By The Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA – Jeremy Roenick had two goals and Robert Esche stopped 25 shots, leading the Philadelphia Flyers to a 2-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday.

Ales Kotalik scored for the Sabres, who have dropped four of five and are mired in last place in the Northeast Division.

Leafs 4, Canadiens 1

MONTREAL – Bryan McCabe, Joe Nieuwendyk and Mikael Renberg scored second-period goals in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 4-1 victory over the Montreal Canadien.

Richard Zednik scored for the Canadiens.

Senators 9, Rangers 1

OTTAWA – Even on Jaromir Jagr’s best night, he couldn’t supply as much offense as the New York Rangers needed. Bryan Smolinski scored twice in the first period and Daniel Alfredsson had a goal and two assists as the Ottawa Senators ruined Jagr’s debut with the Rangers by routing New York 9-1.

Jackets 4, Blackhawks 3

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Rick Nash scored his NHL-leading 29th and 30th goals to help the Columbus Blue Jackets beat Chicago 4-3, extending the Blackhawks’ road losing streak to a franchise-record 17 games.

Islanders 3, Thrashers 0

ATLANTA – Rick DiPietro strengthened his grip on the Islanders’ starting goaltending job with an often-spectacular 25-save performance during New York’s 3-0 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers.

Avalanche 5, Penguins 3

PITTSBURGH – Peter Forsberg returned from a four-game injury layoff with two goals and an assist, and Colorado extended Pittsburgh’s longest home-ice losing streak in more than 20 years, winning 5-3 Saturday night.

Teemu Selanne scored his first goal in 10 games, Steve Konowalchuk added a goal and an assist, and Paul Kariya set up two goals in a predictable result to the matchup of the NHL’s best-record team and its worst.

Despite third-period goals by Milan Kraft and rookie Brooks Orpik that briefly cut Colorado’s lead from three goals to one, the Penguins lost their seventh straight at home to tie the franchise single-season record set in October 1983. The Penguins, losing their sixth straight overall, will set the record if they don’t beat Tampa Bay on Tuesday.

Colorado backup goalie Philippe Sauve had another rough but winning outing, threatening to give away the Avalanche’s lead despite making 25 saves. Kraft made it 4-2 early in the third, and Orpik – chosen Saturday with Sauve for the YoungStars game at the All-Star weekend in two weeks – scored his first NHL goal midway through the period on a seemingly harmless wrist shot from the lower left circle.

Sauve was down 3-0 after the first period in each of his two previous starts, yet Colorado didn’t lose either time.

With the Penguins pressing after that to tie it, Forsberg beat Penguins rookie goalie Marc-Andre Fleury with a quick wrist shot with just over four minutes left. Forsberg has five goals and nine points in his last four games.

Pittsburgh doesn’t need to be in a slump to lose to the vastly more talented Avalanche, who finished up a 3-0-1 road trip and are 11-1-1-1 in their last 14. The Avalanche haven’t lost in Pittsburgh since moving from Quebec to Denver in 1995, going 9-0-1.

The Penguins are 0-8-1 overall against the Avalanche since last beating them Feb. 25, 1999, and are 1-13-3 in their last 16 against the Colorado franchise.

It didn’t help the talent-thin Penguins that Forsberg was back after missing four games with a groin injury. He also scored the go-ahead goal 1:15 into the second period – Joe Sakic had scored nearly as fast in the first period – to make it 2-1 against Fleury, who was back in goal despite giving up 10 goals in five periods in his last two starts.

Fleury actually played well most of the game while being under constant pressure, once making three excellent saves in rapid succession with the Avalanche on a power play. He also stopped Steve Moore on a breakaway and Sakic on a backhander from close range shortly after Sakic scored 1:22 in off Kariya’s pass from along the right-wing boards.

Notes: Tomas Surovy had a goal and an assist for the Penguins, who haven’t won at home since beating Chicago 1-0 on Dec. 29. … The Penguins’ Alexei Morozov, expected to be the team’s top forward except for the injured Mario Lemieux, has gone 30 games without a goal. … Fleury is 1-11 since going 3-2-2 in his first seven NHL games. … Selanne had only one assist in nine games before scoring off Konowalchuk’s pass midway through the second. … Sauve is 6-0-1 in his last seven decisions. … Fleury made 28 saves.

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Kvasha made it 2-0 at 4:12 of the third period when he tucked a shot under Nurminen’s arm for his 10th goal, with an assist from DiPietro. Asham then scored in the game’s waning seconds.

The Islanders have won two straight road games after going winless in their previous five away from home.

Notes: Islanders captain Michael Peca is sidelined day-to-day due to a strained chest muscle. … Thrashers rookie D Garnet Exelby and Islanders rookie RW Trent Hunter were selected to play in the YoungStars game during All Star weekend next month. … Exelby missed his first game of the season and won’t play Sunday at New Jersey because of a bruised hip. Exelby was injured when he was checked awkwardly against Colorado on Thursday.

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weathered 1:23 of a two-man disadvantage before Columbus scored on the second power-play chance. Spacek’s hard shot from the point ricocheted off goaltender Craig Anderson and a jumble of other players. Wright got a stick on the puck before Malhotra jammed in the goal.

It was the eighth goal of the season for Malhotra, a waiver-wire pickup from Dallas in November, to tie his career high. He had two goals in the Blue Jackets’ last home game, a 3-1 win over St. Louis on Wednesday night.

Nash then notched his 30th when defensemen Nathan Dempsey and Burke Henry both went for Columbus rookie Nikolai Zherdev behind the goal cage and he slipped a centering pass to Nash, who was all alone in the slot for an easy score.

After Wright tapped in a loose puck for his fourth early in the third period, Ruutu followed Bryan Berard’s one-timer with a rebound goal for his sixth.

Sullivan added his 10th in the final minute with Chicago’s goalie off the ice for a man advantage.

Notes: The longest previous Chicago road losing streak came in 1954 when the Blackhawks lost their final 16 road games of the season. … Each team came in with 36 points, tied for last in the Western Conference. … Berard had two assists for Chicago. … The Blue Jackets are 5-4-3-0 under Gallant.

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fared no better than Markkanen.

Alfredsson made it 5-0 with his 21st goal 3:31 into the period, and Bonk gave Ottawa its second straight six-goal game with his 11th at 4:18.

Langfeld, who assisted on Bonk’s goal, scored for the second straight game at 11:05.

Markkanen gave up Chara’s second goal with 5:52 left and Martin Havlat’s power-play goal with 51.2 seconds remaining.

Notes: Of the 32 players in NHL history to record at least 500 goals and 1,000 assists, Jagr is the 10th to play at least part of his career with the Rangers. He joined Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Marcel Dionne, Phil Esposito, Jari Kurri, Guy Lafleur, Luc Robitaille, Mike Gartner and Pat Verbeek. … Rangers C Eric Lindros returned after missing Thursday’s game because of the flu. D Tom Poti also returned after back spasms caused him to miss two games. … Senators D Chris Phillips was on the ice for six of Ottawa’s goals, including all four in the first. … The Senators are unbeaten in 12 home games (10-0-2). … Ottawa has scored at least six goals seven times this season, including a 7-1 win in Toronto on Jan. 8.

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