NHL’s leading goal scorer pops in two more to spark Thrashers
By The Associated Press

ATLANTA – Ilya Kovalchuk bounced back from a one-game benching to score his NHL-leading 34th and 35th goals, and the Atlanta Thrashers held off the New York Rangers 3-2 Sunday.

Patrik Stefan added a short-handed goal, and Daniel Tjarnqvist had two assists for the Thrashers, who won for the fifth time in eight games. Pasi Nurminen made 28 saves.

Brian Leetch and Chris Simon had goals for the Rangers, and Mark Messier had two assists. But New York finished 0-for-7 on the power play, including one late advantage when the Thrashers were called for too many on the ice.

Kovalchuk, who started for the Eastern Conference in the All-Star game earlier in the month, missed a team meeting before Friday night’s game against the New Jersey Devils, and then didn’t dress for the first time this season as punishment.

It didn’t take long for him to make his presence felt. On his first shift, he got a drop pass from Randy Robitaille and sent a slap shot that Mike Dunham knocked away with his stick.

Minutes later, Kovalchuk scored his first goal after Robitaille won a faceoff in the New York zone. The second came off a nifty pass from Dany Heatley, who sent a diagonal pass from near the blue line to Kovalchuk near the crease.

Stars 5, Oilers 4

DALLAS – Bill Guerin scored his second goal of the game 55 seconds into overtime and the Dallas Stars rallied from a three-goal deficit to beat the Edmonton Oilers 5-4 Sunday.

The Stars extended their home-unbeaten streak to 11 games (7-0-4) by storming back from a 4-1 hole they fell into late in the second period.

Guerin pushed the Stars’ home unbeaten streak against the Oilers to 16 games (15-0-1) when he scored his 27th goal of the season with a one-timed shot from the right circle off a pass from Pierre Turgeon.

Dallas’ overall home-unbeaten streak in the longest current run in the NHL.

Mighty Ducks 6, Kings 3

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Sergei Fedorov, Vaclav Prospal and Steve Rucchin each scored third-period goals to lift the Anaheim Mighty Ducks to a 6-3 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday.

Fedorov scored his second goal of the game 2:43 into the third period, Prospal scored just 1:35 later and Rucchin finished the scoring at 10:12 of the third to give the Ducks (1-3-1) their first win over Los Angeles this season.

Anaheim goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 41 saves. Kings goalie Cristobal Huet was replaced by Mathieu Chouinard after yielding the sixth Ducks goal.

Fedorov also added an added an assist and Prospal had two assists.

Blackhawks 2, Panthers 2

CHICAGO – Valeri Bure’s power-play goal with 7:16 left in the third period lifted the Florida Panthers to a 2-2 tie with the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday.

After skating down the slot, Bure tipped a perfect cross-ice feed from Olli Jokinen past Michael Leighton high on the stick side.

Niklas Hagman also scored from the Panthers, who have lost only once in seven games (3-1-3).

Tuomo Ruutu scored and assisted on Kyle Calder’s goal for the Blackhawks. Calder, playing in his third full NHL season, reached 20 goals for the first time.

Penguins 3, Islanders 2

UNIONDALE, N.Y. – Ryan Malone scored 2:45 into overtime to give the Pittsburgh Penguins a come-from-behind 3-2 victory Sunday over the New York Islanders.

Malone picked up a rebound of Alexei Morozov’s shot and beat Garth Snow to give the Penguins their second overtime victory in three games after losing a team-record 18 straight (0-17-0-1). They haven’t won in regulation since winning at Philadelphia on Jan. 12 and have dropped an NHL-record 14 straight at home.

Pittsburgh ended its three-game road trip 2-1 and will try to earn their first home victory since Dec. 29 when they play the Islanders again on Tuesday.

Red Wings 4, Flyers 2

DETROIT – Robert Lang had three assists in his Detroit debut, leading the Red Wings to a 4-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday night.

Lang, acquired Friday from Washington, moved past Tampa Bay’s Martin St. Louis into the lead in the NHL scoring race with 77 points.

His big night helped Detroit pass Eastern Conference leaders Philadelphia and Ottawa into first place in the overall NHL standings with 85 points.

Mathieu Schneider, Steve Yzerman, Kirk Maltby and Brendan Shanahan scored for the Red Wings, and Schneider added an assist.

Hurricanes 3, Wild 3

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Ron Francis scored with 4:15 left in regulation, and the Carolina Hurricanes tied the Minnesota Wild 3-3 Sunday night.

Francis poked a loose puck out of a scramble in front of Minnesota goaltender Manny Fernandez to extend Carolina’s point streak to seven games (3-0-2-2).

Marian Gaborik gave the Wild a 3-2 lead at 12:09 of the third, and Andrei Zyuzin scored twice for Minnesota, as two of the NHL’s three lowest-scoring teams combined for four third-period goals.

Zyuzin’s second goal of

the game tied the score 2-2 at 11:38 of the third period, and Gaborik broke the tie 31 seconds later.

Sharks 1, Blues 0

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Evgeni Nabokov made 24 saves in his eighth shutout of the season, and Jonathan Cheechoo scored early in the third period of the San Jose Sharks’ 1-0 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Sunday night.

Nabokov earned the 25th shutout of his career with a series of impressive saves. His glove hand was typically impeccable as he extended his own franchise record for shutouts in a season.

Chris Osgood stopped 17 shots for the Blues, who couldn’t get any breaks on offense.

St. Louis is 0-2-1 since Mike Kitchen took over for fired coach Joel Quenneville.

The Blues traditionally dominate in San Jose, but Nabokov backstopped the Sharks to just their second home victory over the Blues in 11 games.

The first two periods were scoreless, though both teams had chances. The Sharks failed to score on two breakaways, while at least one St. Louis shot hit the post behind Nabokov during a power play in the second period.

The Sharks finally got a break in the opening minute of the third period when Steve Martins made an ill-advised pass to the middle of the Blues’ zone. Patrick Marleau intercepted it and found Cheechoo, who scored on a one-timer from the slot.

Cheechoo’s 19th goal of the season extended his point streak to a career-best seven games. He has five goals and five assists during that span.

Linesman Brad Kovachik was knocked out of the game less than three minutes in when Alex Korolyuk accidentally hit him with the puck while trying to dump it into St. Louis’ end. Kovachik remained on the ice for two minutes, and was evaluated at a local hospital.

Notes: Referee Craig Spada took over Kovachik’s linesman duties when the first period resumed. … St. Louis D Jeff Finley played his 700th career game. … As usual, the San Jose crowd booed Chris Pronger every time he touched the puck. The Shark Tank was sold out for the second straight game – the first back-to-back sellouts of the season.

AP-ES-02-29-04 2241EST