NHL gives nod to realignment

PEBBLE BEACH, California — NHL officials approved a radical realignment plan Monday that will give the league four conferences instead of six divisions and guarantee home-and-home series among all teams.

The Board of Governors authorized commissioner Gary Bettman to implement the proposal pending input with the NHL Players' Association. It could be put in place as early as next season

The league considered two plans to accommodate Atlanta's move to Winnipeg this past summer. The first would have simply moved the Jets to the Central Division and either Detroit or Columbus to the Southeast.

"The simple one wasn't as simple as it looked when you got done with it," Bettman said.

The board opted to go with the more dramatic switch, creating four geographic conferences — two with eight teams and two with seven.

The new format will increase overall travel in the regular season, especially for Eastern Conference teams who will now have more trips West. But it cuts down on travel for some Western Conference teams, which was a critical issue for teams like Detroit, Dallas, Columbus and Nashville.

"This is not a subject that everybody is going to get their first choice on," Bettman said. "What you try to do is come up with something that everybody can live with, get comfortable with and understands the value of. Because if you ask 30 clubs, you would probably get 30 different solutions. That's what makes this a difficult process."

The new look has two conferences with seven teams all based in the Eastern time zone: New Jersey, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, New York Rangers, New York Islanders, Washington and Carolina in one and Boston, Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Buffalo, Florida and Tampa Bay in the other.

The third conference consists of eight teams in the Eastern and Central time zones: Detroit, Columbus, Nashville, St. Louis, Chicago, Minnesota, Dallas and Winnipeg. The fourth conference has eight teams in the Mountain and Pacific time zones: Los Angeles, Anaheim, Phoenix, San Jose, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Colorado.

The conferences have not been named.

Bettman said he liked the current format that he devised of six five-team divisions but that Winnipeg's move from Atlanta forced some change. He didn't take a stance on either proposal, but simply explained the pros and cons and allowed the teams to vote.

PITTSBURGH — Gregory Campbell, Benoit Pouliot and Tyler Seguin scored, Tim Thomas stopped 45 shots, and the surging Boston Bruins kept rolling with a 3-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday evening.

The Bruins improved to 14-0-1 in their last 15 games, their longest point streak since the club went 17 games without a loss in 1983.

Maple Leafs 4, Rangers 2

In New York, Phil Kessel had two assists to add to his NHL-leading point total, and Toronto snapped the Rangers' five-game winning streak.

Panthers 5, Capitals 4

In Sunrise, Florida, Stephen Weiss scored two goals to lead the Panthers to a win over Washington.

Senators 4, Lightning 2

In Ottawa, Nick Foligno scored 15:33 into the third period, Zack Smith added two goals, and the Senators extended Tampa Bay's losing streak to four games.

Coyotes 4, Blackhawks 3 (SO)

In Chicago, Radim Vrbata and Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored in the shootout, and Mike Smith stopped Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa in the tiebreaker to lead Phoenix to a wild victory over the hosts.

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