Toronto Flying High With Win in New Arena

Steve Thomas scored a dramatic overtime goal Saturday night to give Toronto a 3-2 victory over Montreal in the first game played at the Maple Leafs’ new home, the Air Canada Centre at Toronto.

The gala opening seemed destined to end in a tie before Toronto’s Ladislav Kohn raced down the wing, then crossed the puck to Thomas just a few feet in front of helpless Montreal goalie Jeff Hackett. The score came at 3:48 of overtime.

Ottawa 4, Philadelphia 1--Goaltender Ron Tugnutt continued his strong play and Radek Bonk scored his sixth winning goal of the season as the Senators climbed over the Flyers into first place in the NHL’s Eastern Conference at Kanata, Canada.

Florida 7, Phoenix 1--Scott Mellanby’s 250th career goal, 33 seconds into the game, ignited a four-goal first period for the Panthers at Sunrise, Fla. Phoenix has lost four consecutive games.

New York Islanders 3, New Jersey 2--Bryan Smolinski scored a power-play goal with 2:59 left for the Islanders at East Rutherford, N.J.

Carolina 3, Tampa Bay 2--Gary Roberts scored the winning goal with 4:26 left, and Ron Francis moved past Stan Mikita into eighth place on the career points list at 1,468 with two third-period assists for the Hurricanes at Tampa, Fla.

Washington 3, San Jose 1--Sergei Gonchar scored two power-play goals, including the game-winner with 8:46 remaining, for the Capitals at Washington.

Nashville 4, St. Louis 3--Jamie Heward had his first two-goal game and John Slaney scored his first goal of the season for the Predators at St. Louis.