ST. PAUL, Minn. — Mikko Koivu’s goal with 3:04 remaining in the game liftedthe Minnesota Wild to a 3-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday night.

With both teams stagnant in the final period, Koivu grabbed the puck out ofthe corner, started like he was going to carry it behind the net and then made alightning quick move to the short side and simply bulled his way out in front.

He stuffed the puck past a surprised Peter Budaj, lifting the Wild to theirseventh win in the first eight games.

Niklas Backstrom made 29 saves and Mark Parrish and Brian Rolston alsoscored for the Wild.

Andrew Brunette and Tyler Arnason scored for the Avalanche, who got 29 savesfrom Budaj.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ryan Kesler scored two goals and goaltender Curtis Sanfordhad a solid game in his first start of the season to lead the Vancouver Canuckspast the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-1 on Sunday night.

Markus Naslund and Kevin Bieksa added goals for the Canucks, who had losttheir last two games. They won despite being outshot 20-0 during one lengthyspan.

Naslund’s goal gave the Canucks some breathing room. Ahead 2-1 and hangingon in the third period, Naslund controlled the puck as he skated down the rightwing and then angled sharply toward the high slot, waiting patiently until heripped a hard wrist shot high into the corner of the net.

Kesler, who played college hockey at Ohio State, stole the puck fromColumbus’ Nikolai Zherdev and scored on a shorthanded empty-netter after theBlue Jackets pulled their goaltender for a two-man advantage with just over aminute remaining.

Kesler stretched his points streak to three games — he had three assists inVancouver’s last two games — when he scored on a wrister from the left circle onthe Canucks’ first shot, 5:39 in. It was just a straightforward rush, with noone in front of the goal, yet it eluded Columbus goaltender Pascal Leclaire.

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SAN JOSE, Calif. — Jeremy Roenick scored a power-play goal early in thesecond period and the San Jose Sharks finally won at home, beating the NashvillePredators 3-0 on Saturday night.

Evgeni Nabokov stopped 22 shots to record his first shutout of the season,and the 35th of his career in the first meeting of the two teams since theSharks eliminated Nashville in the first round of last year’s playoffs.

Patrick Marleau scored his first goal in seven games late in the thirdperiod for the Sharks.

Chris Mason stopped 18 of 20 shots for the Predators, who lost their fifthstraight after opening the season with two victories. Nashville also fell to 0-3on the road.

The Sharks, who were tied in the third period of both of their first twohome games, finally managed to hold the late advantage.

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CALGARY, Alberta — Jarome Iginla scored the go-ahead goal and added twoassists to lead the Calgary Flames to a 4-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers onSaturday night.

Iginla and Daymond Langkow hooked up at 9:21 of the second period to breakopen a 1-1 tie. Langkow carried the puck around the Oilers net and slicklybackhanded a perfect pass onto the stick of Iginla in the slot, and the Flamescaptain snapped a quick shot past goalie Dwayne Roloson.

Iginla extended his point-scoring streak to five games. During that time hehas five goals and 11 points.

Kristian Huselius, Dion Phaneuf, and Adrian Aucoin also scored for Calgary(4-2-2). The Flames have earned points in five straight games (4-0-1) and havebegun a season-long seven-game homestand with two straight wins.

Rookie center Sam Gagner scored his first NHL goal for Edmonton (3-5-0). TheOilers have lost five of their last six after starting the season with a pair ofwins.

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Kirk Maltby scored a pair of second-period goals and theDetroit Red Wings rallied to beat the Phoenix Coyotes 5-2 on Saturday night.

Henrik Zetterberg had a goal and an assist and Jiri Hudler and Brett Lebdaalso scored for the Red Wings, who have won three of their last four.

Zetterberg leads the NHL with 17 points and has at least one point in eachof Detroit’s first nine games, a career-best scoring streak.

Steven Reinprecht and Derek Morris scored for the Coyotes, who lost allthree games of their abbreviated homestand. Phoenix has lost five of six sinceopening the season with a 3-2 home win over St. Louis.

Maltby broke a 2-2 tie with 25.5 seconds left in the second when heone-timed a pass from Zettenberg from the right faceoff circle over MikaelTellqvist’s extended glove.

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ST. LOUIS — Eric Belanger had a goal and an assist, Josh Harding made 33saves and the Minnesota Wild remained the NHL’s only unbeaten team by beatingthe St. Louis Blues 3-1 on Saturday night.

Brent Burns and Pavol Demitra also scored and Pierre-Marc Bouchard had twoassists for the Wild (6-0-1), who have won six of their first seven despite notscoring more than three goals in any game. The only blemish was a shootout lossin Los Angeles on Tuesday.

Steve Wagner scored his first NHL goal for the only tally for St. Louis,which had its four-game winning streak snapped. Martin Rucinsky also had amilestone on that goal, picking up an assist for his 600th career point.

Manny Legace made 31 saves for the Blues.

Minnesota came into the game ranked 29th in the NHL with one goal in 22power-play attempts. But the Wild converted twice with a man advantage and thatwas the difference.

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DALLAS — Mike Ribeiro and Jere Lehtinen each had a goal and an assist tohelp the Dallas Stars beat the Anaheim Ducks 3-1 on Saturday night.

Brenden Morrow added a goal, and Marty Turco made 20 saves as Dallasimproved to 3-0-1 at home.

Chris Pronger scored a power-play goal for the defending Stanley Cupchampion Ducks, winless on the road (0-4-1).

The Stars had been getting off to slow starts, but they reversed that trendwith Morrow’s power-play goal at 2:05 of the opening period. Morrow notched hisfourth of the season from the slot off a centering pass by Ribeiro.

Ribeiro made it 2-0 at 7:48 of the second period, jamming a loose puck pastgoaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere while the Stars had an extra attacker becauseof a delayed penalty on the Ducks.

Lehtinen extended the lead to 3-0 at 10:01 of the second period with hisfirst goal of the season, and at that point, Anaheim coach Randy Carlylereplaced Giguere with Ilya Bryzgalov. Dallas’ Philippe Boucher dumped the puckinto the Anaheim zone and it bounced hard off the end boards and onto the stickof Lehtinen, who fired a shot past Giguere from the inner part of the rightcircle.

Pronger got Anaheim on the board with his first goal of the season at 18:24of the second period while the Ducks held a two-man advantage.

Notes

Stars C Mike Modano remains four points short of matching PhilHousley’s points record of 1,232 for U.S.-born players. Modano has only twopoints in eight games this season. …The Ducks were without injured RW ToddBertuzzi (concussion) and D Mathieu Schneider (ankle). C Todd Marchant was backin the Anaheim lineup after missing two games due to an ankle injury. …Dallasbegan a stretch of 10 of its next 11 games against Pacific Division competition….The Ducks assigned C Petteri Wirtanen to Portland of the AHL. Wirtanen madehis NHL debut on Oct. 17, scoring his first career goal against Nashville. …Turco played in his 325th game for the Stars, tying Jon Casey for third amonggoaltenders in franchise history. Cesare Maniago is the leader with 420 games.

UNIONDALE, N.Y. — Bill Guerin’s power-play goal with 3.7 seconds left inovertime gave the Islanders a 4-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils after NewYork squandered a two-goal lead in the third period Saturday night.

The Islanders captain got to a loose puck in front after it kicked aroundfollowing a shot by Mike Comrie. He smacked it past backup goalie Kevin Weekes,subbing for a rarely rested Martin Brodeur.

Guerin, the fifth overall pick by the Devils in the 1989 draft, scored forthe fourth time in two games for the Islanders, who made him their captainshortly after he signed this summer.

His hat trick Thursday at Washington helped New York snap a two-game losingstreak.

Guerin’s latest goal salvaged this win that seemed secure until the Devilsstaged a third-period rally to wipe out New York’s 3-1 lead.

Josef Vasicek started a three-goal Islanders run in the second period, andMiroslav Satan added his first of the season in the spurt that was capped byMike Comrie’s power-play tally.

Zach Parise scored in the first period and Jay Pandolfo and Brian Gionta gotthe Devils even in the third but New Jersey lost its third in five games.

PHILADELPHIA — Simon Gagne scored his second goal of the game 48 secondsinto overtime and the Philadelphia Flyers won their fifth straight game, 3-2over the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night.

Mike Richards also scored for the Flyers, who won their fourth straight athome. The Flyers had not won five straight games since Dec. 22-29, 2005.

Jason Willliams and Eric Staal scored for the Hurricanes, who had theirthree-game winning streak snapped by Pittsburgh on Friday night.

Gagne stopped a pass from Derian Hatcher with his skate, then snapped thegame-winner into the net. It was his 400th career point.

WASHINGTON — Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins got the better ofAlex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals, just like they always do.

Crosby set up the go-ahead goal on a power play, Ovechkin was held without apoint for the first time this season, and Pittsburgh beat Washington 2-1Saturday night.

The Penguins won for the second night in a row; the Capitals have droppedfour consecutive games after opening the season 3-0.

It was the ninth NHL meeting between two of the league’s young superstars,and the Penguins have won eight. Part of the reason for the success? Ovechkin — who edged Crosby for top rookie honors in 2005-06 — has no goals or assists inthree of the past four games between the teams.

Players and coaches from both sides can talk all they want about how thesecontests are about much more than Sid the Kid and Alexander the Great — a coupleof forwards who both reached 200 points faster than any other active NHLers — but it was clear who the spectators came to see.

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