Sabres Still Unbeaten

Maxim Afinogenov had a goal and two assists, and Thomas Vanek had a goal and an assist to help the Buffalo Sabres remain unbeaten and set a franchise record with their 12th consecutive regular-season victory, 5-4, over the visiting Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night.

The Sabres, who are off to a 7-0 start, surpassed the 11-game winning streak that began at the end of the 1974-75 season. They are one game from matching their best start ever, set in 1975.

Buffalo hasn’t lost a regular-season game since April 7, against Philadelphia.

Vanek’s quick shot from the slot squirted through goalie Cam Ward’s legs with 6 1/2 minutes to play and gave the Sabres a 4-3 lead. Jaroslav Spacek made it 5-3 nearly two minutes later.

Vancouver 3, St. Louis 2 -- Sami Salo scored with less than a second left in overtime to lead the visiting Canucks. Markus Naslund of the Canucks tied the score with a power-play goal with 25 seconds left in regulation.

The clock showed 0:00 after Salo scored and the Blues refused to leave the ice for about two minutes. The referees reviewed the goal, determining it came before time expired.

Dallas 5, Chicago 4 -- Philippe Boucher scored with 39 seconds left in regulation for the host Stars, who rallied from a two-goal deficit in the third period to match the best start in franchise history.

Mike Ribeiro of the Stars (6-1) tied the score at 4-4 with 1:14 left from the slot off Niklas Hagman’s centering pass.

The Stars continued their dominance over Chicago, improving to 13-0-1 in their last 14 meetings.

Florida 3, Philadelphia 2 -- Olli Jokinen scored the decisive goal late in the second period at Sunrise, Fla., and the Panthers started the season 4-0 at home for the first time since 1995-96, when they made it to the Stanley Cup finals. It was the Flyers’ fifth consecutive loss.

Toronto 4, Columbus 2 -- Kyle Wellwood and Michael Peca, playing in his 700th game, scored 34 seconds apart in the second period to lead the Maple Leafs at Columbus, Ohio.

*

Flyers center Peter Forsberg will be sidelined at least a week after he sprained his left wrist during Thursday night’s 4-1 loss to Tampa Bay. He had an MRI and is wearing a splint.