Hockey today - October 18
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SCOREBOARD
Thursday, Oct. 18
New Jersey at Philadelphia (7 p.m. EDT).
The Devils play the seventh of their season-opening nine-game road trip at the 4-1 Flyers.
STARS
Wednesday
- Jussi Jokinen, Stars, scored in regulation and had the only shootout goal to give Dallas a 3-2 victory over Columbus.
- Zach Parise, Devils, had three assists as New Jersey outlasted Pittsburgh 5-4.
- Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Ducks, made 28 saves in his second start of an injury-delayed season as Anaheim defeated Nashville 3-1.
OUSTED
Bob Hartley was fired Wednesday as coach of the Thrashers, who have lost their first six games following a four-game sweep in the first round of last year's playoffs, and are the only NHL team without a victory. General manager Don Waddell will be the coach until a replacement is found. Hartley, who won a Stanley Cup with Colorado in 2001, was in his fifth season with Atlanta.
CONSISTENT
Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin has at least a point in all five games this season, including a goal and an assist in Wednesday night's 5-4 loss to New Jersey. Last season, he began his career with a goal in each of his first six games.
WINNING AGAIN
Keith Tkachuk had a goal and an assist, and Manny Legace stopped 28 shots to help St. Louis post its fourth straight win, 3-1 over Chicago on Wednesday night. Paul Kariya, who leads the Blues with seven points, got his first goal of the season.
SWINGS
After being held scoreless in the season opener, reigning NHL scoring champion Sidney Crosby has six points in four games for Pittsburgh. The Penguins' three power-play goals in Wednesday night's 5-4 loss to New Jersey matched their amount in eight games against the Devils last season.
DOMINANT
Nashville has lost 10 of 12 games at Anaheim, including Wednesday night's 3-1 defeat. The other two were overtime victories.
POWER SURGE
St. Louis, which entered the game 2-for-21 on the power play, converted two of three attempts in a 3-1 victory over Chicago on Wednesday night.
STAYING HOME
The crowd of 11,820 for Wednesday night's game against Dallas was the smallest announced attendance for a Columbus regular-season home game.
SPEAKING
''It was a shock. I don't think anybody saw this coming. It's only six games. Sometimes changes need to be made. At the same time, it tells all of us it's a big wake-up call and we need to fix this.'' - Atlanta defenseman Garnet Exelby after the firing of coach Bob Hartley on Wednesday.
Havlat declines surgery
October 17th, 2007
Chicago, IL (Sports Network) - Chicago Blackhawks forward Martin Havlat will miss at least four weeks due to a dislocated shoulder, but he will not have surgery.
Instead, Havlat will try to rehab the shoulder, which he hurt in a season- opening 1-0 loss at Minnesota.
Havlat had 25 goals and 32 assists in 56 games last season for Chicago, but he missed time due to various injuries. A shoulder injury limited him to 18 games with Ottawa the previous season.
Oilers' Souray out with separated shoulder
October 17th, 2007
Edmonton, AB (Sports Network) - The Edmonton Oilers reportedly will be without their prized free-agent acquisition, defenseman Sheldon Souray, for 3- to-4 weeks after he sustained a separated left shoulder, according to a report in the Edmonton Journal.
The injury occurred as Souray, who signed a five-year contract in the summer, fell to the ice during a third-period fight with Vancouver's Byron Ritchie in Saturday's 4-1 loss.
Souray, a native of Elk Point, Alberta, had a career year last season for the Montreal Canadiens after scoring 26 goals and picking up 38 assists. Nineteen of his 26 goals came on the power play, setting a new NHL record for power play goals by a defenseman.
Heading into the season, the 31-year-old Souray amassed 66 goals and 120 assists while suiting up for the Canadiens and New Jersey Devils. In six games with the Oilers, Souray had one goal and one assist.
Souray was originally selected by the Devils in the third round of the 1994 entry draft.
Thursday's key NHL matchup notes
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tampa Bay Lightning at Boston Bruins
Vincent Lecavalier had seven assists in four games versus the Bruins last season, but just one of his league-leading 52 goals.
New Jersey Devils at Philadelphia Flyers
Zach Parise, who has seven goals and six assists in 15 contests versus the Flyers, looks to extend his consecutive points streak against them to six games Thursday. He has two goals and four assists during his run.
New York Rangers at Atlanta Thrashers
Including the playoffs, Henrik Lundqvist was 5-1-2 with a 2.11 GAA against the Thrashers last season.
New York Islanders at Washington Capitals
The Islanders are 8-2-1 in their last 11 games against the Capitals after winning only one of the previous 29 meetings.
Florida Panthers at Toronto Maple Leafs
Andrew Raycroft is 4-5-2 with a 2.49 GAA in 11 career starts against Florida.
Montreal Canadiens at Ottawa Senators
The Senators went 5-3-0 against the Canadiens last season, including a 3-1-0 mark at home. Daniel Alfredsson and Dany Heatley topped both teams with 10 points each in the season series.
Los Angeles Kings at Calgary Flames
Calgary is 7-1-0 with one tie in its last nine home games against Los Angeles.
Edmonton Oilers at Phoenix Coyotes
Shane Doan, the Coyotes' leading scorer each of the last four seasons, has a team-high four points. Doan has failed to score a goal in his last six games against Edmonton, and has just three assists over that span.
Detroit Red Wings at San Jose Sharks
Evgeni Nabokov allowed five goals in two regular season starts against the Red Wings in 2006-07.
Stars activate G Smith, assign G Stephan
October 17, 2007
DALLAS (AP) -The Dallas Stars activated goaltender Mike Smith from injured reserve on Wednesday.
The Stars, who visit the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday night, made room on the roster by assigning Tobias Stephan to Iowa of the American Hockey League.
Smith missed three games after bruising his arm in practice. In his only appearance this season, the 25-year-old backup to Marty Turco had 17 saves on 21 shots in a 5-1 loss to Nashville on Oct. 6.
In his NHL debut at Chicago on Saturday, the 23-year-old Stephan made 38 saves on 40 shots in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Blackhawks.
NHL betting recaps: Wednesday, Oct. 17
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Devils 5, Penguins 4
Arron Asham's tiebreaking goal with 9:22 left gave the New Jersey Devils a 5-4 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins as +144 underdogs in a wild game Wednesday night.
Asham scored on a tap-in from just to the left of the net off a pass from Zach Parise, who had three assists. Travis Zajac had two goals, and Jay Pandolfo, John Madden and David Clarkson each had two points for New Jersey, which scored 11 goals in two games after netting only seven in its first four.
Sergei Gonchar had a goal and two assists, and Evgeni Malkin and Gary Roberts added a goal and assist each for the Penguins.
Stars 3, Blue Jackets 2, SO
Jussi Jokinen scored in regulation and had the only shootout goal to give Dallas the upset as +111 underdogs over Columbus before the smallest crowd to watch an NHL game at Nationwide Arena.
Jokinen, who tied it 1-1 early in the first period, was the second skater during the shootout. He beat Fredrik Norrena with a deke and a backhander.
Blues 3, Blackhawks 1
Keith Tkachuk had a goal and an assist, and Manny Legace stopped 28 shots to lift St. Louis (+114) to its fourth straight win.
Paul Kariya and Bryce Salvador also scored for the Blues (4-1), who got two assists from Brad Boyes.
St. Louis, which entered 2-for-21 on the power play, converted two of three attempts against the Blackhawks.
Ducks 3, Predators 1
The Stanley Cup champions are getting lots of help from their young newcomers.
Just two nights after defenseman Kent Huskins scored his NHL first goal in a win over Detroit, forwards Petteri Wirtanen and Drew Miller both netted their first Wednesday to lift the Anaheim Ducks (-191) to a 3-1 victory against the Nashville Predators.
The following goalies have been predicted by a source:
Kari Lehtonen, Atlanta Thrashers - Lehtonen is the probable starter for Thursday's game against the Rangers, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution blog. Lehtonen may actually be able to breathe easier now that coach Bob Hartley is gone.
Johan Holmqvist, Tampa Bay Lightning - Holmqvist is now the probable starter for Thursday's game against the Bruins, reports the Tampa Tribune blog.
Martin Biron, Philadelphia Flyers - Biron is the probable starter for Thursday's game against the Devils, reports the Delco Times. He's been one of the league's most valuable goalies so far this year is looking like a top-10 goalie for the forseeable future.
Olaf Kolzig, Washington Capitals - Kolzig is the probable starter for Thursday's game against the Islanders, reports the Washington Post blog.