Devils Unbeaten in 10 Straight Games

Scott Stevens set up the first two goals and the suddenly potent New Jersey Devils extended their unbeaten streak to 10 games with a 4-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday night at East Rutherford, N.J.

Scott Gomez, Jay Pandolfo, Brian Gionta and John Madden scored for the defending Stanley Cup champions, who have nine goals in their last two games.

Martin Brodeur, who shut out the Rangers, 5-0, on Saturday in his last start, was within 13:47 of his 68th career shutout, when Daniel Briere came out from behind the net and scored.

With his 375th victory, Brodeur passed former teammate John Vanbiesbrouck and moved into 10th place on the NHL career list.

The unbeaten streak is the longest for the Devils since they won a team-record 13 straight in the 2000-01 season.

Minnesota 6, Pittsburgh 2 -- Antti Laaksonen scored twice in a three-goal Wild first period against rookie goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, and the Wild cruised to a victory over the Penguins at Pittsburgh.

Marian Gaborik also scored on a penalty shot, only his second goal in the seven games since re-signing with Minnesota, in what by Wild standards was a scoring flurry.

Despite going 7-3-2 since a 1-5-1 start, the Wild had scored as many as four goals only once in 10 games. They had only two goals in their last three games, but still went 1-1-1.

Detroit 5, Columbus 1 -- Brett Hull scored two goals and the Red Wings beat the Blue Jackets at Detroit, extending their unbeaten streak to five games.

Kris Draper, Tomas Holmstrom and Steve Thomas also scored for the Red Wings, 4-0-1-0 in their current streak. Goalie Manny Legace stopped 37 of 38 shots.

Geoff Sanderson scored for the Blue Jackets, 0-3-2-0 in their last five games.

With 724 career goals, Hull moved within seven of Marcel Dionne for third place on the NHL’s all-time scoring list. Wayne Gretzky is first with 894 and Gordie Howe second with 801.

New York Islanders 4, Florida 1 -- Rookie Trent Hunter scored twice and the Islanders dominated the Panthers again.

The Islanders stretched their unbeaten streak against the Panthers to seven games (4-0-3) and they are also unbeaten in their last seven (4-0-3) against them in Florida.

The Islanders won on the road for only the second time this season (2-4-2).

Atlanta 5, Boston 4 -- Ilya Kovalchuk scored his NHL-high 14th goal 3:42 into overtime to give the Thrashers a win at home after the Bruins squandered three leads.

The Thrashers fell behind 2-0, 3-2 and 4-3 before Kovalchuk provided their only lead of the night with a power-play goal in the extra period.

Atlanta ended the Bruins’ four-game winning streak with another comeback victory. The Thrashers have overcome two-goal deficits to earn at least a point six times this season.

Phoenix 5, St. Louis 4 -- Brian Savage and Shane Doan each had two goals and an assist, leading the Coyotes to a victory at Phoenix.

Savage scored the first and last goals, beating St. Louis goaltender Chris Osgood for the second time with 1:45 remaining when he tapped in a rebound of a shot by Doan. The final goal helped the Coyotes end an NHL record-tying, five consecutive-overtime streak.