NHL: Thomas blanks Maple Leafs 2-0

BOSTON (AP) - Tim Thomas remained unbeaten this season, stopping 20 shots to earn his second shutout and beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-0 on Thursday night.

Rookie Tyler Seguin scored his first goal in front of the Boston crowd, and Patrice Bergeron scored his first of the season for the Bruins. Thomas improved to 5-0 with a 0.60 goals-against average; Tuukka Rask was in goal for the Bruins' only two losses.

Jonas Gustavsson stopped 30 shots for the Maple Leafs.

Seguin was selected second overall in the NHL draft with a pick the Bruins acquired from Toronto for Phil Kessel, who has not scored in seven games against his former team.

Kessel was booed virtually every time he touched the puck. And when Seguin scored, with Kessel on the ice, the sellout crowd broke into a spirited chant of "Thank you, Kessel!"

Wild 2, Capitals 1

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Niklas Backstrom stopped 21 shots, and Minnesota slowed down speedy Washington in a victory over the suddenly punchless Capitals.

Chuck Kobasew got his first goal of the season and Mikko Koivu scored for Minnesota's league-leading power play against Capitals goalie Michal Neuvirth, who wasn't quite as good as he was in a shutout the night before.

Alex Ovechkin scored with 1:36 left, snapping a five-game scoreless streak, but the Capitals were held to a season-low 22 shots on goal after posting at least 33 shots in each of the last five games.

Blues 3, Predators 0

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Jaroslav Halak made 24 saves for his second shutout of the season and 11th overall, and St. Louis handed Nashville its first regulation loss of the season.

Alexander Steen, Patrik Berglund and Matt D'Agostini scored.

Nashville has lost four straight at home, dropping the first three in overtime.

Avalanche 6, Flames 5

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) - Chris Stewart scored three goals for his second NHL hat trick, and Daniel Winnik broke a tie with 2:20 left in Colorado's victory over Calgary.

Stewart has eight goals in 10 games this season. He also had three goals last March against St. Louis.

Brandon Yip and T.J. Galiardi also scored for Colorado, while John-Michael Liles' NHL record for the longest assists streak by a defenseman to begin a season ended at nine. The Avalanche snapped a three-game losing streak to improve to 5-4-1 and ended the Flames' winning streak at three

Niklas Hagman, Tim Jackman, Matt Stajan, Olli Jokinen and Alex Tanguay scored for Calgary.

Kings 5, Stars 2

DALLAS (AP) - Alexei Ponikarovsky and Wayne Simmonds scored 9 seconds apart in the second period, and Jonathan Quick made 30 saves for Los Angeles.

Dustin Brown added a power-play goal, Willie Mitchell scored short-handed, and Jack Johnson had three assists to help the Kings rebound from a 3-1 loss at Chicago on Wednesday night.

Justin Williams added an empty-netter with 1:41 left.

The Kings finished 3-2 on their trip, and have won four straight in Texas while outscoring the Stars 16-5.

Brad Richards and Brandon Segal scored for Dallas.

The crowd was announced at 11,306, the smallest since the Stars moved to Dallas in 1993, and there were really only about 5,000 in the building. Many fans stayed home to watch on TV as the Texas Rangers played Game 2 of the World Series.

Blue Jackets 3, Oilers 2, SO

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Nikita Filatov and Rick Nash scored in the shootout to overshadow Taylor Hall's first NHL goal, leading Columbus past Edmonton.

Hall, the acclaimed No. 1 pick in the June draft, tied it at 9:57 of the third period.

Samuel Pahlsson and Kyle Wilson scored in regulation for the Blue Jackets, who have won three in a row and five of six. Steve Mason made 25 saves. Shawn Horcoff also scored for Edmonton. The Oilers have lost six in a row and are 2-23-3 in their last 28 road games dating to mid-December of last season.

The game was played before 9,128 fans, the smallest crowd to watch the Blue Jackets at home.

Coyotes 4, Red Wings 2

DETROIT (AP) - Ilya Bryzgalov made 43 saves and Lauri Korpikoski scored twice in the Phoenix Coyotes' 4-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night.

Radim Vrbata and Keith Yandle also scored for Phoenix.

Johan Franzen and Tomas Holmstrom scored for Detroit, and Chris Osgood stopped 32 shots.

Senators 5, Panthers 3

OTTAWA (AP) - Milan Michalek, Mike Fisher and Daniel Alfredsson each had a goal and an assist, and Zack Smith and Alex Kovalev also scored to help Ottawa win consecutive games for the first time this season.

Brian Elliott stopped 28 shots in his sixth straight start for the Senators.

Bryan McCabe, Chris Higgins and Mike Santorelli scored for Florida.