Goalie Mike Smith won his fourth straight start for Tampa Bay, a winner in seven straight against the Thrashers and two of three overall.

Stamkos, who last season tied Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby for the NHL lead with 51 goals, made it 3-0 on a power play, scoring on a slap shot with 2:10 left in the first period.

Stamkos’s unassisted wrister from the right circle put Tampa Bay up, 4-1, with 2:38 left in the second.

He added his sixth assist of the season on Brett Clark’s second goal, a wrister on the power play that gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead 3:10 into the opening period.

Stamkos scored an empty-netter with 32 seconds remaining, his eighth goal of the season.

Jim Slater’s first goal cut the lead to 3-1 for Atlanta 8:07 into the second period. The Thrashers have lost two straight.

Flames 6, Blue Jackets 2 — Rene Bourque scored three goals and added an assist and Henrik Karlsson stopped 20 shots in his NHL debut to lead Calgary past host Columbus.

Niklas Hagman, Ian White, and Alex Tanguay also scored for the Flames. Jarome Iginla had three assists and Olli Jokinen, Matt Stajan, and Robyn Regehr each added two assists.

Derek Dorsett and Jan Hejda had goals for Columbus, beaten badly for the second time in games at Nationwide Arena.

Senators 4, Sabres 2 — Daniel Alfredsson had his eighth career hat trick and reached 1,000th NHL points, and Brian Elliott made 34 saves for visiting Ottawa.

Elliott improved to 9-0-0 against the Sabres, and Alfredsson notched the milestone point with an empty-net goal with 22 seconds left to help the Senators win for the first time in five tries this season on the road.

Ryan Shannon also scored for Ottawa (2-4-1), which came in with an NHL-low 3 points.

Blues 4, Blackhawks 2 — Roman Polak broke a third-period tie, and David Perron scored twice for host St. Louis.

Patrik Berglund also scored, T.J. Oshie had two assists, and Jaroslav Halak stopped 23 shots as the Blues avenged a 3-2 overtime loss in Chicago Monday night.

Patrick Sharp and Brent Seabrook scored for the Blackhawks.

Canucks 5, Wild 1 — Manny Malhotra had two goals and an assist and rookie backup Cory Schneider made 23 saves in host Vancouver’s victory over Minnesota.

Raffi Torres, Ryan Kesler and Jeff Tambellini also scored, and Jannik Hansen added two assists to help the Canucks avenge a 6-2 loss in Minnesota Tuesday night.