Thrashers' Kovalchuk injured

The Thrashers snapped a five-game losing streak, but host Atlanta's 4-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night might have been costly as leading scorer Ilya Kovalchuk left the game with an apparent knee injury.

Kovalchuk scored his 38th goal but was forced out of the game for good in the second period. He was injured in a knee-on-knee hit from Pittsburgh's Jarkko Ruutu and made a brief return later in the period for one shift but didn't return. Ruutu received a major penalty for kneeing and was ejected.

Kari Lehtonen stopped 29 shots, losing his shutout bid when Ryan Whitney scored for Pittsburgh with 8:42 left.

Wild 5, Ducks 1: Brian Rolston, Marian Gaborik and Mikko Koivu scored less than two minutes apart in the second period, and host Minnesota beat Anaheim.

Sabres 1, Panthers 0: Thomas Vanek scored a power-play goal in the first minute of the second period, and Ryan Miller stopped 32 shots in Buffalo's win over host Florida.

Red Wings 3, Coyotes 2: Nicklas Lidstrom's goal with 7:28 left completed a comeback and lifted NHL-leading Detroit to its fifth straight win, beating visiting Phoenix.