CHICAGO – Rookie Patrick Kane and Jim Vandermeer scored power-play goals and the Chicago Blackhawks beat the St. Louis Blues 4-2 on Friday night. Rene Bourque scored short-handed and Yanic Perreault added an empty-net goal for Chicago. Goalie Patrick Lalime, making consecutive starts for the first time this season, blocked 23 shots to help the Blackhawks win their second straight.

Steve Wagner had a power-play goal and an assist for the Blues, who lost their third straight. St. Louis’ David Perron also scored a power-play goal. Blues goalie Manny Legace made 27 saves, including numerous tough chances, to keep the game close.

Chicago dominated the first period and took a 2-1 lead while outshooting St. Louis 15-7.

After Legace made several point-blank saves to keep it scoreless, Wagner gave the Blues a 1-0 lead with 8:33 left on a screened power-play goal from the left point.

Kane skated down the slot after beating St. Louis defenseman Bryce Salvador and tied it 1-all with 4:06 left in the first.

Vandermeer’s screened shot from the top of the slot got past Legace with 1:11 remaining in the period.

Bourque got credit for a short-handed goal 16 seconds into the second to give Chicago a 3-1 advantage. Duncan Keith’s shot from the left circle deflected in off Bourque’s abdomen.

Perron’s power-play goal from the right circle with 8:43 left in the second cut it to 3-2.

Wings 4, Blue Jackets 1

DETROIT – Tomas Holmstrom broke a second-period tie with a power-play goal, and Dominik Hasek made 15 saves to help the Detroit Red Wings win their ninth straight game, 4-1 over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night.

Henrik Zetterberg scored his 13th goal of the season with 1:28 left to extend his season-opening points streak to 16 games, the longest in team history. Brett Lebda and Dan Cleary also scored, and Mikael Samuelsson had two assists.

Maple Leafs 3, Sabres 0

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Andrew Raycroft made 30 saves for his sixth career shutout, and Mats Sundin had a goal and an assist in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 3-0 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Friday night.

Bryan McCabe and Boyd Devereaux also scored to help the Maple Leafs, last in the NHL in goals against entering the game, win for the second time in the last three games.

Thrashers 4, Panthers 1

SUNRISE, Fla. – Rookie goalie Ondrej Pavelec stopped 36 shots, Ilya Kovalchuk scored his eighth goal in his last four games and the Atlanta Thrashers beat the Florida Panthers 4-1 on Friday night.

Vyacheslav Kozlov, Chris Thorburn and Marian Hossa also scored for Atlanta, which improved to 7-3 under interim head coach Don Waddell after starting the season 0-6.

under Bob Hartley. Bobby Holik had two assists.


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