WASHINGTON (AP) -Ilya Kovalchuk scored twice to raise his NHL-best total to 19 goals and added two assists Wednesday night, leading the Atlanta Thrashers to a 5-1 victory over the Washington Capitals, who have the NHL’s fewest points and is off to its slowest start in 26 years.
Washington’s 3-0 start to the season is a distant memory. The Capitals have lost five consecutive games, nine of 10, and 15 of 18. At 6-14-1 for 13 points, the team has its lowest 21-game point total since having 12 in the 1981-82 season.
Atlanta’s Tobias Enstrom had three assists, Niclas Havelid posted a goal and assist, and Bobby Holik contributed his first goal in 15 games. Eric Perrin also scored for the Thrashers.
Alex Ovechkin put the Capitals ahead 1-0 with a power-play goal 2 1/2 minutes into the second period.
Canadiens 4, Islanders 1
UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) – Steve Begin scored twice and Long Islander Christopher Higgins added a goal and assist to lead Montreal over the New York Islanders.
Tomas Plekanec also scored for Montreal, and Cristobal Huet made 43 saves – falling 3:50 short of shutout.
Mike Comrie scored late for the Islanders, who got 29 saves from Rick DiPietro. New York lost for the first time at home in five games (4-1). They also had their NHL-record streak of regulation one-goal decisions snapped at seven, a span in which the Islanders were 5-2.
Flyers 6, Hurricanes 3
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – Daniel Briere scored three goals in the third period to lead Philadelphia past Carolina.
Briere added an assist during his third career hat trick and first with the Flyers, who snapped a two-game losing streak.
Mike Knuble had a goal and two assists, Kimmo Timonen also scored and Scott Hartnell added an empty-netter for Philadelphia, which snapped a two-game losing streak and won for just the second time this season when trailing after one period.
Martin Biron stopped 32 shots but allowed the NHL’s second-best power-play unit to connect three times. The Flyers entered having allowed one power-play goal in six games.
Matt Cullen had a goal and two assists, Rod Brind’Amour and Eric Staal also scored and Cam Ward stopped 15 shots for the Southeast Division-leading Hurricanes, who have lost three of four.
Each of Briere’s goals put Philadelphia up by two.
Panthers 5, Blue Jackets 2
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Rostislav Olesz had two goals and an assist as Florida earned its third win in four following a four-game skid.
Ruslan Salei, Bryan Allen and Jay Bouwmeester had goals for Florida, which scored three times on the power play and broke the game open in the final period. Stephen Weiss and Nathan Horton each had two assists.
Curtis Glencross and Rick Nash scored for Columbus, which entered as the NHL’s third-best, penalty-killing team. The Blue Jackets have only one win in eight games.
Red Wings 3, Blues 0
DETROIT (AP) – Chris Osgood made 12 saves for his 44th career shutout, and Dan Cleary had a goal and an assist to give Detroit a win over St. Louis.
Henrik Zetterberg and Mikael Samuelsson also scored for Detroit, which snapped St. Louis’ four-game winning streak.
Manny Legace stopped 35 shots for the Blues.
Sabres 4, Senators 2
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) – Derek Roy and Drew Stafford had a goal and assist each, and Buffalo scored three times in the first period en route to a victory against NHL-leading Ottawa.
Ales Kotalik and Michael Ryan also scored for the Sabres, who have won two straight after a three-game losing streak.
Daniel Alfredsson and Dany Heatley scored for the Senators, losers in two of three. Ottawa, which has an NHL-high 32 points, lost for just the fourth time overall.
The game marked the first meeting in Buffalo since Alfredsson’s overtime goal in Game 5 of last season’s Eastern Conference finals sent the Senators to the Stanley Cup finals.
Ryan Miller, making his seventh consecutive start, finished with 27 saves – 15 in the second period – for Buffalo.
Rangers 2, Lightning 1
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Henrik Lundqvist made 32 saves to lead the New York Rangers past Tampa Bay.
Fedor Tyutin and Colton Orr scored for the Rangers, who have won five straight road games. New York has won six of seven overall.
Tampa Bay center Vincent Lecavalier had his team-record streak of eight multipoint games snapped. He had seven goals and 21 points over the stretch.
Rangers defenseman Michal Rozsival, who has seven goals in 21 games this season, sat out with an undisclosed injury.
Michel Ouellet scored with 16.7 seconds left in the third for the Lightning, who have dropped two in a row after a five-game winning streak. The goal prevented Lundqvist from earning his fifth shutout of the season.
Devils 2, Penguins 1
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Zach Parise scored two power-play goals to support New Jersey goalie Martin Brodeur’s 501st career victory.
Parise has five points and three goals in his last two games and seven points, including three goals, in four games against Pittsburgh.
Evgeni Malkin got the Penguins back in the game 7:11 into the third, scoring his eighth goal and extending his point streak to 14 games.
Brodeur made 25 saves and kept Sidney Crosby off the score sheet, snapping the Penguins’ captain’s point streak at a career-best 19 games.
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