Thrashers Extend Streak

Ilya Kovalchuk scored a hat trick and the Atlanta Thrashers extended their unbeaten streak to a franchise-record five games, routing the Chicago Blackhawks, 7-2, Saturday night at Atlanta.

The Thrashers have won three games and tied two others to begin a season that was overshadowed by the car wreck that killed center Dan Snyder and injured All-Star Dany Heatley.

Having dedicated the season to both players, the Thrashers are playing the best hockey of their five-year existence. They built a 3-0 lead before the game was 11 minutes old.

“Our players deserve credit,” Coach Bob Hartley said. “They’re focused, they’re paying attention to detail and right now they’re getting rewarded for their efforts.”

Marc Savard scored a goal and assisted on three others, while Slava Kozlov had a goal and two assists as the Thrashers turned in their highest-scoring game of the season.

Atlanta had 44 shots -- including 10 by Kovalchuk, who has five goals in five games.

Pittsburgh 4, Detroit 3 -- Rico Fata scored his second goal of the game with just over eight minutes left in the third period as the Penguins rallied from a two-goal deficit at Pittsburgh.

Fata took a long cross-ice pass from Ryan Malone and beat Dominik Hasek with a wrist shot from the right circle with 8:29 left for his first NHL two-goal game and the Penguins’ first victory of the season.

St. Louis 4, Washington 1 -- The Blues revived their struggling power play without injured captain Al MacInnis, scoring three times with the man advantage in their home opener.

Keith Tkachuk and Pavol Demitra each scored a goal for the Blues, who were 3 for 17 on the power play in their first three games, but scored on three of their first five opportunities.

Tampa Bay 3, New Jersey 2 -- Martin St. Louis took advantage of a late turnover and scored with 5:40 left to give the undefeated Lightning the win at East Rutherford, N.J.

Nikolai Khabibulin made 29 saves as the Lightning won their third straight and sent the Stanley Cup champions (1-1-2) to their first loss of the season.

Toronto 1, Montreal 0 -- Ed Belfour earned his 66th career shutout and Ric Jackman scored a power-play goal in the first period at Montreal.

Belfour, who stopped 15 shots to help the Maple Leafs get their first win of the season, tied Patrick Roy for 11th place on the career shutout list.

New York Islanders 2, Florida 1 -- Oleg Kvasha’s power-play goal 4:10 into the third period gave the Islanders the victory in their home opener. It was the Islanders’ first win at Uniondale, N.Y., since March 1.

Carolina 2, New York Rangers 2 -- Erik Cole and Craig Adams each had a goal and an assist, helping the Hurricanes get a tie at Madison Square Garden.

The Hurricanes (0-2-2) have a nine-game winless streak. The winless Rangers (0-2-2) had not scored since their season-opening loss to Minnesota.

Nashville 3, Columbus 2 -- The Predators scored three second-period goals at Nashville to beat the Blue Jackets for their third win of the season -- a total they didn’t reach until Nov. 27 last season.

Vancouver 2, Minnesota 2 -- Henrik Sedin slammed in a loose rebound on a power play with 2:22 left in regulation, giving the Canucks the tie at St. Paul.

Buffalo 2, Calgary 0 -- Mika Noronen was perfect in his first start of the season, making 20 saves, and rookie Ales Kotalik scored 93 seconds into the game to lead the Sabres at Calgary.

Philadelphia 5, Phoenix 4 -- Mark Recchi scored two goals at Phoenix to help the Flyers (2-0-2) stay undefeated and hand Coyote goaltender Sean Burke his first loss in four starts.

Ottawa 4, San Jose 1 -- Patrick Lalime, who shut out the Mighty Ducks on Friday night, made 28 saves as the Senators wrapped up a three-game California road trip with two victories in a row.

Edmonton 6, Colorado 3 -- Steve Staios had two goals for the first time in his career and Mike York and Marty Reasoner each scored short-handed goals to lead the Oilers at Edmonton.