Maple Leafs Dispatch Rangers in Overtime

This isn’t what the Toronto Maple Leafs had in mind for their final meeting with the New York Rangers.

Coming off a two-day holiday break that culminated in a game-day trip to New York, the Maple Leafs pulled out a 6-5 overtime victory Friday that stretched their point streak to 16 games.

Mats Sundin scored 3 minutes 35 seconds into overtime to lift Toronto, which led, 4-1 and 5-2.

“It was a strange game, a wild game,” Coach Pat Quinn said. “We’re happy with the win, to say the least.”

Minnesota 2, Detroit 2 -- At Detroit, Dwayne Roloson stopped 38 shots for Minnesota, which extended its unbeaten streak to seven games. The Wild got goals from Marian Gaborik and Wes Walz, improving to 4-0-3 during the run. Henrik Zetterberg and Kris Draper scored for Detroit, and Curtis Joseph made 22 saves.

Dallas 2, Nashville 1-- Marty Turco stopped 23 shots and Brenden Morrow scored a power-play goal in the first period for the Stars at home. Jason Arnott added a goal in the second period to help Dallas win its third in a row and improve to 5-1-1 in its last seven games.

New York Islanders 4, New Jersey 3 -- Mark Parrish scored 1:25 into overtime at East Rutherford, N.J. The Islanders also got goals from Dave Scatchard, Mariusz Czerkawski and Oleg Kvasha as they beat the Stanley Cup champions for the second time in 10 days.

Atlanta 3, Tampa Bay 1 -- Shawn McEachern scored twice and Pasi Nurminen stopped 33 shots for the Thrashers. Tampa Bay lost for the sixth time in eight games (1-6-1-0) and fell to 1-8-3 all-time at Atlanta, which had its first sellout crowd of the season.

St. Louis 3, Colorado 3 -- Adam Foote’s goal at 9:27 of the third period gave Colorado a tie. The Avalanche is winless in its last six games. The Blues are unbeaten in their last eight games at St. Louis’ Savvis Center, where a season-high 20,045 attended the game.

Pittsburgh 3, Ottawa 3 -- Zdeno Chara scored a power-play goal with 5:11 remaining in the third period for the Senators at home.

Todd White and Jason Spezza scored first-period goals as Ottawa rallied twice to extend its unbeaten streak to a season-high five games.

Buffalo 3, Carolina 1 -- Mika Noronen made 30 saves and Buffalo scored three times in the third period at home. Ales Kotalik scored on the power play at 3:09 of the third period, ending an 0-for-17 drought for the Sabres with the man advantage.

Sean Hill scored his first goal for the Hurricanes, who are 2-2 under Coach Peter Laviolette, who took over after Paul Maurice was fired on Dec. 15.

Columbus 4, Chicago 1 -- Manny Malhotra and Rick Nash scored 1:26 apart early in the third period to send the Blue Jackets to their first road victory this season. David Vyborny scored twice for the Blue Jackets, who ended a six-game skid.

Vancouver 2, Calgary 0 -- Dan Cloutier made 31 saves for his second shutout this season, leading the Canucks at Calgary. Mattias Ohlund and Brendan Morrison scored for first-place Vancouver, which increased its lead to five points over Calgary in the Northwest Division.