Nash extends goal streak
Rick Nash scored a goal in his fifth straight game on a shot between his legs, and Pascal Leclaire stopped 36 shots to lead the host Columbus Blue Jackets to a 3-0 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Thursday night.
Jared Boll had a goal, and Jiri Novotny was awarded a goal. Novotny was skating in on an empty net late in the game when he was hooked from behind by Eric Brewer, the officials awarding the goal to Novotny -- his fourth goal in five games.
Leclaire, who came into the season with 1 career shutout, is now 1 shutout away from tying the team's season mark of five.
The Blue Jackets improved to 5-3-1, the best start in franchise history, while winning back-to-back games for the first time this season.
Maple Leafs 5, Penguins 2: Jiri Tlusty, playing his first NHL game, scored 2 goals 35 seconds apart during a 4-goal Toronto flurry in the third period, leading the Maple Leafs over host Pittsburgh.
Alexander Steen scored Toronto's first goal and had 2 assists, and Mats Sundin added 2 assists while being largely responsible for shifting the momentum the Maple Leafs' way after the Penguins kept a 1-0 lead for half the game.
Rangers 2, Devils 0: Nigel Dawes needed less than a minute to break New York's scoring slump, and Henrik Lundqvist made 22 saves for his second shutout in the host Rangers' win over New Jersey.
It was almost the third straight 1-0 decision for the Rangers. Lundqvist, who has started all nine games this season, earned a shutout Saturday in a shootout loss at Boston and took a hard defeat in Pittsburgh on Tuesday.
Predators 3, Thrashers 0: Dan Ellis stopped 20 shots for his first career shutout, helping host Nashville beat Atlanta to snap a six-game losing streak.
Jordin Tootoo and Jerred Smithson scored for Nashville, which was 1 more loss from tying a franchise record.
Lightning 5, Flyers 2: Brad Richards had 2 goals, and Vinny Prospal scored his eighth goal of the season to lead host Tampa Bay over Philadelphia.
Jason Ward and Michel Ouellet also scored for the Lightning, which tied a franchise record set in 2002 by starting the season 5-0 at home. Tampa Bay is also 12-1 against the Flyers since the start of the 2003-04 season.