Bernier stars in Sabres debut

Steve Bernier scored twice and added an assist in his Sabres' debut, pushing Buffalo back into a playoff position with a 8-4 win over the visiting Nashville Predators on Wednesday night.

Ryan Miller stopped 24 shots to earn his 29th victory despite missing eight minutes of the second period after having his nose bloodied by Marek Zidlicky's shot that hit him on the mask.

Bernier scored on his first 2 shots, giving Buffalo a 2-0 lead, a day after being acquired in a trade that sent all-star defenseman Brian Campbell to San Jose.

Sharks 4, Blue Jackets 2: Brian Campbell notched his first point for San Jose, and the visiting Sharks scored three goals in an eight-minute span of the second period to beat Columbus.

Jonathan Cheechoo ran his goal streak to four games, Joe Pavelski had a goal and an assist, and Torrey Mitchell and Jeremy Roenick also scored for the Sharks, who won their third in a row and improved to 20-8-3 on the road.

David Vyborny ended a 24-game goal drought by scoring twice for Columbus.

Wild 3, Lightning 2: Pierre-Marc Bouchard had 2 assists to lead Minnesota past host Tampa Bay.

Todd Fedoruk, Pavol Demitra and Brian Rolston scored the goals for the Wild, which snapped a four-game losing streak.

Michel Ouellet and Jeff Halpern found the net for the Lightning, who are last in the Eastern Conference and have lost five straight.

Maple Leafs 4, Panthers 3 (SO): Mats Sundin's second goal with 1:08 left in regulation forced overtime, and visiting Toronto went on to a shootout victory over Florida.

Tomas Kaberle scored the only goal of the shootout, and the Maple Leafs' Vesa Toskala sealed the victory when he blocked Olli Jokinen's wrist shot.

Sundin, among five Toronto players who declined to waive no-trade clauses before Tuesday's NHL dealing deadline, had 2 goals and an assist.