ATLANTA (AP) -One day after Bob Hartley was fired, the Atlanta Thrashers scored two goals in the first 6 1/2 minutes, overcame an injury to goalie Kari Lehtonen and finally picked up their first victory of the season, beating the New York Rangers 5-3 Thursday night.
The Thrashers lost their first six games, leaving them as the only winless team in the NHL and leading general manager Don Waddell to fire Hartley. The GM is serving as interim coach, just as he did after dismissing the only other coach in franchise history, Curt Fraser.
Pascal Dupuis put the Thrashers ahead 4:21 in, and Slava Kozlov stuffed the puck past Henrik Lundqvist during a two-man advantage just over 2 minutes later. Todd White added a short-handed goal midway through the second period, and the Rangers never recovered.
Johan Hedberg took over in net and kept the Rangers off the board until they scored three power-play goals in the final 10:23.
The Thrashers had actually lost 10 in a row, going back to last season’s playoffs when the Rangers swept them.
Flyers 4, Devils 0
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Martin Biron made 38 saves in his second straight shutout and Philadelphia proved again it is back as a Stanley Cup contender, beating New Jersey.
Mike Richards, Sami Kapanen, Jim Dowd and Joffrey Lupul scored for the Flyers, who won their fourth straight.
The Flyers (5-1) have won the first three games of a four-game homestand and are on their first four-game winning streak since March 2006.
Philadelphia didn’t win its fifth game last season until Nov. 16.
The Flyers needed 7 1/2 minutes before they recorded their first shot on Martin Brodeur and had only two in the first.
The Devils had a late goal called off after it was ruled the puck was kicked into the net.
Bruins 4, Lightning 1
BOSTON (AP) – Marco Sturm scored two goals as the Bruins beat Tampa Bay in their home opener to give coach Claude Julien a victory in his Boston debut.
Tim Thomas made 34 saves and Peter Schaefer and Mark Stuart also scored for Boston, which has won four of five since losing the season opener. It’s a good start for the team that hasn’t won a playoff series since 1999 and has gone through five coaches in 4 1/2 years, one of them a season lost to the lockout.
Johan Holmqvist stopped 20 shots for Tampa Bay, and Brad Richards scored the Lightning’s only goal. The line of Martin St. Louis, Vincent Lecavalier and Vaclav Prospal, which had 17 points in the last four games, didn’t score.
Islanders 5, Capitals 2
WASHINGTON (AP) – Bill Guerin scored his first three goals with the Islanders, two on the power play, to lead New York over Washington.
Guerin, the new team captain who also has a team-high six assists, netted one goal in the first period and two in the third. The Islanders went 3-for-5 on the power play and rallied for three late goals after blowing a 2-0, third-period lead.
Rick DiPietro made 27 saves as the Islanders snapped a two-game losing streak.
Bryan Berard gave the Islanders a 3-2 lead, Sean Bergenheim also scored, and Chris Campoli had four assists.
Alex Ovechkin and Tomas Flesichmann scored for the Capitals, who have lost three in a row after opening the season with three wins.
Senators 4, Canadiens 3
OTTAWA (AP) – Jason Spezza scored his first goal of the season, Nick Foligno netted the first of his career, and Ottawa beat Montreal.
After Alex Kovalev scored Montreal’s second power-play goal 12:51 into the third to tie it at 3, Spezza brought the crowd to its feet as he restored Ottawa’s lead 24 seconds later.
Foligno gave the Senators a 2-1 lead with a wraparound goal four minutes into the second period.
Wade Redden, who assisted on Foligno’s goal, scored on a power play 31 seconds in and Dany Heatley recorded his 400th career point with his seventh goal.
Daniel Alfredsson had three assists as Ottawa won for the seventh time in eight games. Martin Gerber stopped 28 shots for his sixth win in seven starts.
Maple Leafs 3, Panthers 2
TORONTO (AP) – Nik Antropov’s goal with 27.6 seconds left lifted Toronto to a comeback win over Florida.
Bryan McCabe and Jason Blake also scored for the Leafs (3-3-2), who trailed 2-0 after the first period. Mats Sundin had two assists, and Antropov registered his fourth consecutive two-point game.
David Booth and Rostislav Olesz had goals for the Panthers (3-4), who had their three-game winning streak snapped. Nathan Horton helped set up two goals.
Vesa Toskala stopped 26 shots for his second win of the season.
The Leafs faced the opposition’s backup goalie for the fourth game in a row, this time Anderson getting the nod after the Panthers scratched Tomas Vokoun. Anderson made 24 saves.
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