NHL ROUNDUP : Mogilny Scores Two More to Fuel Sabres

There’s a new leader in the NHL goal-scoring race.

Alexander Mogilny, currently on a 10-game point-scoring streak, scored his 39th and 40th goals Friday night to help the Buffalo Sabres beat the New York Islanders, 6-5, at Buffalo.

Mogilny has a one-goal lead over Pittsburgh’s Mario Lemieux, currently sidelined by back problems.

“You don’t want to stop on 40 (goals),” said Mogilny, who had set his sights on a 50-goal season before the season started. “We’ll see what happens. The way things are going for us, maybe we’ll make 60. We’ll see. I’ve got to get to 50 first.”

Mogilny has 40 goals in 41 games, and is within reach of getting 50 goals in 50 games. He had an eight game goal-scoring streak ended earlier this week in Buffalo’s 3-1 victory at Hartford, but did pick up two assists.

“It feels good” to be the league leader in goals, Mogilny added. “But not for long, maybe.”

Mogilny’s streak seems to be coinciding with the success of the Sabres, who won their fifth consecutive game.

“He’s so tough to play against,” Sabre Coach John Muckler said of Mogilny. “He can beat you one-on-one. He can beat you to the outside. He has a great wrist shot.”

Trailing 3-1, the Sabres tied it, 3-3, on Mogilny’s 39th goal at 4:30 of the middle period, and Pat LaFontaine’s power-play goal at 6:39, his 27th.

Buffalo’s Ken Sutton, who also scored twice, knocked a rebound of a shot by Randy Wood past Islander goaltender Glenn Healy at 14:54 of the second to go up, 4-3. The Sabres made it 5-3 on Mogilny’s 40th goal at 18:41 on the power play when he blasted a wrist shot past Healy on the stick side.

Toronto 5, San Jose 1--Glenn Anderson scored two goals and set up three others as the Maple Leafs defeated the Sharks at Toronto.

Anderson, 32, in his 13th NHL season, scored his 10th and 11th goals of the season, and boosted his career total to 448.

A former 50-goal-a-year threat with Edmonton, Anderson’s output slipped to 24 goals each of the last two seasons. But his five points Friday were the most by a Toronto player in any game this season.

Detroit 6, Vancouver 3--Steve Yzerman scored two goals as the Red Wings beat the Canucks in Detroit in a matchup of the NHL’s two hottest teams.

Detroit has only two losses in its last 11 games (7-2-2), while the Canucks suffered their first loss in 10 games (8-1-1).

“This is a big win for us, because it came at home, against a good team,” Jimmy Carson said. “I’m not sure if we were pressing here, but something was wrong.”

The Canucks’ 8-0-1 run fell one game short of tying their club record for longest unbeaten streak.

“They dressed a really big lineup and came out to bang us around,” Canuck Coach Pat Quinn said. “Because of that, we had to play cautious, and we don’t usually do that. We played well, but just not good enough.”

New Jersey 6, Ottawa 4--Scott Stevens scored a goal and set up two others as Devils handed the Senators their 21st consecutive road loss and their 11th overall at East Rutherford, N.J.

The loss extended Ottawa’s overall winless streak to 15 games (0-14-1) and kept them on a path toward the NHL’s record for consecutive road losses, 37.