Sat, Dec 02, 2006 page19

• Late Carolina goals sink Canadiens

  • AP
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  Justin Williams and Eric Belanger scored less than a minute apart in the third period to lead the Carolina Hurricanes past the Montreal Canadiens 4-2 in the NHL on Thursday.

  Erik Cole added a pair of goals off his own rebounds for the Hurricanes, who stayed on the attack almost the entire way. Carolina finished with a season-high 48 shots to keep steady pressure on Montreal goalie Cristobal Huet, while Cam Ward finished with 25 saves on the other end.

  Michael Ryder and Tomas Plekanec scored for the Canadiens, who had won four of five. Huet finished with 44 saves.

  

  The Boston Bruins' Phil Kessel, left, scores the winning goal against Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Marc Denis during a shootout in their NHL hockey game in Boston on Thursday. The Bruins won 4-3.

  PHOTO: AP

  The Hurricanes had lost three of four, prompting coach Peter Laviolette to meet with his players in groups after Wednesday's practice and discuss ways to get the Stanley Cup champions refocused. The Hurricanes responded with a strong effort, surpassing their previous season high of 40 shots -- set three times -- before finally pushing ahead with the scores from Williams and Belanger.

  Capitals 4, Stars 3

  At Washington, Olaf Kolzig made 35 saves and then withstood a late rally to finally defeat the only NHL franchise he had never won against when Washington edged Dallas.

  Richard Zednik, Chris Clark, Matt Pettinger and Alexander Semin scored for Washington, who won their second straight after six losses.

  Kolzig, who has 262 career wins, had been 0-1-9 against the Minnesota/Dallas franchise before handing the Stars their season-high third consecutive loss. Dallas had beaten the Capitals five straight.

  Jussi Jokinen had two goals and Stu Barnes also scored for Dallas, which dropped its fourth consecutive road game.

  Thrashers 5, Maple Leafs 0

  At Atlanta, Marian Hossa had three goals and an assist, Kari Lehtonen stopped 36 shots and Atlanta beat Toronto for its first victory over the Maple Leafs since October 2003.

  Scott Mellanby and Brad Larsen also scored for the Thrashers, who snapped the Maple Leafs' eight-game winning streak in the series by handing Toronto its first shutout of the season.

  Hossa ended his personal history of frustration against Toronto with his first hat trick for Atlanta. Hossa leads the NHL with 20 goals this season, but he had only one goal and one assist in his last nine games against Toronto, a streak that began before Hossa's trade last year to Atlanta from Ottawa.

  Hossa passed the New York Rangers' Jaromir Jagr for the league scoring lead with 39 points.

  Bruins 4, Lightning 3, SO

  At Boston, Tim Thomas saved all seven shots in the shootout and Phil Kessel scored on Boston's seventh attempt, giving the surging Bruins a win over Tampa Bay.

  Brad Boyes, P.J. Axelsson and Glen Murray scored and Patrice Bergeron had two assists for the Bruins, who beat Tampa Bay for the third time this season and have won eight of 10 overall.

  Eric Perrin and Vincent Lecavalier each had a goal and an assist and Martin St. Louis also scored for the Lightning.

  Boston came back from deficits of 2-1 and 3-2 to force overtime despite being outshot 31-22 in regulation. Tampa Bay has won just twice in its last 23 games in Boston.

  Senators 6, Panthers 0

  At Ottawa, Dany Heatley had two goals and an assist and Ray Emery made 31 saves for Ottawa's first shutout of the season as the Senators beat Florida.

  Mike Fisher, Chris Kelly, Andrej Meszaros and Antoine Vermette also scored for Ottawa, which won its second straight. The Senators have won six of seven since getting off to a 7-1-11 start.

  Heatley scored a power-play goal 2:37 in, then made it 2-0 with his team-leading 16th goal at 8:52.

  Fisher scored a short-handed goal at 17:37 to increase the lead to 3-0, and Ottawa added three more goals in the second.

  Flyers 3, Islanders 2

  At Uniondale, New York, rookie defenseman Alexandre Picard had the first two assists of his NHL career and Philadelphia used three special teams goals to beat New York.

  Picard, who along with fellow rookies Jussi Timonen and Lars Jonsson made up half of Philadelphia's depleted defense corps, set up power-play goals by Randy Robitaille and Mike Knuble with long shots as the Flyers won for just the eighth time this season.

  Simon Gagne contributed with a short-handed goal late in the second period and Antero Niittymaki made 39 saves in his sixth straight start for Philadelphia.

  Predators 5, Blues 4

  At St. Louis, Jordin Tootoo's first goal of the season snapped a tie early in the third period, helping Nashville win its fourth straight with a victory over St. Louis.

  Scott Hartnell scored his fourth goal in three games and had an assist for the Central Division leaders, who chased goalie Manny Legace and improved to 8-1-0 against the Blues over the last two seasons. Paul Kariya added his sixth goal, David Legwand got his seventh and Alexander Radulov also scored.

  The game drew an announced attendance of 5,410, the fifth-lowest in Blues history, held down by daylong snow and sleet that hampered traffic. The actual attendance appeared to be several thousand people fewer than that.

  Bill Guerin scored twice, his first goals in 10 games. Keith Tkachuk and Jay McClement also had goals for the Blues, who lost their third in a row.
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