Lightning snap nine-game skid

St. Louis leads way against Canadiens

Martin St. Louis scored twice, Vincent Lecavalier had a goal and an assist, and the Tampa Bay Lightning ended a nine-game losing streak with a 3-1 win over the Canadiens last night in Montreal.

Olaf Kolzig made 31 saves for the Lightning, who were 0-7-2 since beating Nashville Nov. 21, their only other win in 16 games.

Patrice Brisebois scored a power-play goal early in the first for Montreal, which fell to 4-1-1 on its franchise-record seven-game homestand.

Lecavalier assisted on St. Louis's tying goal midway through the first before adding his 12th of the season moments later to put the Lightning up, 2-1.

St. Louis increased the lead to two in the second with a shorthanded effort that gave him 10 tallies this season.

Tampa Bay is 2-7-4 since interim coach Rick Tocchet took over for Barry Melrose, who was fired Nov. 14 after the Lightning started 5-7-4. Melrose, who will return to ESPN in January as a hockey analyst, ripped his former team Tuesday on a Toronto sports radio station. "I hope Tampa Bay doesn't win a game in the next year," Melrose said.

"We don't really listen to what he says anymore," Lecavalier said. "He said it when he got fired, and he said it again a couple of weeks after, so we don't really pay attention to that. We have great players here, a great coaching staff with Rick Tocchet, [Mike] Sullivan, and [Wes] Walz, and we're going forward."

Flyers 6, Hurricanes 5 - Scott Hartnell had a hat trick and Philadelphia staged its biggest comeback in 20 years by erasing a four-goal deficit in the third period and beating visiting Carolina in a shootout.

Hartnell scored twice on second shots in the third period to complete his fourth NHL hat trick. Scottie Upshall made it 5-4, and Simon Gagne tied it with 1:44 left in regulation. Jeff Carter had two assists for the Flyers.

Gagne and Mike Richards scored the only goals in the shootout, and the Flyers matched their biggest comeback since Feb. 23, 1988, when they wiped out a 5-1 deficit against Detroit and won, 11-6. The Flyers forced the tiebreaker by pushing four rebound shots past Carolina goalie Michael Leighton in the third. Hartnell scored on putback shots at 1:42 and 7:12.

Penguins 9, Islanders 2 - Petr Sykora ended the longest streak (38 games) in NHL history without a hat trick by a player who had scored two goals in a game and paced host Pittsburgh to a rout of New York.

Pascal Dupuis also had his first career hat trick, Evgeni Malkin had a goal and an assist, and Sidney Crosby set up three goals in Pittsburgh's first nine-goal game since Feb. 7, 2001. Pittsburgh had lost its previous three. The Islanders allowed nine goals for the first time since Dec. 19, 2005, against Toronto.

Kings 6, Blues 2 - Dustin Brown scored three goals for his first NHL hat trick, Anze Kopitar had two goals and an assist, and host Los Angeles dropped St. Louis.

Brown, who ended an eight-game goal drought, scored twice in a 72-second span during power plays in the second period. The Kings' captain netted his third of the game and ninth of the season with 7:15 remaining when he redirected a shot by Jarret Stoll (three assists).

Sharks 2, Ducks 0 - Evgeni Nabokov made 31 saves in his first shutout of the season, and captain Patrick Marleau had a goal and an assist in host San Jose's 10th win in 11 games.

Devin Setoguchi scored his team-high 14th goal for the NHL-leading Sharks, who opened a gaping 13-point advantage atop the Pacific Division standings over the second-place Ducks with Nabokov's 41st career shutout.

Blue Jackets 2, Predators 1 - Jake Voracek scored the decisive goal in the shootout and Steve Mason stopped 25 shots through overtime to lift host Columbus.

In the second round of the shootout, Columbus's Rick Nash and Nashville's Vernon Fiddler scored. Voracek then slid a backhander between Dan Ellis's pads before Mason blocked Martin Erat's forehand shot.

Coyotes 3, Wild 1 - Olli Jokinen scored for the third time in two games since returning from a shoulder injury and host Phoenix snapped an eight-game losing streak against Minnesota.

Panthers 2, Oilers 0 - Craig Anderson stopped 41 shots for his third shutout of the season and Florida won its second in a row to start a five-game road trip.