Coyotes Remain Hot at Expense of Canucks

Ladislav Nagy won’t complain about being a crossbar away from his first hat trick.

Nagy scored twice in the second period and Teppo Numminen had four assists to lead the Phoenix Coyotes past the Vancouver Canucks, 6-1, on Thursday night at Phoenix.

“I’m happy I scored two goals and the team won,” Nagy said. “The first 15 games I didn’t play really well. But right now I have a lot of confidence.”

Nagy rang a shot off the crossbar in the final minute.

Phoenix is 5-0-1-1 in its last seven games and has trailed only once in five games since the end of the Olympic break.

“Getting leads is big in this league,” said Mike Johnson, who scored a short-handed goal in the second period. “It’s something we’ve focused on the whole year. But it’s a matter of us getting the goals now.”

Shane Doan, Branko Radivojevic and Landon Wilson also scored for the Coyotes, who pulled even with idle Dallas for seventh place in the Western Conference with 71 points, two points behind the Kings and St. Louis.

Todd Bertuzzi scored for the Canucks, who are winless in five of their last six games (1-2-1-2) and trail the Stars and Coyotes by four points.

*

San Jose 5, Ottawa 2--Marco Sturm had a goal and two assists, and Teemu Selanne scored his 400th goal as the Sharks ended a three-game losing streak with a victory at San Jose.

San Jose pounded Ottawa goalie Patrick Lalime for five goals in the second period--four in a furious 5:45 span--and breezed past the Senators, who had just one regulation loss in their previous 15 games. The scoring flurry was a remarkable change for the Sharks, who were shut out by Nashville on Tuesday.

*

Calgary 4, Philadelphia 2--Dean McAmmond scored the go-ahead goal in the second period at Philadelphia, lifting the Flames to a victory.

It was the Flames’ first victory in Philadelphia since 1996.

Jarome Iginla, who scored a power-play empty-net goal with 47 seconds remaining, also had an assist to increase his league-leading totals to 41 goals and a career-high 76 points.

*

Buffalo 5, New York Islanders 0--Martin Biron stopped 26 shots for his second shutout of the season, and Eric Rasmussen scored twice as the Sabres won at Uniondale, N.Y.

Chris Gratton, J.P. Dumont and Stu Barnes each had a power-play goal for Buffalo. It was the Sabres’ first win on the road since a 3-2 overtime victory at Washington on Jan. 27.

*

Carolina 3, Pittsburgh 1--Ron Francis scored twice in the third period at Pittsburgh as the Hurricanes defeated the Penguins for their fourth consecutive victory.

Sami Kapanen assisted on all three Carolina goals and Jeff O’Neill also scored.

*

Minnesota 3, St. Louis 0--Marian Gaborik scored twice and goaltender Dwayne Roloson stopped 28 shots to lead the Wild at St. Louis.

The win also was the first for Minnesota against St. Louis. The Wild had been 0-4-2 against the Blues.

*

Chicago 5, New York Rangers 1--Eric Daze and Michael Nylander each had a goal and two assists as the Blackhawks won at Chicago.

Jocelyn Thibault, who has struggled since the Olympic break and sat out Chicago’s last two games, stopped 17 shots.