Playing in Minnesota for the first time in their young careers, Evgeni Malkin scored twice and had an assist, and Sidney Crosby had a goal and three assists in the Pittsburgh Penguins' 4-2 victory over the wounded Minnesota Wild on Tuesday.
Petr Sykora's power play goal -- on a beautiful feed from Crosby in the slot -- broke the tie with 9:55 to play, and Crosby broke free on a line change by Minnesota and sealed the win with his fifth goal just over four minutes later.
Stephane Veilleux and Brian Rolston scored for the short-handed Wild, who lost at home for the first time this season and fell to 0-3-1 in their last four games after starting the season an NHL-best 7-0-1.
PHOTO: AP
Minnesota's top three players, dynamic forwards Marian Gaborik and Pavol Demitra and starting goalie Niklas Backstrom, all missed the game as a result of groin injuries.
Josh Harding made 23 saves for the Wild.
Thrashers 3, Canadiens 2, SO
At Montreal, Ilya Kovalchuk scored the decisive goal in the shootout to give Atlanta a win over Montreal.
Kovalchuk put a shot past Montreal rookie Carey Price on Atlanta's third attempt, and Thrashers goalie Johan Hedberg forced Alex Kovalev to shoot off the post.
Chris Higgins scored Montreal's second power-play goal of the game with 1:58 remaining in regulation to tie it at 2.
Kovalev, who assisted on the goal, also scored in the second.
The first three goals were all scored unassisted, including both tallied by Atlanta. Eric Perrin and Vyacheslav Kozlov scored 57 seconds apart late in the second period to give the Thrashers a 2-1 lead.
Hedberg stopped 31 shots for Atlanta (4-8), which won consecutive games for the first time this season.
Price made 31 saves in his Bell Centre debut.
Red Wings 2, Oilers
At Edmonton, Alberta, Valtteri Filppula scored with just 24.4 seconds left to give Detroit its sixth win in a row.
Detroit got a rare win in Edmonton to improve to 10-2-1, best in the NHL by three points over Ottawa.
After a back-and-forth third period, Filppula fought off Dick Tarnstrom and beat Oilers goalie Dwayne Roloson high to the glove side.
Henrik Zetterberg's second-period goal gave him at least one point in each of Detroit's 13 games this season. Steve Staios scored for Edmonton.
Flames 5, Predators 1
At Calgary, Alberta, Jarome Iginla scored twice and Miikka Kiprusoff made 39 saves for Calgary fresh off signing a US$35 million extension.
Kiprusoff, the NHL's Vezina Trophy winner in 2006, was sharp from the opening faceoff, making solid stops against David Legwand and Rich Peverley in the game's opening minutes.
Iginla scored his seventh goal of the season at 3:59 of the first, just 7 seconds into the Flames' first power play.
Coyotes 2, Blues 1
At St. Louis, Fredrik Sjostrom scored on a wraparound with 2:58 to go, capping a strong third period for Phoenix in a victory over St. Louis.
Michael Zigomanis tied it with about seven-and-a-half minutes to go on a breakaway. The Coyotes entered the game in a 2-6 slump since beating the Blues at home in the opener on Oct. 4, but have won five straight in St. Louis.
Brad Boyes scored his ninth goal in 10 games for the Blues, who last defeated the Coyotes at home on Feb. 16, 2004. Phoenix outshot the Blues 15-4 in the third period.
All the scoring came in the third period, with Boyes putting the Blues ahead at 5:52.
Mikael Tellqvist made 24 saves for the Coyotes, the biggest on Lee Stempniak's penalty shot late in the second period.
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