A Night of Firsts for Thrashers

Damian Rhodes posted the first shutout, first victory and first road triumph in the history of the Atlanta Thrashers on Thursday night, stopping 20 shots for a 2-0 win over the New York Islanders at Uniondale, N.Y.

Andrew Brunette scored a power-play goal and captain Kelly Buchberger picked up an even-strength goal as the Thrashers made their NHL regular season road debut. Atlanta opened with three home games, losing to New Jersey and Detroit and tying Buffalo.

The Islanders played before a turnstile-count crowd of 3,062 on a night when the Yankees attracted 57,180 to their American League championship series game against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. The team announced 5,219 tickets were sold for the game at Nassau Coliseum, which holds 16,297.

Pittsburgh 5, N.Y. Rangers 2--The Penguins scored on three of their first eight shots and backup goalie Peter Skudra made 28 saves in a victory over the Rangers before an announced 18,200 at Madison Square Garden.

Alexei Kovalev, Ian Moran and Robert Lang scored in the game’s first 13 minutes, chasing Kirk McLean, and Pittsburgh went on to stop New York’s three-game winning streak.

Montreal 5, Philadelphia 4--Brian Savage scored his third goal of the game with 1:38 left in overtime as the visiting Canadiens defeated the Flyers, who are off to the worst five-game start in franchise history.

John LeClair had two goals and an assist for his first three points of the year, and Eric Lindros had a goal and two assists for Philadelphia (0-4-1).

San Jose 5, Nashville 1--Steve Shields stopped 51 shots and set a San Jose record for longest scoreless streak as the Sharks beat the Predators at Nashville.

Shields stopped 37 shots during the first two periods before Patric Kjellberg ended the streak at 141 minutes, 46 seconds when he pushed the puck in at 1:18 of the third.

Phoenix 4, Ottawa 3--Dallas Drake scored the game-winner with a little more than five minutes remaining as the Coyotes handed the visiting Senators their first loss.