TORONTO – Ed Belfour made 25 saves for his fifth shutout of the season as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the New York Islanders 2-0 Tuesday night.

Mikael Renberg and Gary Roberts scored for the Maple Leafs, who are still first in the Eastern Conference with 61 points despite winning just two of their last six games.

The Philadelphia Flyers, who lost Tuesday, are second with 59.

Belfour, rarely tested in the first two periods, recorded his 70th career shutout, three fewer that New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur on the active list.

The Maple Leafs lost yet another player to injury when Darcy Tucker didn’t return after New York’s Jason Blake high-sticked him in the face near the end of the second period. Tucker went after Blake after initially dropping to the ice.

The Maple Leafs are already missing forwards Owen Nolan, Alexander Mogilny, Robert Reichel and Wade Belak as well as defenseman Ken Klee.

Senators 3, Hurricanes 1

RALEIGH, N.C. – Marian Hossa had a goal and two assists to lift the Ottawa Senators past the Carolina Hurricanes 3-1 Tuesday night.

Daniel Alfredsson added a power-play goal in the first period for the Senators, who pushed their unbeaten streak against the Hurricanes to 11 games. Ottawa has won 12 of 18 overall.

Shaun Van Allen added an empty-net goal for the Senators.

Jeff O’Neill scored on a five-on-three power play in the second period for Carolina, which has lost four of six.

The Senators took control early, scoring two first-period goals while allowing just four shots and committing no penalties. Ottawa, the NHL’s second-best power-play team, also capitalized on its first opportunity with the man advantage late in the period.

Devils 3, Penguins 0

PITTSBURGH – Devils rookie goalie Scott Clemmensen shut out Pittsburgh on 25 shots in his first NHL start and Turner Stevenson had two goals and an assist in New Jersey’s 3-0 victory over the Penguins on Tuesday night.

Stevenson had only three goals in 24 games before scoring in each of the first two periods against the team he torments the most. Stevenson has 10 of his 65 NHL goals in 39 career games against Pittsburgh.

Clemmensen, a surprise last-minute starter called up from Albany (AHL), withstood a brief flurry of shots early in the first period to become the second Devils backup goalie to shut out the Penguins in as many games in Pittsburgh. Corey Schwab, who injured a groin Monday in practice and didn’t dress, beat them 2-0 on Dec. 27.

Devils regular goalie Martin Brodeur is threatening the NHL record of 15 shutouts in a season – he has nine in 41 games.

Thrashers 4, Sabres 1

ATLANTA – Slava Kozlov scored two goals and Pasi Nurminen turned away 24 shots, leading the Atlanta Thrashers to a 4-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night.

The Thrashers won their second in a row after enduring a nine-game winless streak that knocked the team out of first place in the Southeast Division.

Kozlov erased the Sabres’ 1-0 lead at 13:31 of the second period, capitalizing on two slick passes to tip in an easy power-play goal.

He finished off Buffalo with 3:28 remaining, knocking in a rebound with goalie Mika Noronen sprawled face down on the ice.

Canadiens 4, Flyers 1

PHILADELPHIA – Jose Theodore made 22 saves, and Richard Zednik scored two power-play goals to lead the Montreal Canadians to a 4-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night.

Jan Bulis and Michael Ryder also scored for the Canadians, who won for the fourth time in five games (4-0-1).

Theodore was never really threatened but he made a nice stick save off a one-timer by Simon Gagne midway through the second period. He lost his shutout when Gagne scored with 1:18 left.

Before the game, the Flyers acquired defenseman Danny Markov from the Carolina Panthers for right wing Justin Williams.

Markov was in the starting lineup, helping a Flyers defense corps ravaged by injury. Dennis Seidenberg is out at least three months with a broken left leg, Eric Desjardins will miss at least two months with a broken right forearm, and Marcus Ragnarsson will miss up to two weeks because of a sprained left rotator cuff.

It got worse Tuesday when Jim Vandermeer was forced out late in the first period when he separated his right shoulder while being checked hard into the boards by Saku Koivu.

Chris Therien also missed some shifts in the third period after he took a stick to the face.

By then, Montreal already led 1-0 on Zednik’s goal at 8:28 of the first. Flyers goalie Robert Esche, who stopped 18 shots, could not control the puck in a scramble in front of the net and Zednik dumped it in.

Zednik’s second goal came 21 seconds into a power play in the second period when he took a centering pass from Ryder and flipped it in for a 2-0 lead. Zednik also missed a penalty shot in the second period, shooting just right of the net, after being taken down by Therien.

Bulis added his 10th goal in the third. Koivu made a nice pass from behind the net to Bulis, who scored from the left circle.

Ryder scored with 1 minute left in the game.

Notes: LW Todd Fedoruk played in his 200th NHL game, all with the Flyers. … Montreal snapped a six-game losing streak against the Flyers, beating them for the first time since April 4, 2002, in Philadelphia. … The Canadians had a goal waved off because a high stick knocked the puck into the net.

AP-ES-01-20-04 2133EST