FanHouse GregoryCampbell

Brian Burke's acquisition of tough-guy Brad May helped add to some of the intensity and entertainment value in Thursday's Montreal-Toronto game, as the two teams beat the snot out of one other physically, while the Canadiens dominated on the scoreboard, pulling out a 6-2 win. The victory for Montreal is its third in a row, and eighth in its past 10 games.

We've already talked about the penalties and wrestling matches between Mikhail Grabovski and a linesman, so let's talk about the game itself. The Canadiens jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first period, thanks to goals from Sergei Kostitsyn, Maxim Lapierre and Guillaume Latendresse. Jaroslav Halak, making his fourth straight start in goal for Montreal, turned aside 30 shots to pick up his eighth win of the season.

Bruins 6, Senators 4: Boston snapped a brief two-game losing skid on Thursday night with a 6-4 win over Ottawa. The Bruins let a 3-1 lead slip away late in the second period, and then scored three consecutive goals of their own in the third, as Ottawa goalie Martin Gerber had a rather forgettable start in goal, stopping only 16 of 21 shots. Marc Savard scored what proved to be the game-winning goal, while also adding two assists.

A couple of weeks ago Eric McErlain passed along the video of Penguins center Sidney Crosby punching an unsuspecting Atlanta Thrashers player in the goods. It didn't exactly go over well with hockey fans because, well, a lot of people may have been suspended for a similar move while Crosby went unpunished. On Saturday, with the Penguins getting their hats handed to them -- again -- on home ice, Crosby decided to take out his frustrations on Brett McLean and essentially jumped him right off the draw.

The scrap came just after Max Talbot and Gregory Campbell squared off in a mutually agreed upon bout. If Crosby wants to be a leader and stick up for his team -- and himself -- there are better ways to do it. Basically mugging the guy across from you and then wildly throwing punches with your visor on is not the way. Terribly weak on Crosby's part. Is it weaker than the Penguins collective team effort the past month? That's a toss up, my friends.

Both players received five-minute majors for fighting, while Crosby picked up a 10-minute misconduct and a double minor for roughing.

The Penguins ultimately lost, 6-1, dropping their fourth consecutive game -- and fifth straight at home -- while they are 8-13 since November 15. Even worse, with Buffalo's win in Boston on Saturday, the Penguins fall to the ninth spot in the Eastern Conference, meaning, if the playoffs were to start today, the defending Eastern Conference champions would be on the outside looking in. Fortunately, the playoffs don't start today. Though if the Penguins keep playing like this it's not going to matter when they start.

Paul Maurice made his debut in his second stint with the Hurricanes on Thursday night, and, well, it wasn't exactly an impressive showing by Carolina, as the Penguins walked out of the building with a 5-2 win. Sidney Crosby registered four assists on the night, while Petr Sykora picked up a pair of power play goals to lead the Penguins.

Carolina goalie Michael Leighton struggled most of the night, giving up the five goals on only 22 shots. He struggled with puck control and wasn't exactly helped by his defense, as they were guilty of a few costly turnovers in the defensive zone. With the Hurricanes trailing 1-0 in the first, Josef Melichar (former Penguin) turned the puck over to Pascal Dupuis who ripped a shot behind Leighton giving the Penguins an early 2-0 lead.

Ruslan Fedotenko and Miroslav Satan also scored for the Penguins, while Tuomo Ruutu and Matt Cullen scored the only two goals of the night for Carolina. Both goals brought the Hurricanes to within two goals on the scoreboard, only to have the Penguins quickly strike back, squashing any momentum Carolina may have built.

The Hurricanes have now lost four of their past five games.

Florida Panthers goaltender Craig Anderson turned aside all 37 shots he faced, while Henrik Lundqvist failed to make it beyond the second period for the Rangers, as the Panthers used a three-goal outburst in the second to roll to a 4-0 win.

The Panthers received goals from Ville Peltonen, Stephen Weiss and Gregory Campbell in the second, as Weiss and Campbell scored just 12 seconds apart, leading to Rangers coach Tom Renney lifting his all-star netminder. Michael Frolik added some insurance in the third period for Florida, picking up his second goal of the season.

For Anderson, it's the fourth time this season he's stopped at least 37 shots in a game, as he pushes his season record to 4-1-3 and currently boasts a .948 save percentage, best in the NHL. He had to withstand a 17-shot barrage from the Rangers in the final period to preserve the shutout.

Anderson's performance was good enough for him to earn yet another start on Tuesday, when the Panthers take on Washington.