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Trashers edge Devils with overtime goal

Thrashers right wing Peter Bondra, left, celebrates his game-winning goal in overtime against the Devils with Thrashers defensemen Niclas Havelid, center, and Andy Sutton at Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday. Atlanta defeated New Jersey 6-5. PHOTO: AP

Peter Bondra scored 1:03 into overtime to give the Atlanta Thrashers a 6-5 win over New Jersey on Thursday night and a four-game season sweep of the Devils.

Bondra knocked in a rebound shot from Andy Sutton, whose shot bounced off New Jersey goaltender Martin Brodeur's chest and onto Bondra's stick.

It was the Thrashers third straight win and eighth in 10 games and New Jersey's fifth loss in six games and lifted Atlanta within a point of the Devils for seventh place in the Eastern Conference playoff race. The top eight teams make the postseason. Atlanta has 12 games left and New Jersey has 13.

The Thrashers overcame a 4-1 third period deficit, scoring four times in the final period.

Patrick Stefan, Vyacheslav Kozlov, Bobby Holik, Ilya Kovalchuk and Marian Hossa all scored for Atlanta.

Zach Parise, Jamie Langenbrunner, Brad Lukovich, Brian Gionta, Patrik Elias tallied for New Jersey.

Red Wings 4, Sharks 0

At Detroit, Manny Legace stopped 28 shots to record his 12th career shutout and lift the Red Wings over San Jose.

Tomas Holmstrom, Jason Williams, Steve Yzerman and Mikael Samuelsson each scored for Detroit. Robert Lang and Nicklas Lidstrom added two assists.

It was Legace's sixth shutout of the season, which is second to Calgary's Miikka Kiprusoff, who has eight.

San Jose goaltender Evgeni Nabokov made 26 saves.

Canadiens 5, Maple Leafs 1

At Montreak, Alex Kovalev scored his 18th to cap Montreal's four-goal first period.

Kovalev, who extended his scoring streak to eight games with an assist on Mathieu Dandenault's goal 4:47 in, scored Montreal's second goal in as many power-play opportunities in the opening period to put Montreal up 4-0 at 17:56.

Chris Higgins and Sheldon Souray also scored for Montreal in the opening period.

Alexander Perezhogin added a goal in the second and Cristobal Huet made 33 saves for Montreal, which remains ninth in the Eastern Conference, one point behind eighth-place Atlanta for the final playoff spot.

Jeff O'Neill scored a power-play goal in the second for Toronto.

Flames 7, Blues 2

At St. Louis, defenseman Roman Hamrlik scored two goals to help Calgary beat the reeling Blues.

Defenseman Jordan Leopold scored his first goal of the season and added two assists for the Flames, who have won just two of their last five games.

The Flames took a 1-0 lead in the first period on Darren McCarty's goal at 12:26. The Blues then scored four goals in the second period to turn the game into a rout.

Shean Donovan, Robyn Regehr, and Chuck Kobasew tallied goals for the Flames.

Mike Glumac and Keith Tkachuk scored for the Blues, who have lost their last five games and have been outscored 13-2 in their last two.

Lightning 4, Capitals 3, OT

At Tampa, Florida, Ryan Craig's's third-period goal forced overtime and Pavel Kubina scored 37 seconds into the extra period for the Lightning.

Alexander Ovechkin scored his second goal of the game to give the Capitals a 3-2 lead with 9:53 remaining but Tampa Bay responded with Craig's goal with just over 7 minutes left to tie it.

Kubina took a pass from Brad Richards and slipped the puck past partially-shielded goalie Olaf Kolzig for the game-winner in overtime.

John Grahame rebounded from a subpar performance in the Lightning's 6-5 overtime loss to Florida on Monday night to stop 27 shots. Kolzig finished with 33 saves.

Coyotes 4, Blackhawks 3

At Glendale, Arizona, Steven Reinprecht had a goal and two assists and Phoenix held on to beat Chicago for its third straight win.

Paul Mara, Shane Doan and Geoff Sanderson also scored for the Coyotes, who have won three of four including two against Chicago in the past five days.

James Wisniewski, Michael Holmqvist and Kyle Calder each scored for the Blackhawks, who have lost six of their last seven.

Canucks 4, Oilers 3, SO

At Vancouver, British Columbia, Markus Naslund tied it with 8:24 left and Naslund, Jarkko Ruutu and Todd Bertuzzi all scored in the shootout to help the Canucks win their second straight game over Edmonton. After losing their first five games of the season against Edmonton, the Canucks have now beaten them twice in three days to move into a sixth-place tie with Anaheim in the Western Conference, two points ahead of the eighth-place Oilers.

Alex Auld stopped Ales Hemsky in the first shootout round before Ryan Smyth -- on a goal that required a lengthy video review -- and Michael Peca scored.

Auld got a piece of Smyth's deke, but knocked the puck over the goal line as he tried to get up. Referee Paul Devorski waved it off, but after a 10-minute review it counted.
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