Oilers Blow Late Lead and Settle for 3-3 Tie

The Edmonton Oilers were up by two goals and thought they were about to end their slump. Then, things suddenly went wrong against the Atlanta Thrashers.

“We imploded the last 10 minutes of the hockey game,” said Coach Craig MacTavish, whose Oilers tied the Thrashers, 3-3, on Sunday night at Edmonton, Canada, to end their five-game losing streak, but remained winless in six games.

Yannick Tremblay and Dan Snyder scored late in the third period as the Thrashers rallied from a two-goal deficit. Daniel Tjarnqvist also scored for Atlanta, which is 1-4-2 in its last seven.

Mike Comrie had his first goal in eight games since returning to Edmonton’s lineup, while former Atlanta captain Steve Staios and Eric Brewer also scored for the Oilers.

Tremblay redirected Dany Heatley’s pass with 5:27 to go in the third to make it 3-2, and Snyder tied it with 2:55 to play when he jammed a puck past Tommy Salo.

“We showed some passion, we showed some pride in the third,” Atlanta Coach Bob Hartley said. “We showed some good legs. And we found a way to get two quick goals.”

Boston 4, New York Islanders 4 -- Don Sweeney scored his second goal of the season with 2:24 left in regulation to lift the Bruins into a tie at Uniondale, N.Y.

Boston, which finished a seven-game trip 1-4-2, also got goals from Glen Murray and Jozef Stumpel, and a goal and three assists from Brian Rolston. Steve Shields started, was removed for a short time because of illness, then returned. He made 25 saves.

New Jersey 4, Pittsburgh 3 -- Joe Nieuwendyk scored midway through the third period for his 1,000th NHL point and Scott Gomez put the Devils ahead 37 seconds later in a victory at Pittsburgh.

New Jersey overcame deficits of 1-0 and 3-2 while rallying to win for the sixth time this season -- and the second straight game -- after trailing in the third period.

Nieuwendyk is the 65th player in NHL history to reach 1,000 points.

Buffalo 4, Tampa Bay 1 -- Martin Biron made 30 saves at Tampa, Fla., and the Sabres kept the Lightning from moving into first place in the Southeast Division.

The Sabres, who entered with the NHL’s worst record, got goals from Maxim Afinogenov, Alexei Zhitnik and Miroslav Satan. Buffalo is unbeaten in eight games against Tampa Bay (6-0-2).

Dallas 3, Chicago 0 -- Ron Tugnutt made 20 saves at Chicago for his second shutout this season and 23rd of his career, and Mike Modano scored two goals to lead the Stars.

Scott Young had a goal and an assist for Dallas, which extended its unbeaten streak to four (2-0-2). The Stars have lost only once in 12 games (8-1-3) and twice in 25 (17-2-6).

Colorado 4, New York Rangers 1 -- Milan Hejduk scored twice to extend his goal streak to seven games and Patrick Roy stopped 37 shots to lead the Avalanche at Denver.

Colorado’s line of Hejduk, Peter Forsberg and Alex Tanguay combined for three goals and three assists, giving them at least one point in 15 straight games. The trio has 26 goals and 41 assists the last 15 games. Colorado is 12-1-1-1 in that span.

Vancouver 7, Columbus 2 -- Markus Naslund and Todd Bertuzzi each scored twice at Vancouver, Canada, and the Canucks pushed their NHL-high unbeaten streak to 13 games. The Canucks eclipsed Dallas’ 12-game unbeaten stretch from earlier this season.

Calgary 4, Phoenix 2 -- Jarome Iginla scored four times at Phoenix and the Flames ended a six-game losing streak against the Coyotes. Iginla has 13 of his 28 goals this month. The hat trick was his second in nine games.

Nashville 5, Toronto 2 -- Vitali Yachmenev scored twice at Toronto and the Predators ended the Maple Leafs’ five-game winning streak. Nashville’s Tomas Vokoun made 21 saves, including a nice glove stop on Robert Reichel’s penalty shot midway through the third.

Minnesota 3, St. Louis 1 -- Manny Fernandez stopped 21 shots at St. Paul, Minn., for the Wild, which ended its three-game losing streak and sent the Blues to their fifth loss in six games. Filip Kuba scored a short-handed goal for the Wild, which went 0 for 5 on the power play.