Pyatt’s goal lifts the Canucks past Stars

Taylor Pyatt scored a power-play goal with 44 seconds left in the third period, sending the Canucks to a 2-1 win over the Dallas Stars on Monday night at Vancouver, Canada.

With Dallas captain Brenden Morrow off for elbowing, Mattias Ohlund hit the post from in tight and Stars goalie Mike Smith did well to kick the loose puck out. But the rebound went to Pyatt in the slot and he spun around and snapped a high shot before the goalie could recover.

Roberto Luongo made 19 saves as the Canucks ended a three-game losing streak.

Toronto 4, Philadelphia 1 -- Nik Antropov, Alexei Ponikarovsky and Tomas Kaberle scored in the third period to lead the Maple Leafs at Toronto.

Ben Eager scored for the Flyers, who dropped to 3-10-1 -- the worst start in the club’s 40-year history and the poorest record in the NHL.

Philadelphia has lost four of six since coach Ken Hitchcock was fired and Bobby Clarke resigned as general manager on Oct. 22.

Atlanta 5, Boston 3 -- Ilya Kovalchuk scored three power-play goals at Atlanta, and Johan Hedberg won his third straight start.

Kovalchuk staked the Thrashers to an early 2-0 lead with his first goal, restored the two-goal lead with 13:40 remaining and turned the game into a rout with a final goal 3 1/2 minutes later that gave him his second hat trick and 11th goal of the season.

Tampa Bay 5, New York Islanders 1 -- Martin St. Louis and Eric Perrin teamed up for the tiebreaking power-play goal in the second period that sent the Lightning to a slump-busting victory at Uniondale, N.Y.

Tampa Bay won for only the second time in six games, with rookie Johan Holmqvist in net for both.

Washington 4, Ottawa 3 -- Alex Ovechkin scored twice to help the Capitals overcome an early three-goal deficit and win in overtime at Washington.

Ovechkin scored a power-play goal with 24 seconds left in regulation to tie it. Chris Clark then scored 1:33 into the extra period.

The Senators have lost four straight to fall to 5-7-1 with 40 goals; at the same point a year ago, Ottawa was 11-2 with 64 goals.

*

Center Mike Comrie, the Phoenix Coyotes’ leading scorer, is expected to have surgery on a broken foot and could sit out at least four weeks.... Columbus defenseman Duvie Westcott will be sidelined six to eight weeks because of a broken joint in his left index finger.