Khavanov Is Special as Fill-In

Although no one can replace Chris Pronger, Alexander Khavanov did his part to fill in for the St. Louis Blues’ injured All-Star defenseman.

With Pronger sidelined for at least the next four weeks, Khavanov was given increased playing time on special teams Tuesday night and scored his fourth goal of the season to help the Blues to a 5-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens at Montreal.

“He’s a headsy guy,” St. Louis Coach Joel Quenneville said. “He made a couple of nice plays on the power play too that were dangerous opportunities. He sees the ice well and he’s able to play all situations, which is nice also.”

Linemates Jochen Hecht, Ladislav Nagy and Daniel Corso scored first-period goals for St. Louis and Khavanov scored an unassisted goal 18:28 into the second period to put the Blues ahead, 4-2.

Scott Young added his 23rd goal only 1:15 into the third as St. Louis won for the third time in four games, and its first without Pronger.

Pronger, last season’s NHL most valuable player, had arthroscopic surgery to repair torn cartilage in his left knee earlier Tuesday.

“I thought we did a nice job,” Quenneville said. “Khavy comes in and plays a lot of important minutes. Everybody got a little more ice time.”

Washington 5, Tampa Bay 2--Peter Bondra broke a tie with the first of the Capitals’ three third-period goals at Tampa, Fla., as Washington handed the Lightning its seventh consecutive loss.

The veteran left wing has 34 goals in 36 games against the Lightning, which has lost 11 of 12. With Lightning center Ryan Johnson off for slashing, Bondra gave the Capitals a 3-2 lead with 6:06 remaining, scoring his 24th goal.

“We won the faceoff. It came to me. I ripped it on net,” Bondra said. “I was kind of lucky. It was exciting.”

Ottawa 3, New York Islanders 2--Martin Havlat’s second-period goal was the winner at Uniondale, N.Y., as the Senators moved into first place in the Eastern Conference.

“We knew this was not going to be an easy game,” Ottawa Coach Jacques Martin said. “They’re a hard-working team.”

Columbus 2, Buffalo 1--Serge Aubin scored two goals to lead the expansion Blue Jackets at Buffalo, N.Y., in the first meeting between the teams.

“Before the game, the guys were saying we may have to win 2-1 because there’s two goalies of this caliber,” Columbus Coach Dave King said. “They called it exactly right.”

The goalies were Columbus’ Ron Tugnutt, who stopped 22 shots, and Buffalo’s Dominik Hasek, who stopped 16.

“We had numerous chances,” Buffalo Coach Lindy Ruff said.

Nashville 4, Atlanta 3--Rookie Marian Cisar had a goal and an assist during a three-goal first period to lead the Predators at Nashville.

Phoenix 4, Calgary 2--Landon Wilson had two goals as the Coyotes scored four goals in the first 15 minutes at Calgary.

Around the League

Center Alex Zhamnov of the Chicago Blackhawks, who suffered a fractured larynx and bruised vocal cords after being hit in the throat by a puck, was put on the injured list and will be reevaluated next week. He was hit by a shot in a 4-0 loss Sunday night to the Pittsburgh Penguins. The seriousness of the injury was not realized until Tuesday, after further examination and tests results were available. . . . Tampa Bay center Wayne Primeau was suspended two games by the NHL for using his stick and instigating a fight in Saturday’s 3-0 loss to the Ottawa Senators. . . . The Lightning traded defenseman Bryan Muir to the Colorado Avalanche for an eighth-round pick in this year’s draft.