Canadiens bring down Avalanche
Sheldon Souray had two goals and two assists and Chris Higgins scored Montreal's fourth power-play goal midway through the third, leading the Canadiens to an 8-5 win over visiting Colorado in Avalanche goalie Jose Theodore's return to the Bell Centre.
Higgins scored his fifth of the season 10:55 into the third, tapping a loose puck behind Theodore and over the goal line to put Montreal ahead, 6-5.
The sold-out crowd of 21,273 chanted "Theo! Theo!" after Alex Kovalev scored his third of the season at 12:48, then cheered loudly once again as Mike Johnson made it a three-goal lead at 13:54.
Craig Rivet came out of the penalty box and beat Theodore on a breakaway earlier in the period to give Montreal its first lead at 5-4.
Penguins 5, Blue Jackets 3 -- Evgeni Malkin scored for the third straight game, leading host Pittsburgh over Columbus.
Malkin, the highly touted Russian rookie, scored on a wrist shot midway through the third period to put Pittsburgh ahead, 4-2.
The Penguins got two shorthanded goals from 18-year-old Jordan Staal, their first-round draft pick in June. Michel Ouellet and Sergei Gonchar scored the first two goals for Pittsburgh, and Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 36 shots.
Rangers 5, Maple Leafs 4 -- Brendan Shanahan scored the only goal of the shootout and added his eighth goal of the season in regulation to lead New York to victory in Toronto.
Nigel Dawes, Michael Nylander, and Jason Ward also scored for the Rangers, who avoided their fifth loss in six games.
Senators 8, Devils 1 -- Antoine Vermette and Dean McAmmond each scored two goals to help Ottawa rout New Jersey for its first victory in six homes games this season.
Jason Spezza added a goal and two assists, and Dany Heatley, Joe Corvo, and Tom Preissing also scored for the Senators.
Canucks 4, Predators 3 -- Lukas Krajicek's first goal of the season lifted Vancouver to an overtime victory in Nashville.
Krajicek took a shot from the left circle that went over the glove and shoulder of Nashville goalie Tomas Vokoun 2:32 into the extra period.
Islanders 4, Hurricanes 3 -- Tom Poti scored New York's third power-play goal 23 seconds into overtime, capping the Islanders' rally in a victory over Carolina in Uniondale, N.Y.
Poti, a defenseman who assisted on two other goals, snapped a shot from inside the blue line that passed through a screen by Mike Sillinger and found the net behind John Grahame.
Lightning 6, Capitals 4 -- Martin St. Louis and Nikita Alexeev scored 22 seconds apart during a three-goal second period that carried visiting Tampa Bay past Washington.
Alexeev had two goals, and Vincent Lecavalier, Andreas Karlsson, and Brad Richards also scored for Tampa Bay.
Blues 4, Blackhawks 3 -- Lee Stempniak scored twice and assisted on Petr Cajanek's tiebreaking goal early in the third period to help visiting St. Louis beat Chicago.
Cajanek converted a rebound of Stempniak's shot from the slot 2:57 into the third to snap a 3-3 tie. Stempniak had his first 3-point game in the NHL.
Thrashers 4, Panthers 2 -- Ilya Kovalchuk broke out of his slump with two goals, Marian Hossa scored on a penalty shot, and host Atlanta kept up the best start in franchise history.
J.P. Vigier also scored and Kari Lehtonen turned aside 18 shots in the Thrashers' win, their sixth in the first eight games.
