NHL Capsules

By The Associated Press

UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) — Al Arbour went out a winner this time.

Nothing could’ve been more fitting for Long Island’s greatest champion.

In his return to the bench for one night only, the Arbour-led New York Islanders rallied from a two-goal deficit and beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 on Saturday night.

Arbour was behind the bench for the Islanders’ four Stanley Cup championships in the 1980s and was invited back to coach the team for the 1,500th time. He earned win No. 740 behind two goals by Miroslav Satan, with the winner coming with only 2:41 left when Satan put in a rebound of Marc-Andre Bergeron’s shot.

Trent Hunter got New York within 2-1 midway through the second after Ryan Malone and rookie Tyler Kennedy built the advantage for the Penguins, 1-2 on a four-game road trip.



Thrashers 6, Lightning 4

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Pascal Dupuis scored the go-ahead goal late in the third period, Ilya Kovalchuk had his second consecutive three-goal game and Atlanta rallied to beat Tampa Bay.

Dupuis put Atlanta ahead 5-4 from the low slot off a pass from Bryan Little with 2:08 left to play. Kovalchuk, who had a hat trick in Thursday night’s loss to Ottawa, completed another three-goal performance with an empty-net goal with 1:22 to play.

Tampa Bay’s Shane O’Brien snapped a personal 76-game goal-scoring drought, scoring twice in the first period. Michel Ouellet and Brad Richards also scored for the Lightning, who are 5-1-1 at home this season.

Hurricanes 4, Panthers 2

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Matt Cullen had a power-play goal and an assist and Cory Stillman also scored with the man advantage for Carolina.

Chad LaRose and Trevor Letowski also scored, and Jeff Hamilton and Rod Brind’Amour each had two assists for the Southeast Division-leading Hurricanes.

Carolina snapped Florida’s two-game winning streak and avoided its second two-game losing streak by avenging a two-goal loss to the Panthers three days earlier.

Jay Bouwmeester and Richard Zednik scored for the Panthers, who were denied their first win here since 2002 and fell to 2-6 on the road this season.

Maple Leafs 3, Canadiens 2

MONTREAL (AP) — Matt Stajan scored an unassisted goal late in the third period to lift Toronto.

Stajan broke down the right side and put a slap shot past Cristobal Huet with 1:34 remaining in the third and Toronto went on to its first win in three games.

Tomas Kaberle and Mats Sundin also scored for the Maple Leafs, who lost 3-2 in New Jersey one night earlier. Vesa Toskala stopped 32 shots.

Mike Komisarek and Chris Higgins scored for the Canadiens, who lost in regulation for the first time in seven games (5-1-1).

Senators 3, Bruins 2

OTTAWA (AP) — Mike Fisher scored two of Ottawa’s three power-play goals.

Dany Heatley had a goal and an assist, Joe Corvo added three assists, and Martin Gerber made 17 saves for his NHL-leading eighth win of the season.

Chuck Kobasew had two second-period goals for Boston, and goalie Tim Thomas kept it close while Ottawa outshot the Bruins 45-19.

Rangers 2, Devils 1

NEW YORK (AP) — Petr Prucha scored the lone goal of the shootout to give New York the win over New Jersey.

Prucha, the second shooter, beat Martin Brodeur with a shot over his left shoulder.

Henrik Lundqvist stopped all three Devils shooters — Zach Parise, Brian Gionta and John Madden — to secure the Rangers third straight win.

In regulation, Scott Gomez scored for the Rangers while Sergei Brylin had the Devils’ goal.

Wild 4, Flames 1

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Marian Gaborik scored twice and added an assist and Minnesota snapped a five-game winless streak.

Brian Rolston and Branko Radivojevic also scored for the Wild. Niklas Backstrom stopped 23 shots in his return after missing four games because of a strained groin.

Jarome Iginla scored for Calgary, and Alex Tanguay added an assist for his ninth point in five games.



Blackhawks 3, Blues 2

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Patrick Sharp scored a pair of short-handed goals in the third period and Chicago beat St. Louis.

Chicago’s Dustin Byfuglien also scored for the Blackhawks. Nikolai Khabibulin stopped 20 of 22 shots in goal for the Blackhawks.

St. Louis, which was coming off a 3-2 road victory over Minnesota on Thursday, got goals from rookie David Perron and Paul Kariya.