Burke’s Return Dooms Flyers

When Sean Burke learned he would be in goal Saturday night for the first time since spraining an ankle in late October, about the last thing on his mind was a shutout.

But Burke made 23 saves and the Phoenix Coyotes defeated the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-0, at Phoenix.

Burke, who has 32 shutouts in his career, sat out 29 games after spraining an ankle Oct. 22 at Nashville.

“The first period, I felt rusty, like I hadn’t played in a while,” Burke said. “I wasn’t nervous. I was apprehensive. It took a while to find my legs.

“Obviously, your confidence is something you have to build upon. I didn’t know what to expect of myself.”

The Coyotes said they knew exactly what to expect from Burke.

“He is one of the premier goalies in the league,” Coach Bob Francis said. “It is good to have him back.”

Burke credited Francis with the Coyotes’ strong showing.

“There was a lot of focus,” Burke said. “Bob Francis did a great job this morning of really pumping us up.

“Tonight was the kind of game you can play against any team in the league and be successful.”

Ladislav Nagy, Tony Amonte, Daymond Langkow and Daniel Briere scored to help the Coyotes end a two-game losing streak.

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Pittsburgh 3, Montreal 2 -- Martin Straka scored two goals in the second period, helping host Pittsburgh win its fourth in a row and end an eight-game winless streak against Montreal.

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New York Islanders 3, Carolina 0 -- Chris Osgood made 25 saves at Uniondale, N.Y., and helped the Islanders kill 10 penalties in recording the 35th shutout of his career.

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Boston 1, Atlanta 0 -- Rob Zamuner scored a power-play goal late in the first period and John Grahame stopped 29 shots at Atlanta for the fourth shutout of his career.

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St. Louis 6, Columbus 1 -- Brent Johnson made 26 saves at Columbus, Ohio, and the Blues extended their unbeaten streak to four games.

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New York Rangers 2, Florida 1 -- Darius Kasparaitis’ first goal this season, scored 56 seconds into overtime, lifted the Rangers at Sunrise, Fla.

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New Jersey 2, Washington 1 -- Scott Niedermayer scored with 49.5 seconds left in overtime on a power play the host Devils got when the Capitals were called for too many men on the ice.

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Detroit 4, Nashville 2 -- Sean Avery had a goal and an assist, and Kris Draper, Boyd Devereaux and Sergei Fedorov also scored for the defending Stanley Cup champions at Nashville.

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Minnesota 4, Buffalo 3 -- Marian Gaborik had a goal and two assists at Buffalo, N.Y., and Minnesota improved to 8-1-1 when Gaborik, who finished with three points for the fourth time, has more than one point.

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Edmonton 3, Toronto 2 -- Todd Marchant knocked in his own rebound at 4:35 of overtime at Edmonton, Canada, and the Oilers ended a five-game losing streak.

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Chicago 3, San Jose 3 -- Tyler Arnason had his first three-goal game for Chicago, but fellow rookie Jonathan Cheechoo scored with 9:50 left and the Sharks earned a tie at San Jose.