NHL

John Tavares scored three goals for his second NHL hat trick, and Rick DiPietro made 40 saves to help the New York Islanders beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-3 Saturday night and snap a three-game losing streak. DiPietro played for the first time since he injured a groin during New York's five-game road trip. Blake Comeau and Michael Grabner also scored for New York, 9-4-2 in its last 15 games. Tomas Vanek, Tyler Ennis and Jochen Hecht scored for the Sabres, who got 32 saves from Ryan Miller. The first period was scoreless, but featured several scoring chances. The best came with less than seven minutes remaining when Tavares ripped a shot that Miller snagged with his glove as he dived.

Jordan Staal scored with 16:35 left in the third period to help the Pittsburgh Penguins beat Boston 3-2 and avoid another collapse against the Bruins. Five days after giving up four goals in 3:23 to hand a victory to Boston, the Penguins blew another two-goal lead before recovering to win without Sidney Crosby for just the second time in five games. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 44 shots for his 20th win of the season. Tuukka Rask made 33 saves for the Bruins, and Dennis Seidenberg and Michael Ryder scored 13 seconds apart in the second period to erase a 2-0 deficit. But Staal backhanded a loose puck in front past Rask to make it 3-2. Chris Kunitz and Pascal Dupuis also scored for the Penguins.

Roman Hamrlik and Tomas Plekanec had power-play goals, and the Montreal Canadiens scored three times in a span of 2:46 in the first period to beat the New York Rangers 3-2. James Wisniewski assisted on both power-play goals. He set up Hamrlik's tying goal 13:19 in and Plekanec's 14th goal, which made it 2-1, at 14:50. Andrei Kostitsyn scored Montreal's final goal at 16:03. Carey Price made 31 saves for the Canadiens, who beat the Rangers 2-1 in New York on Tuesday. Montreal, which lost to Pittsburgh on Thursday, is on a 5-1-1 run. Mats Zuccarello drew the Rangers within one 6:57 into the third. Brian Boyle, who scored his 15th goal, was denied from netting the tying goal moments later on a pad save by Price. Henrik Lundqvist made 38 saves for New York.

Dmitry Kulikov fired a high wrist shot past Martin Brodeur 3:36 into overtime and the Florida Panthers won their third straight with a 3-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils. Dennis Wideman and Evgeny Dadonov scored power-play goals for Florida, which entered with the league's worst (10.3 percent) power-play unit. Scott Clemmensen made his second straight start and stopped 33 of 35 shots. Nick Palmieri and David Clarkson scored for New Jersey. Brodeur had 19 saves as the Devils failed in their attempt to win a third straight game for the first time since a five-game winning streak from Dec. 12-21, 2009.

Baseball

Free-agent reliever Kyle Farnsworth has agreed to a $3.25 million, one-year contract with the Tampa Bay Rays. The deal includes a club option for 2012. Farnsworth joins a bullpen that is being rebuilt after helping Tampa Bay win the American League East for the second time in three seasons. The 34-year-old right-hander went 3-2 with a 3.34 ERA in 60 games for the Kansas City Royals and Atlanta Braves last year. The Rays have lost five relievers via free agency this winter, including All-Star closer Rafael Soriano, Joaquin Benoit, Randy Choate, Dan Wheeler and Grant Balfour. Farnsworth is 34-55 with a 4.39 ERA in parts of 12 seasons with the Braves, Royals, Chicago Cubs, Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees.

Soccer

Nat Lofthouse, one of England's most powerful and prolific strikers, died on Saturday. He was 85. The former miner, who amassed 30 goals in just 33 appearances for England, died in his sleep at a nursing home in Bolton, northwest England, the club announced on its website. Lofthouse was memorably nicknamed "The Lion of Vienna" after being knocked unconscious in a 1952 international against Austria when he scored twice to clinch a 3-2 victory in the unofficial championship of Europe. The forward spent his entire career with boyhood club Bolton, scoring a record 255 times in 452 appearances between 1946 and 1960 after his first-team debut was delayed by World War II. "Nat undoubtedly is a Bolton Wanderers legend," chairman Phil Gartside said on the club website.