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ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Minnesota Wild found some relief and satisfaction after their first game of the new year. The Buffalo Sabres were the perfect tonic. Jason Pominville scored against his old team, and the Wild beat the Sabres 4-1 on Thursday night to stop a franchise-record streak of six straight losses in regulation. Re-establishing their style and regaining the ground they lost will take some time, but for the Wild this was a strong start. "I cant express how good it feels to get that monkey off our back," defenceman Clayton Stoner said. Marco Scandella scored, just 106 seconds before Pominville. Jason Zucker had the third goal in the second period against Ryan Miller, one of the three goalies recently picked for the U.S. Olympic team. "Ryans been playing really good, and we didnt give him an effort in front of him," captain Steve Ott said. The Wild sure werent feeling sorry for anyone. They won for the first time since Dec. 17, and Niklas Backstrom picked up a victory for the first time in his last nine starts since Nov. 23. With Josh Harding sitting out with an illness, Backstrom stopped 19 shots. "Thats something we have to build on," Backstrom said. "I think thats the first step." Miller made 28 saves, not nearly enough for a Sabres team with by far the worst record and fewest goals in the NHL. They were nearly shut out for the second straight game, following a 3-0 loss at Winnipeg on Tuesday, but Matt Ellis knocked in a loose puck in front of the net with 1:12 left. "I think teams see what we have to offer, adjust, and we dont make any adjustments," Miller said. "We have to be adaptable." The Wild entered the night with the second-lowest scoring average in the league, so naturally the first goal came more than 24 1/2 minutes into the game. Scandella flashed a big smile after he beat defenceman Christian Ehrhoff to the slot and turned a pass from Matt Cooke into his first goal in 13 games. Then Pominville, who had the game-winner in October when these teams met in Buffalo, scored against his former teammate by using a snap shot to sneak the puck between Millers glove and the post. Zucker, playing on an all-21-year-old second line with Nino Niederreiter and Mikael Granlund, stretched the lead to 3-0 with his first goal of the season. He was recalled on Wednesday from Iowa of the AHL for the fourth time since Nov. 20. "We didnt do anything special, but we did all the little things right," Pominville said. Ten Wild players had points, including two assists each for Ryan Suter and Mikko Koivu, after coach Mike Yeo shook up his lineup yet again. Suter and Jonas Brodin were split up on defence, too. Even Kyle Brodziak scored, for the first time in 31 games since Oct. 26. He was awarded the goal with 26 seconds left when he was tripped just past the blue line with an empty net in front of him. Yeo praised Koivu, Pominville and new linemate Dany Heatley for their leadership. "If they had a tough shift, they got right back to it, got it right the next shift," Yeo said. "They play an important role on our team. We need them to continue to go out and perform." Yeos job has been put in jeopardy by the skid that began around Thanksgiving and kept up all the way through New Years Eve. The Wild improved to 6-12-1 in their last 19 games with their first regulation win in 11 games since Dec. 8. The Sabres already fired their coach, replacing Ron Rolston with Ted Nolan on Nov. 13. The results havent been much better, though. They fell to 0-9-2 in their last 11 road games and have only one regulation win away from Buffalo all season. This mightve been their worst game under Nolan. "If it wasnt it had to be pretty close. Its just one of those things where when were bad, were bad," Nolan said. NOTES: The Sabres lost here for the first time in four games since Dec. 13, 2003. Theyre 5-2 at Xcel Energy Center since it opened. ... Wild D Keith Ballard was a healthy scratch for the first time this season. ... Sabres RW Drew Stafford left the game with an upper-body injury. LW Ville Leino was scratched because of a lower-body injury. ... The Sabres have not gone without a goal in consecutive games since Oct. 9 and 11, 2003. Stitched Cardinals Jerseys Bruce Sutter Cardinals Jersey . Dallas (2-0-1) sits atop the Western Conference with an MLS-best seven points. Castillo opened the scoring in the 71st minute off a Mauro Diaz set piece, and Watson outran defender Tony Lochhead on a long ball and then juked goalkeeper Ian Kennedy for the eventual game-winner in the 78th minute. https://www.cheapcardinalsonline.com/564...-cardinals.html. 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The Washington Capitals had it all against the New Jersey Devils and it showed.Braden Holtby made 21 saves, Nicklas Backstrom had two goals and an assist and Alex Ovechkin scored a highlight-reel goal as the Capitals continued to roll with a 4-0 victory on Saturday night.I think were doing what weve wanted to do all season, but were now finding a way to do it consistently, Holtby said after posting his second shutout of the season. Were using our speed and size to our advantage. There arent a lot of teams who can match up with us there. We now know its our strength.Washington has been playing to its strength lately and it is showing in the standings. The Capitals have points in eight straight games (6-0-2) to get right in the middle of the playoffs chase approaching the halfway point of the season.Its tough to get points in this league, so consistency is everything, said defenceman Mike Green, who opened the scoring in the second period. Weve gotten points in the last eight games and thats good, but were not in any position to sit back and relax.Holtby has been outstanding in the current run. He has started every game and is now 11-3-3 in his last 17 starts.Hes really stepped up and saved us a lot of the time, said Backstrom, who has five goals and four assists in his last six games. Thats what we really needed.Cory Schneider had 17 saves for the Devils, who again failed to win consecutive games for the first time since the middle of last month. New Jersey is now 3-8-4 in its last 15 games.If you are going to move up in the standings you have to go on a run, Schneider said. Every team seems to do it or has a streak where it gets them in the mix. It almost seems like for the last season and a half weve had trouble stringing together a hot streak. Again we can talk about it all we want but we just have to go out and do it.This was the fourth of five games between the teams and Washington is 3-1.dddddddddddd Holtby has started all four, and his only loss was 1-0.After a scoreless and listless first period, Green opened the scoring by ending an 18-game goal-scoring drought. Backstrom did most of the work by lugging the puck from behind the Devils net to the blue line. He slid the puck to Jack Hillen and the little-used defenceman found Green for a ripping shot from above the right circle.The Devils came close to tying the score just before Backstrom stretched the lead to 2-0.Defenceman Peter Harrold floated a shot from the right point that landed in the crease. Travis Zajac and Steve Bernier tried to reach the loose puck but Backstrom helped clear and seconds later beat Schneider from the left circle after taking a drop pass from Jay Beagle.Holtby maintained the two-goal lead by stopping Mike Sislo on a breakaway minutes later.Ovechkin, who had two shots bang off goalposts earlier in the game, ended all doubt at 7:16 of the third period with his 15th goal. It was a beauty. He took a loose puck in front of the Washington bench, skated up the ice, deked around defence Jon Merrill while avoiding a hip check and backhanded a shot into the top of the net as he was going down.I was just making a move. It was a good play, Ovechkin said.Schneider got a little revenge with 9:12 left in the game when he stoned Ovechkin on a penalty shot.Backstrom closed out the scoring with an empty-net goal, his 10th of the season.NOTES: The Devils called up D Adam Larsson and Sislo from Albany (AHL) earlier in the day. Only Sislo played, replacing slump-ridden Michael Ryder, who has not scored a goal in 20 games ...Hillens assist on Greens goal was his first point of the season. ...Washington is 8-1-2 against Metropolitan Division opponents, and had three of next four games against teams from the division. ' ' '