty-net goal with 49 seconds remaining.
Mattias Timander also scored for Boston, while Denny Lambert scored for Ottawa.
Stars 3, Flyers 3
Jamie Langenbrunner scored on a second-period play that injured Philadelphia goalie Ron Hextall and lifted visiting Dallas into a tie.
Red Wings 4, Mighty Ducks 3
Darren McCarty, Nicklas Lidstrom and Brendan Shanahan scored power-play goals to lead Detroit over visiting Anaheim.
Vyacheslav Kozlov also scored for Detroit, which has won five of its last six games.
Blackhawks 3, Penguins 1
Chris Terreri, making his 13th consecutive start in place of injured Jeff Hackett, stopped 24 shots as the Blackhawks defeated the Penguins for their first three-game winning streak since last February.
Coyotes 3, Flames 1
Craig Janney set up three goals as Phoenix beat visiting Calgary in a game marred by an injury to right wing Mike Gartner.
Gartner, two goals shy of becoming the fifth player in NHL history to score 700, was blindsided by Calgary's Theoren Fleury and limped off the ice with six seconds remaining in the first period. The Coyotes said Gartner sprained his left knee and would have an MRI exam today.