Youthful Panthers Atop East

Robert Svehla broke a tie with the first of three third-period goals for the Florida Panthers, who took over the lead in the Eastern Conference by defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning, 5-2, on Wednesday night at Miami.

Also scoring for the Panthers were 19-year-old Radek Dvorak, 20-year-old Dave Nemirovsky and 21-year-old Chris Wells.

OTHER GAMES

Dave Andreychuk scored late in the third period as the New Jersey Devils extended their season-high undefeated string to eight games by defeating the Whalers, 3-2, at Hartford. . . . Backup goaltender Steve Shields stopped 43 shots as the Sabres blew a two-goal lead but still salvaged a 2-2 tie with the Montreal Canadiens at Buffalo. . . . Jason Holland scored his first NHL goal at Pittsburgh and Ziggy Palffy got his 32nd of the season to help the New York Islanders to the victory over the Penguins, 5-1. . . . Brendan Shanahan broke open a tight game with three consecutive second-period goals as the Red Wings defeated the San Jose Sharks, 7-1, at Detroit. . . . Darrin Shannon scored two goals and Nikolai Khabibulin earned his third shutout of the season at Dallas, leading the Phoenix Coyotes over the Stars, 5-0. . . . Rem Murray scored with 4:58 left to give the Oilers a 4-3 victory over the Boston Bruins at Edmonton.