Red Wings Use Defense to Get Past Atlanta, 6-2

The Detroit Red Wings killed off a five-on-three penalty late in the first period and went on to defeat the Atlanta Thrashers, 6-2, Saturday night for their third straight victory.

The game’s momentum turned late in the first when the Red Wings, trailing 1-0, withstood eight shots during a 3:01 power play that included a 59-second stretch in which Atlanta had a two-man advantage.

Five days after becoming the sixth player in NHL history with 700 goals, Brett Hull made it 1-1 with a shot from the left circle 1:16 into the second period. He gave Detroit a 4-1 lead with his team-high 10th power-play goal at the 9:26 mark of the period.

Colorado 3, Minnesota 2 -- The Avalanche’s top line of Peter Forsberg, Alex Tanguay and Milan Hejduk combined for two goals and six assists at Denver. The Avalanche, 9-0-2-1 their last 12 games, extended their home-unbeaten streak to six games (5-0-1).

Toronto 2, Ottawa 1 -- Jonas Hoglund scored with 44 seconds left to give the Maple Leafs the win at Toronto. The Maple Leafs have won seven of their last eight.

Buffalo 5, New York Rangers 4 -- Curtis Brown scored a short-handed goal 1:29 into the third period and Martin Biron made 48 saves at Buffalo to help the Sabres end an eight-game losing streak.

Philadelphia 2, Carolina 2 -- Keith Primeau’s goal with 6:52 left enabled the Flyers to tie the Hurricanes at Philadelphia. Kevin Weekes stopped 42 shots for Carolina, which is unbeaten in its last two after losing 15 of 16.

Tampa Bay 5, Boston 2 -- Dan Boyle scored twice late in the third period, including a tiebreaking power-play goal with 5:37 left at Tampa. Nikolai Khabibulin made 30 saves to end a 10-game winless streak. He was 0-6-3 since a 1-0 victory over Detroit on Jan. 7.

Pittsburgh 4, New Jersey 1 -- The victory at East Rutherford, N.J., was the Penguins’ first in three games since the eight-player trade on Monday that sent high-scoring Alexei Kovalev and three others to the Rangers.

Montreal 3, Edmonton 2 -- Jose Theodore made 27 saves at Montreal to end his five-game losing streak. The Canadiens have earned at least one point in four straight games (3-0-0-1).

Washington 2, Florida 1 -- Jeff Halpern had a goal and assisted on Ivan Ciernik’s game-winner late in the second period at Sunrise, Fla. The Capitals improved to 12-3-1 against the Southeast Division.

Chicago 7, Columbus 1 -- Steve Passmore won his first game in almost a year and Steve Sullivan had a career-high five points at Columbus, Ohio. Passmore, filling in for Jocelyn Thibault, had 30 saves. He had not won since last March 29.

Phoenix 5, St. Louis 3 -- Mike Johnson had two goals and an assist for the Coyotes, who won their second road game in two nights after four straight losses.

Vancouver 2, Calgary 2 -- The Canucks’ Dan Cloutier stopped 37 shots and Roman Turek of the Flames had 30 saves in the defensive battle at Calgary. Ed Jovanovski scored at 12:01 of the third period to give Vancouver the tie.