COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -Rick Nash scored a goal in his fifth straight game on a shot between his legs, and Pascal Leclaire stopped 36 shots to lead the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 3-0 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Thursday night.
Jared Boll had a goal and Jiri Novotny was awarded a goal. Novotny was skating in on an empty net late in the game when he was hooked from behind by Eric Brewer, the officials awarding the goal to Novotny – his fourth goal in five games.
Leclaire, who came into the season with one career shutout, is now one shutout away from tying the team’s season mark of five.
The Blue Jackets improved to 5-3-1, the best start in franchise history, while winning back-to-back games for the first time this season.
Coyotes 1, Ducks 0
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) – Rookie Craig Weller scored his first NHL goal and Alex Auld had his third career shutout.
The victory ended the Coyotes’ 10-game losing streak against the Ducks in Anaheim dating to the 2003-2004 season. They also beat Anaheim goalie Ilya Bryzgalov for just the second time in his nine games against them.
Weller, a 26-year-old signed as a free agent in July, scored early in the second period.
Kings 2, Stars 1
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Alexander Frolov scored the go-ahead goal and Jason LaBarbera made 29 saves, snapping the Kings’ nine-game losing streak to the Stars.
Brian Willsie scored for Los Angeles, which has won four of five since opening the season 1-5. The win was their first over Dallas since April 1, 2006, a 1-0 victory at Staples Center.
Jere Lehtinen scored for Dallas and Marty Turco made 28 saves, 18 in the second period. Turco moved into third place on the franchise’s all-time list for games played by a goaltender behind Cesare Maniago (420) and Giles Meloche (328).
Maple Leafs 5, Penguins 2
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Jiri Tlusty, playing his first NHL game, scored two goals 35 seconds apart during a four-goal Toronto flurry in the third period.
Alexander Steen scored Toronto’s first goal and had two assists and Mats Sundin had one assist while being largely responsible for shifting the momentum the Maple Leafs’ way after the Penguins kept a 1-0 lead for half the game.
Sidney Crosby scored his third goal, all against Toronto, and assisted on a goal by Sergei Gonchar that came during a two-man advantage in the third but the Penguins lost for the second time in six games.
Rangers 2, Devils 0
NEW YORK (AP) – Nigel Dawes needed less than a minute to break New York’s scoring slump, and Henrik Lundqvist made 22 saves for his second shutout.
It was almost the third straight 1-0 decision for the Rangers. Lundqvist, who has started all nine games this season, earned a shutout Saturday in a shootout loss at Boston and took a hard defeat in Pittsburgh on Tuesday.
Martin Brodeur made 29 saves. The Devils finished their season-starting, nine-game road trip 3-5-1 and will open their new arena in Newark, N.J., on Saturday against Ottawa.
New York (3-5-1) has 14 goals in nine games.
Predators 3, Thrashers 0
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Dan Ellis stopped 20 shots for his first career shutout, helping the Nashville Predators snap a six-game losing streak.
Jordin Tootoo and Jerred Smithson scored for Nashville, which was one more loss from tying a franchise record.
It was Ellis’ second NHL start, and first this season after Chris Mason got the first eight for Nashville. Ellis was playing his fourth game with the Predators.
Oilers 5, Wild 4
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) – Ales Hemsky scored twice in regulation and added the shootout winner to help Edmonton end a two-game losing skid a win over Minnesota.
Shawn Horcoff also scored twice and added two assists for Edmonton (4-6-0), which won for just the second time in its past eight games.
James Sheppard, Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Brian Rolston and Mark Parrish scored for Minnesota (7-1-2), which lost for the second consecutive night, but has still points in all but one of its games this season.
Lightning 5, Flyers 2
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Brad Richards had two goals and Vinny Prospal scored his eighth goal of the season.
Jason Ward and Michel Ouellet also scored for the Lightning, who tied a franchise record set in 2002 by starting the season 5-0 at home. Tampa Bay is also 12-1 against the Flyers since the start of the 2003-04 season.
Philadelphia got goals from Jeff Carter and Mike Knuble. The Flyers played without left wing Simon Gagne (dizziness) and defenseman Derian Hatcher (sore right knee). Gagne, hit in the head by a shot in Wednesday’s 4-3 loss at Florida, might return this weekend.
Bruins 3, Blackhawks 1
BOSTON (AP) – Phil Kessel scored two goals and Tim Thomas made 26 saves to help Boston to its fifth win in six games.
Chicago goalie Nikolai Khabibulin hasn’t won in Boston since 1996 with an 0-5-2 record.
Kessel scored 2:08 into the second period on an end-to-end rush. Jonathan Toews tied the game at 5:13 of the second for eight points in his last eight games.
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