Satan’s Four Lead Sabres

Miroslav Satan scored a career-high four goals, including the 250th of his career, leading the Buffalo Sabres to a 7-2 win over the Atlanta Thrashers on Monday at Buffalo, N.Y.

Daniel Briere had a goal and two assists, and Ales Kotalik and Andy Delmore also scored, helping the Sabres to their fourth consecutive victory and eighth in their last nine games.

“This shows we can win games in a much more comfortable way,” Satan said.

Buffalo trailed the Kings, 3-1, Friday before rallying for an 8-3 victory. The Sabres also overcame a 1-0 deficit to beat San Jose, 2-1, Feb. 10.

The Sabres have 21 goals in their last three games, the team’s best stretch since scoring 24 in three games from Dec. 31, 1992 to Jan. 3, 1993.

It’s also the most in the NHL in a three-game stretch since Pittsburgh scored 21 on March 23-26, 1996.

The Thrashers are 1-9-2 in their last 12 games and have not won consecutive road games since March 2003.

San Jose 5, Philadelphia 2 -- Scott Thornton and Jonathan Cheechoo each had a goal and two assists at Philadelphia, helping the Sharks end the Flyers’ five-game winning streak.

Vancouver 1, Colorado 0 -- Daniel Sedin scored in the third period, and Dan Cloutier made 23 saves at Denver for his fourth shutout this season, and the Canucks trimmed the Avalanche’s lead in the Northwest Division to four points.

Ottawa 4, New York Rangers 1 -- Zdeno Chara and Josh Langfeld scored 41 seconds apart in the third period at New York to help the Senators win their fourth in a row and the Rangers lose their third in a row.

St. Louis 4, Phoenix 2 -- Jamal Mayers scored the go-ahead goal off goalie Brian Boucher’s skates with 4:00 to play at St. Louis.

Columbus 4, Nashville 2 -- Manny Malhotra matched his career high with two goals to help lift host Columbus.

Carolina 3, Florida 1 -- Sean Hill and Pavel Brendl scored first-period goals to lift the Hurricanes, who won their first home game since Jan. 8.

Detroit 2, Edmonton 1 -- Manny Legace stopped 29 shots, and Kris Draper and Mathieu Schneider each scored for the host Red Wings, who held the Oilers without a shot in the second period.

Toronto 8, Pittsburgh 4 -- Owen Nolan scored twice and figured in the Maple Leafs’ first four goals, three in about four minutes in the first period, helping send the Penguins to an NHL-record 12th consecutive home loss.