Hasek Can Tip Hat to Dumont

Dominik Hasek got plenty of help from J.P. Dumont in recording his latest shutout.

Hasek stopped 22 shots for his third shutout of the season and 48th of his career and Dumont scored all three of Buffalo’s goals to lead the Sabres to a 3-0 victory over the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night at Boston.

“The important thing was how he responded from a poor game in New York,” Sabre Coach Lindy Ruff said of Hasek’s 5-2 loss to the New York Rangers last Friday. “They scored five goals on him, but he made three or four tough saves in the first period and he wasn’t tested often after that.”

It was only the 12th time in NHL history that one player scored all the goals in a 3-0 game. Edmonton’s Ryan Smyth did it earlier this season and is the only person to have accomplished it twice.

Dumont’s power-play goal at 3:25 of the second period gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead. He took a pass from Maxim Afinogenov and beat goalie Peter Skudra from in front of the net. It was Buffalo’s first score at the FleetCenter in 238 minutes, 18 seconds, a span of nearly four games.

Dumont had an empty-net goal with two seconds left in the game for his first career hat trick.

Washington 3, New York Islanders 2--Chris Simon’s third-period power-play goal at Uniondale, N.Y., helped the Capitals extend their unbeaten streak against the Islanders to 18 games.

Washington is 16-0-2 against the Islanders since March 2, 1997, and has won eight in a row on Long Island.

The streak is the second longest active streak in the NHL (New Jersey is 14-0-6 against the Rangers).

The start of the third period was delayed 46 minutes because of damage to the net support posts on one of the goals.

Nashville 2, Philadelphia 2--Bill Houlder scored midway through the third period as the Predators erased two one-goal deficits at Nashville.

Houlder tied it only 39 seconds after Keith Primeau gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead. Houlder’s slap shot from the top of the left circle beat screened Philadelphia goalie Roman Cechmanek at 8:06.

San Jose 3, New York Rangers 2--Owen Nolan scored a short-handed goal and added an assist at San Jose for the Sharks, 4-1-2 in their last seven games.