Montreal goalie Yann Danis stopped 32 shots in his NHL debut, shutting down Ilya Kovalchuk and a powerful Atlanta attack in the Canadiens' 2-0 victory over the Thrashers on Wednesday.
The 24-year-old Danis earned the win and shutout in his first start as Montreal coach Claude Julien rested the team's No. 1 normal starting goalie, Jose Theodore.
Kovalchuk, who in 2003-04 tied Jarome Iginla and Rick Nash for the league lead in goals with 41, made his season debut after signing a five-year, US$32 million deal with the Thrashers on Saturday. He received his work visa from the Immigration and Naturalization Service late on Tuesday, clearing him to play against the Canadiens.
PHOTO: AP
Montreal took a 1-0 lead 3 minutes into the game with unintended help from Atlanta's Bobby Holik. After a save by goalie Mike Dunham, Holik accidently kicked the puck into the Thrashers' net while trying to clear it out. Jan Bulis was credited with his second goal of the season.
The Canadiens extended their lead in the third period when Saku Koivu scored.
Hurricanes 7, Capitals 2
In Raleigh, North Carolina, Eric Staal got his fifth goal of the season and captain Rod Brind'Amour scored his first, helping Carolina beat Washington.
The Hurricanes finally found some success on the power play, as Staal, Brind'Amour and Matt Cullen scored with a one-man advantage. They were 0-for-15 in the previous three games, a drought that stretched to 17 before Staal snapped it.
Bret Hedican, Erik Cole, Justin Williams and Niklas Nordgren also scored for Carolina, which bounced back from a sloppy first period to hand the Capitals their third lopsided loss in four games. Staal also got his first three assists of the season.
Rookie Alex Ovechkin scored his fourth goal to give the Caps a 1-0 lead and Dainius Zubrus later got credit for Niclas Wallin's own-goal to make it 2-1 early in the second.
Wild 6, Canucks 0
In St. Paul, Minnesota, Matt Foy scored the first two goals of his career and Dwayne Roloson made 33 saves to lead Minnesota over Vancouver.
Marc Chouinard moved within one goal of Ottawa's Daniel Alfredsson for the NHL lead with his fourth and Pierre-Marc Bouchard scored on a penalty shot in the third as the Wild (2-1-1) handed the Canucks (2-1-1) their first loss of the season.
Andrei Zyuzin and Brian Rolston also scored for Minnesota.
Predators 5, Avalanche 4
In Denver, Marek Zidlicky scored a power-play goal with 6.5 minutes to play after Colorado goalie David Aebischer took a cheap penalty, helping Nashville stay undefeated.
Rookie Marek Svatos scored his fifth goal in three games and Colorado dominated the first 30 minutes to take a 3-0 lead.
Shaky on both ends early, the Predators got a goal from Darcy Hordichuk and Zidlicky's first in the second period, then tied it early in the third on Paul Kariya's first goal against his former team.
John-Michael Liles put Colorado back up three minutes later, then Steve Sullivan tied it at 4-all with a power-play goal from behind the net that appeared to bounce off Aebischer and into the net.
Steve Konowalchuk had given the Avalanche a 1-0 lead in the first period with a short-handed goal and Kurt Sauer made it 2-0 in the second period before Svatos' goal.
Sharks 4, Blue Jackets 1
At San, Jose, California, Wayne Primeau scored two goals, Evgeni Nabokov stopped 26 shots and San Jose won its home opener in their favorite fast-paced style, beating Columbus.
Marco Sturm and Scott Thornton also scored for the Sharks, who took an early two-goal lead and then pounded the Blue Jackets with 22 shots and two more goals in the first 15 minutes of the second period.
Sturm and Primeau scored first-period goals for the Sharks, who capped a raucous pregame ceremony by unveiling their 2003-04 Pacific Division championship banner at the sold-out Shark Tank.
Nabokov took a shutout into the third period.
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