MONTREAL – Ed Belfour earned his 66th career shutout and Richard Jackman scored a power-play goal in the first period to lead the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 1-0 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.

Belfour stopped 15 shots – including back-to-back saves off shots by Michael Ryder and Andreas Dackell midway through the third – as Toronto got its first win of the season.

Islanders 2, Panthers 1

UNIONDALE, N.Y. – Oleg Kvasha’s power-play goal 4:10 into the third period gave the New York Islanders a 2-1 win over the Florida Panthers.

Hurricanes 2, Rangers 2

NEW YORK – Erik Cole and Craig Adams each had a goal and an assist, and the Carolina Hurricanes tied the New York Rangers 2-2, the second consecutive tie for both teams.

Lightning 3, Devils 2

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Martin St. Louis took advantage of a late New Jersey turnover and scored with 5:40 to play to give the undefeated Tampa Bay Lightning a 3-2 victory over the Devils.

Thrashers 7, ‘Hawks 2

ATLANTA — Ilya Kovalchuk scored a hat trick and the Atlanta Thrashers stretched their unbeaten streak to a franchise-record five games, routing the Chicago Blackhawks 7-2.

Penguins 4, Red Wings 3

PITTSBURGH – Rico Fata scored his second goal of the game with just over eight minutes left in the third period as the Pittsburgh Penguins rallied from a two-goal deficit and beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-3.

Blues 4, Capitals 1

ST. LOUIS – The St. Louis Blues scored three times with the man advantage in a 4-1 victory over the Washington Capitals.

Predators 3, Jackets 2

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Greg Johnson scored his first goal of the season and assisted on another in the Nashville Predators’ 3-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The Predators scored all three goals in the second period. Denis Arkhipov finished a one-timer from the slot to beat Columbus goaltender Fred Brathwaite to his stick side at 2:27.

Rem Murray gave Nashville a two-goal edge at 4:30 when he went up high with a backhand shot from the slot.

At the 7:31 mark, Johnson put the puck over Brathwaite as he laid sprawled on the ice.

Predators goaltender Tomas Vokoun missed a shutout when Kent McDonell scored at 12:33. Vokoun won his second straight, turning back 25 shots.

Columbus cut the lead to one at 14:20 of the third period as David Vborny scored on a 4-on-3 advantage, one of four power plays in the period for the Blue Jackets.

The Predators had 13 shots in the first period but failed to score while holding Columbus to six shots.

Notes: Andrew Hutchinson made his NHL debut for the Predators. This was the first game of the season for Brathwaite. The Predators, who lead the league in fighting majors, got their eighth against Columbus. … Nashville’s Jordin Tootoo has an assist in each of his last two games.

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against the Capitals and was 3-for-8 overall.

MacInnis, the team captain, could miss the entire season after undergoing surgery for a torn retina in his left eye on Friday. The team learned the extent of the injury earlier Saturday.

Then the Blues throttled the Capitals without their main man on the blue line. MacInnis led NHL defensemen in scoring last season with 16 goals and 52 assists.

Blues goalie Chris Osgood stopped nine of 10 shots in two periods before leaving with a sore hip flexor. Brent Johnson finished in goal for St. Louis.

The Blues doubled their goal total from the first three games. St. Louis is 9-1-1 in its last 11 games against the Capitals and took the only meeting between the teams this season, outshooting the losers 27-14.

Dainius Zubrus scored his first goal of the season for Washington, 0-4-1 since winning the opener over the New York Islanders. The Capitals lost for the second straight night on the road after falling 4-2 at Dallas on Friday night.

Demitra got his first goal off his own rebound at 12:25 of the first, beating Olaf Kolzig. Pronger got his first on a five-on-three power play, slapping a one-timer in from the right circle at 14:36.

Peter Cajanek got his second of the season at even strength on the end of a rush with Demitra to make it 3-0 at 3:57 of the second. Tkachuk, planted in front of the net, made it 4-0 at 6:22 of the second on his fourth goal – he has half of the team’s goals.

Osgood faced only five shots in each of the first two periods. Zubrus scored at 13:27 of the second, fighting off Weight to score on a backhander.

Notes: The Blues won their home opener for only the second time in seven seasons. … Blues D Christian Backman got his first career point in seven games with a second-period assist. … Capitals C Robert Lang was held without a point for the first time this season. He has three goals and three assists.

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od, had tied the game at 3-all.

The Red Wings, who opened the season with three victories, built a 3-1 lead midway through the second period on goals by Henrik Zetterberg, Tomas Holmstrom and Darren McCarty.

Pittsburgh, which had won just one of its previous 12 home games, also got 31 saves from rookie goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who stopped 20 shots in his second NHL game.

Detroit defenseman Mathieu Schneider had a goal disallowed at 3:06 of the third period when video goal judge Dale Ruth ruled Schneider kicked the puck into the net.

Abid, acquired from Phoenix in March, scored his first goal for the Penguins on the power play at 5:34 of the first, deflecting Drake Berehowsky’s shot past Hasek.

Detroit tied it at 13:52 of the first, when Zetterberg beat Fleury for the second short-handed goal of his career.

Holmstrom gave Detroit its first lead at 17:59 of the first period on the power play, and McCarty made it 3-1 at 8:05 of the second when he was left alone in front to convert a pass from behind the net by Kirk Maltby.

Notes: Brett Hull returned to the Detroit lineup after missing Thursday’s game against Vancouver with a sore back. Teammate Jason Woolley made his season debut, replacing the injured Derian Hatcher. … The Penguins dressed Milan Kraft for the first time this season. … Pittsburgh (12-16-5) is one of five teams against which Hasek has a losing record. The others are Detroit, Phoenix, Dallas and Philadelphia. … Lemieux had scored on just one of his last 32 regular-season shots against Hasek entering the game. … The Penguins distributed photo cards of Fleury to all fans.

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old and knocked out Blackhawks goalie Jocelyn Thibault in the second period.

Marc Savard scored a goal and assisted on two others, while Slava Kozlov had three assists as the Thrashers turned in their highest-scoring game of the season.

The Blackhawks lost their fourth in a row since a season-opening victory over Minnesota, their frustration digressing into several cheap-shot penalties in the third period. Scott Nichol delivered a right cross to Atlanta’s Tommi Santala along the boards. Then, Mark Bell chased down Kovalchuk in front of the benches, giving him a spear to the stomach, followed by a cross-check in the back. Finally, Jason Strudwick blatantly ran over Thrashers goalie Pasi Nurminen after a faceoff, heading straight to the crease with no regard for the puck’s location.

At one point, Chicago had five players in the penalty box – there wasn’t even room for them all to sit down. Thrashers coach Bob Hartley began jawing with his Chicago counterpart, Brian Sutter, after Nurminen was knocked down.

The Thrashers took advantage of Chicago’s lack of discipline, scoring four power-play goals. Atlanta entered the game with only one power-play in 25 chances, ranking next-to-last in the league.

The Thrashers had three two-man advantages, actually scoring one goal with a three-skater edge. Already down two men, the Blackhawks were called for a delayed penalty when Kovalchuk blasted a shot past Chicago’s backup goalie, Michael Leighton.

Kovalchuk, in fact, scored all of his goals on the power play. Two of them came on shots from the point; he picked up the hat trick by converting a two-on-one with Patrik Stefan.

Kovalchuk scored just 3:26 into the game, putting a shot through Thibault’s legs just as a two-man power play was ending. Kozlov and Serge Aubin then scored 1:12 apart, prompting the Blackhawks to call a rare timeout in the first period.

Scott Sullivan scored off a short-handed breakaway to pull Chicago within 3-1 at the end of the first, but goals by Savard and Jeff Cowan sent Thibault to the bench 61/2 minutes into the second period, with Chicago trailing 5-1.

The Thrashers had 44 shots – including 10 by Kovalchuk.

Nurminen, who has played every game for the Thrashers, made 23 saves.

Notes: The Thrashers have surrendered just eight goals in five games. … The Thrashers lost 5-0 to Chicago in their lone meeting last season. … Until this year, Atlanta never had more than one victory in its first five games of the season.

AP-ES-10-18-03 2200EDTseconds after the first of two Devils in the penalty box returned to the ice.

Elias and Martin had given the Devils a 2-1 lead with goals in the opening 7:47 of the second period.

Elias tied the game with a power-play goal from the right circle. Khabibulin appeared to be screened on the shot.

Martin, who has been impressive in stepping into the starting lineup, put New Jersey ahead with his first NHL goal. Igor Larionov set up the goal, which came on a counterattack after the Lightning kept the puck in the Devils’ end for about a minute.

Cibak beat Brodeur in close in the first period after taking a nice pass from behind the net from Ben Clymer.

NOTES: Devils D Scott Niedermayer missed the game with a sore back. … Larionov returned to the lineup after missing the Devils’ home opener because of a collision in practice. … The feisty game featured a fight between Martin and Clymer.

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Eric Lindros ended the Rangers’ scoring drought 7:59 into the game with his first goal of the season, an unassisted score after he stole the puck from defender Glen Wesley.

The Hurricanes went up quickly in the second period as Brind’Amour centered the puck to Cole, whose pass found Adams in front of the goal. Adams chipped it in at 3:00 as he fell to his knees for his first goal of the season.

Mark Messier tied the game at 2 at 7:06 of the second when he scored his first goal of the season after a wraparound pass from Matthew Barnaby.

New York was issued its fourth penalty of the game with a minute to go in the second period and Carolina pressed the Rangers, but goalie Mike Dunham stopped one shot and the Hurricanes couldn’t manage another.

Notes: The Rangers, booed during introductions before their home opener against Atlanta on Thursday, received a lukewarm reception before Saturday’s game. Dunham got a warm greeting for his 30-stop shutout in a tie with the Thrashers.

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goals in four games.

Notes: Belfour is one shutout behind Roy Worters, who is 10th on the career list with 67. … Ward threw up his arms when he was called for tripping Owen Nolan 3:10 into the first, despite having his stick blade caught in Nolan’s skate. … Maple Leafs enforcer Tie Domi had his nose bloodied when he was inadvertently struck by Donald Audette’s stick off a faceoff early in the first. There was no penalty called on the play despite Domi’s protests to referee Paul Devorski. … Beliveau had 507 goals and 712 assists in 1,125 regular season games, and 79 goals and 97 assist in the playoffs while winning 10 Stanley Cups – five as Montreal’s captain.

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