UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) -Al Arbour went out a winner this time.
Nothing could’ve been more fitting for Long Island’s greatest champion.
In his return to the bench for one night only, the Arbour-led New York Islanders rallied from a two-goal deficit and beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 on Saturday night.
Arbour was behind the bench for the Islanders’ four Stanley Cup championships in the 1980s and was invited back to coach the team for the 1,500th time. He earned win No. 740 behind two goals by Miroslav Satan, with the winner coming with only 2:41 left when Satan put in a rebound of Marc-Andre Bergeron’s shot.
Trent Hunter got New York within 2-1 midway through the second after Ryan Malone and rookie Tyler Kennedy built the advantage for the Penguins, 1-2 on a four-game road trip.
Thrashers 6, Lightning 4
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Pascal Dupuis scored the go-ahead goal late in the third period, Ilya Kovalchuk had his second consecutive three-goal game and Atlanta rallied to beat Tampa Bay.
Dupuis put Atlanta ahead 5-4 from the low slot off a pass from Bryan Little with 2:08 left to play. Kovalchuk, who had a hat trick in Thursday night’s loss to Ottawa, completed another three-goal performance with an empty-net goal with 1:22 to play.
Tampa Bay’s Shane O’Brien snapped a personal 76-game goal-scoring drought, scoring twice in the first period. Michel Ouellet and Brad Richards also scored for the Lightning, who are 5-1-1 at home this season.
Hurricanes 4, Panthers 2
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – Matt Cullen had a power-play goal and an assist and Cory Stillman also scored with the man advantage for Carolina.
Chad LaRose and Trevor Letowski also scored, and Jeff Hamilton and Rod Brind’Amour each had two assists for the Southeast Division-leading Hurricanes.
Carolina snapped Florida’s two-game winning streak and avoided its second two-game losing streak by avenging a two-goal loss to the Panthers three days earlier.
Jay Bouwmeester and Richard Zednik scored for the Panthers, who were denied their first win here since 2002 and fell to 2-6 on the road this season.
Maple Leafs 3, Canadiens 2
MONTREAL (AP) – Matt Stajan scored an unassisted goal late in the third period to lift Toronto.
Stajan broke down the right side and put a slap shot past Cristobal Huet with 1:34 remaining in the third and Toronto went on to its first win in three games.
Tomas Kaberle and Mats Sundin also scored for the Maple Leafs, who lost 3-2 in New Jersey one night earlier. Vesa Toskala stopped 32 shots.
Mike Komisarek and Chris Higgins scored for the Canadiens, who lost in regulation for the first time in seven games (5-1-1).
Senators 3, Bruins 2
OTTAWA (AP) – Mike Fisher scored two of Ottawa’s three power-play goals.
Dany Heatley had a goal and an assist, Joe Corvo added three assists, and Martin Gerber made 17 saves for his NHL-leading eighth win of the season.
Chuck Kobasew had two second-period goals for Boston, and goalie Tim Thomas kept it close while Ottawa outshot the Bruins 45-19.
Rangers 2, Devils 1
NEW YORK (AP) – Petr Prucha scored the lone goal of the shootout to give New York the win over New Jersey.
Prucha, the second shooter, beat Martin Brodeur with a shot over his left shoulder.
Henrik Lundqvist stopped all three Devils shooters – Zach Parise, Brian Gionta and John Madden – to secure the Rangers third straight win.
In regulation, Scott Gomez scored for the Rangers while Sergei Brylin had the Devils’ goal.
Wild 4, Flames 1
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Marian Gaborik scored twice and added an assist and Minnesota snapped a five-game winless streak.
Brian Rolston and Branko Radivojevic also scored for the Wild. Niklas Backstrom stopped 23 shots in his return after missing four games because of a strained groin.
Jarome Iginla scored for Calgary, and Alex Tanguay added an assist for his ninth point in five games.
Blackhawks 3, Blues 2
ST. LOUIS (AP) – Patrick Sharp scored a pair of short-handed goals in the third period and Chicago beat St. Louis.
Chicago’s Dustin Byfuglien also scored for the Blackhawks. Nikolai Khabibulin stopped 20 of 22 shots in goal for the Blackhawks.
St. Louis, which was coming off a 3-2 road victory over Minnesota on Thursday, got goals from rookie David Perron and Paul Kariya.
Canucks 4, Avalanche 3
DENVER (AP) – Daniel Sedin had two goals and an assist, Brendan Morrison had a goal and Vancouver dealt Colorado its first home loss of the season.
Ryan Kesler added a goal and Henrik Sedin had three assists for the Canucks, losers of six of their previous eight games. Roberto Luongo made 30 saves.
The Avalanche had matched a franchise record by opening the season with six home wins. The team had won six straight at home to start the 1994-95 season while in Quebec.
Jeff Finger and Marek Svatos scored two goals and Jeff Finger scored a short-handed goal for the Avalanche, who had won four straight overall.
Ducks 5, Coyotes 2
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) – Jean-Sebastien Giguere stopped 30 shots and Anaheim beat Phoenix to extend the Coyotes’ home losing streak to six games.
Giguere, bidding for this 26th career NHL shutout, lost the whitewash early in the final period. The 30-year-old netminder picked up his third win of the season to go with three losses and one tie.
Corey Perry, Mathieu Schneider, Brad May and Ryan Getzlaf scored for the Ducks.
The Coyotes’ Radiim Vrbata broke Giguere’s shutout bid when he tipped in Ed Jovanovski’s shot trailing in the slot. The goal came at 2:29 of the third period.
Sharks 3, Kings 1
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Jeremy Roenick scored his 499th career goal to put San Jose ahead to stay, Joe Pavelski connected on a power play and Jonathan Cheechoo scored to help the Sharks beat Los Angeles.
Roenick gave San Jose a 2-1 lead with 9:22 left in the second period on a rebound, beating former Sharks defenseman Brad Stuart to the bouncing puck and flicking it past Jason LaBarbera’s glove for his fourth goal of the season after Alexei Semenov’s snap shot caromed off the goalie’s chest.
Stuart scored the only Kings’ goal of the night, beating Evgeni Nabokov with a slap shot from the left point in the first period.
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