Blues Win the Battle of First-Place Teams

Keith Tkachuk scored his second consecutive game-winning goal, leading the Blues to a 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks in a meeting of first-place teams Thursday night at St. Louis.

Tkachuk, who scored in overtime Tuesday when St. Louis beat the Ducks, leads the Blues with seven goals. In 47 games against the Canucks, Tkachuk has 46 points.

The Blues, in first place in the Central Division at 8-3-0-1, have won seven of nine. Vancouver, the Northwest Division leaders at 9-3-2, had its five-game winning streak snapped. The loss also broke the Canucks’ nine-game unbeaten streak.

New York Islanders 4, Dallas 1 -- Trent Hunter’s goal with 3:20 left in regulation broke a tie and lifted the Islanders past the Stars at Uniondale, N.Y.

Marty Turco turned aside 19 shots for the Stars, who lost the first two games of a three-game Eastern trip.

Boston 5, San Jose 5 -- Sergei Samsonov scored with 13.4 seconds left in regulation, lifting the Bruins into a tie with the Sharks at Boston.

Samsonov tied it when he chopped at the puck in front of the crease and it bounced past goalie Vesa Toskala. San Jose just missed its first victory in Boston, where the Sharks are 0-7-3.

Despite outshooting the Sharks 52-23, the Bruins remained winless at home (0-1-2-1).

Edmonton 3, Ottawa 3 -- Ethan Moreau and Fernando Pisani scored 2:30 apart in the second period and the Oilers overcame a two-goal deficit to earn a tie with the Senators at Ottawa.

Marian Hossa had his second two-goal game of the season, and Peter Schaefer scored a short-handed goal for Ottawa, which is winless in four games.

Senator defenseman Wade Redden hit the post in overtime after Oiler goalie Tommy Salo stopped a shot by Radek Bonk.

Philadelphia 4, Washington 2 -- Tony Amonte and Jeremy Roenick of the Flyers each had a goal and assist at Philadelphia.

Robert Esche stopped 20 shots for his fourth win in a row, and the Flyers remained unbeaten at home with their fourth victory in five games.

The last-place Capitals are 3-9-1.

Carolina 6, New York Rangers 3 -- Light-scoring Craig Adams had two goals for Carolina, enabling the Hurricanes to snap a three-game losing streak at Raleigh, N.C.

The two goals by Adams were his ninth and 10th in 170 career games.

Erik Cole finished off the Rangers with an empty-net goal with 49 seconds left.

Colorado 2, Phoenix 1 -- Joe Sakic and Milan Hejduk scored third-period goals, Peter Forsberg posted his 500th career assist and the Avalanche rallied at Denver to beat the Coyotes.

Avalanche rookie Philippe Sauve made 27 saves to record his first NHL victory. Sean Burke had 30 saves for the Coyotes, whose winless streak was extended to nine games.