Knuble, Flyers foil Crosby
Sidney Crosby scored twice 44 seconds apart early in the third period in his first game since being left off Canada's Olympic team, but Mike Knuble and Peter Forsberg scored two late goals to rally Philadelphia past the Penguins, 5-4, last night in Pittsburgh after the Flyers blew a three-goal lead.
Forsberg scored twice and Simon Gagne got his 25th goal and an assist as the Flyers avoided their second loss of the season to Pittsburgh.
Crosby, 18, a somewhat surprising Olympics omission despite his age and relative lack of international experience, insisted he wouldn't be trying to send a message to Team Canada. But he looked to be motivated from the start, making several exceptional passes that didn't result in goals.
The Penguins were down, 3-0, before going ahead, 4-3, on Crosby's two goals and an assist but Marc-Andre Fleury let in two 1:10 apart to decide it.
After Forsberg beat him with a shot that appeared to hit off Fleury's chest and trickle between his pads at 15:27 to tie it, Knuble won it at 16:37.
Senators 4, Islanders 2 -- Backup Ray Emery stopped 25 shots, and rookie Patrick Eaves was one of four Ottawa players to score against Rick DiPietro to lift the Senators past host New York.
Eaves, the former Boston College standout, scored his fourth goal. Zdeno Chara, Andrej Meszaros, and Dany Heatley also scored for the Senators.
Capitals 4, Canadiens 2 -- Rookie sensation Alexander Ovechkin scored his 20th goal of the season and Jeff Halpern had three assists in host Washington's victory over Montreal.
Ovechkin capitalized on Halpern's third assist of the third period and gave the Capitals a 4-2 lead with 6:15 remaining.
Red Wings 3, Blackhawks 2 -- Pavel Datsyuk scored a power-play goal with one second left in overtime to boost Detroit over host Chicago.
Nicklas Lidstrom and Kris Draper scored in the final 39 seconds of regulation, with Detroit goalie Chris Osgood on the bench for an extra attacker, to erase a 2-0 deficit.
Blues 2, Sharks 1 -- Petr Cajanek scored the winning goal in the first extra round of the shootout to give visiting St. Louis a victory over San Jose.
Blues center Doug Weight and Sharks winger Jonathan Cheechoo scored in the regulation round of the tiebreaker, setting up Cajanek's winning try. Nils Ekman was then unable to force a fifth round for the Sharks.
Coyotes 3, Stars 2 -- Shane Doan and Dave Scatchard made the most of Phoenix's only shots in the third period, scoring 22 seconds apart to rally the Coyotes past host Dallas.
Predators 5, Blue Jackets 4 -- Paul Kariya had assists on three of Nashville's four first-period goals, and the Predators hung on to beat host Columbus for their fifth straight win.
Flames 6, Canucks 5 -- Steven Reinprecht scored two goals in regulation and another in the shootout to lift Calgary over host Vancouver. Tony Amonte clinched the shootout win by scoring in the third round against Alex Auld.
Sabres 4, Lightning 1 -- Ryan Miller made 30 saves, and Henrik Tallinder had a goal and an assist to lead visiting Buffalo over Tampa Bay.
Hurricanes 4, Panthers 3 -- Justin Williams and Rod Brind'Amour scored third-period goals to help host Carolina shake off a miserable night on the power play -- 1 for 15 -- and beat Florida to complete a 5-0 homestand.
Thrashers 1, Devils 0 -- Rookie Michael Garnett stopped 29 shots to record his first NHL shutout and Marian Hossa scored on a power play in the second period to lift visiting Atlanta past New Jersey.
Wild 5, Avalanche 3 -- Todd White and Marian Gaborik scored 26 seconds apart and host Minnesota netted three goals in the final 5:12 to rally past Colorado.
Oilers 5, Kings 3 -- Ales Hemsky scored the winning goal off his foot and host Edmonton won its fifth straight by scoring three third-period goals in a win over Los Angeles.
