Minnesota Is Wild About First Victory on the Road

The expansion Minnesota Wild cleared another hurdle.

Antti Laaksonen scored 3:11 into overtime and Wes Walz had two goals at Calgary, Canada as the Wild beat the Flames, 3-2, Sunday night for their first road victory.

On the winning goal, Flame goaltender Fred Brathwaite made the first stop on a shot by Jim Dowd, but Laaksonen picked up the rebound in the slot and fired the winner just inside the post.

The Wild entered the game with two losses and a tie in three previous road games.

“We’ve been looking forward to this night,” Walz said. “It’s an exciting night for the whole franchise and the boys are pretty pumped up.”

Edmonton 4, Columbus 2--Ryan Smyth and Bill Guerin each scored twice and Doug Weight assisted on all four goals as the Oilers beat the Blue Jackets at Columbus, Ohio.

Weight’s four assists tied a career high. Tom Poti added two assists for the Oilers, who won their fourth consecutive game.

Kevin Dineen and Geoff Sanderson scored for the Columbus. Ron Tugnutt had 26 saves.

Tampa Bay 5, Washington 2--Paul Mara ended a 10-game scoreless drought with two goals and two assists at Tampa, Fla., as the Lightning ended a five-game winless streak against the Capitals.

Wayne Primeau, Mike Johnson and Mara scored in the first period for the Lightning. Mara and Sheldon Keefe scored in an 18-second span in the third period to clinch it.

San Jose 2, Vancouver 2--Scott Thornton scored twice in 22 seconds and the Sharks remained undefeated in their last eight games with a tie at Vancouver, Canada.

Thornton’s second-period goals set a San Jose record for fastest goals by the same player. Tony Granato set the previous mark when he scored goals 29 seconds apart Oct. 6, 1996 in Los Angeles.

Markus Naslund and Ed Jovanovski scored goals for Vancouver.

Toronto 7, Boston 1--Sergei Berezin, Garry Valk and Yanic Perreault each had two points as the Maple Leafs scored four goals in the second period to win at Toronto.

Seven Maple Leafs had goals and Curtis Joseph stopped 21 shots.

Boston goalie Andrew Raycroft allowed five goals on 26 shots.

Notes

San Jose Shark center Mark Smith was released from the hospital Sunday, a day after being knocked unconscious by a hit by Carolina’s Bates Battaglia. Smith, who also cut his head, was kept at San Jose Medical Center overnight for observation. The Sharks said that Smith had a concussion and required stitches. He will be sidelined at least a week, the team said. Battaglia was ejected and given a major penalty for charging. Because of the game misconduct, the NHL will automatically review the hit.