NHL
Senators rally past Islanders OTTAWA (AP) – Bryan Smolinski scored with 1:46 left in the third period to give the Ottawa Senators a 4-3, comeback win over the New York Islanders on Friday night.
Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson scored his 25th goal in the first period before leaving with a rib injury in the second after he was hit by Zdeno Chara’s slap shot.
Trailing 3-1, Ottawa came back on Dany Heatley’s 25th goal late in the second and Peter Schaefer’s tying goal 4:06 into the third.
The Senators, who lead the NHL with 57 points in 36 games, won their fourth in a row.
Mattias Weinhandl, Chris Campoli and Jason Blake scored for the Islanders, who lost their fourth straight.
Bruins 2, Lightning 1
TAMPA, Fla. – Patrice Bergeron scored a tiebreaking, shorthanded goal with 11:49 left and Hannu Toivonen made 31 saves.
Sean Burke had 22 saves starting in place of John Grahame.
Wayne Primeau also scored for the Bruins, who have won three of five. Rob DiMaio scored for Tampa Bay, which has lost six of seven.
Sabres 4, Thrashers 1
BUFFALO, N.Y. – Ryan Miller made 34 saves and Chris Drury added a goal and an assist.
His bid for his first shutout of the year was foiled by Marc Savard with six minutes to play.
Thomas Vanek, Maxim Afinogenov, and Mike Grier also scored for the Sabres, who have won 18 of their past 22. They lost in a shootout in Toronto the night before.
Atlanta’s Kari Lehtonen, making his first start since injuring his groin in the first period of the Thrashers’ opener, finished with 25 saves.
Panthers 2, Canadiens 1
SUNRISE, Fla. – Joe Nieuwendyk scored twice and Roberto Luongo stopped Alex Kovalev’s penalty shot with 2:57 left.
The Panthers are unbeaten at home in regulation in their last six games (5-0-1), and have 12 of their 15 wins at home.
Kovalev was awarded a penalty shot after being hooked by Lukas Krajicek on a breakaway. Luongo, who stopped 27 shots, has not allowed a goal on nine penalty shots he has faced in his career.
Montreal’s Jose Theodore had 28 saves in his second game back after missing four due to a knee injury.
Blue Jackets 3, Blackhawks 2
CHICAGO – Rick Nash and Nikolai Zherdev each had a goal and an assist to help the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Chicago Blackhawks for their third straight win.
Nash, who has played in just 10 games due to ankle and knee injuries, had his first multi-point game this season.
Dan Fritsche also scored for Columbus and Marc Denis made 41 saves to help send the Blackhawks to their sixth straight loss and eighth in their last nine games.