St. Louis Rookie Makes Record Book With Win

Rookie goalie Brent Johnson tied a St. Louis record with his seventh consecutive win, and Dallas Drake scored twice as the Blues stayed unbeaten at home with a 4-1 victory Saturday night over the Buffalo Sabres.

Johnson, who made 20 saves to lower his goals-against-average to 1.14, has won all of his starts. The streak matched three other Blues goalies. Jamie McLennan was the last to do it from Feb. 5-March 9, 1998.

Drake doubled his scoring output to four goals for the season and Sean Hill scored his first goal for the Blues. Pavol Demitra added an empty-net goal.

Pierre Turgeon assisted on both of Drake’s goals, giving him 18 points in his last 13 games.

Nashville 3, Detroit 2--Kimmo Timonen scored a power-play goal as he slid along the ice and Cliff Ronning had a pair of assists to leading the Predators to a victory over the Red Wings at Nashville.

Timonen broke a 2-2 tie 43 seconds into the second period. He took Ronning’s cross-ice pass in the left circle and pushed a wrist shot underneath Chris Osgood. Timonen fell and was sliding toward the left post as the puck went in.

Philadelphia 5, Washington 3--Justin Williams and Simon Gagne had two goals and an assist each as the Flyers beat the Capitals at Philadelphia for their fifth consecutive victory.

Steve Konowalchuk scored all three goals for the Capitals, who have yet to win two games in a row this season.

Toronto 6, Montreal 1--Jonas Hoglund scored three times for his first career hat trick and Curtis Joseph stopped 31 shots in the Maple Leafs’ easy win over the hapless Canadiens at Montreal.

Hoglund, who signed with Toronto in the summer of 1999 after spending a little more than one season with Montreal, scored twice in the first period to put the Maple Leafs ahead 2-1.

Ottawa 5, Florida 2--Marian Hossa scored three goals, two short-handed and one on the power play, to lead the Senators past the Panthers at Kanata, Canada.

Radek Bonk had a short-handed and Shawn McEachern also scored for the Senators.

Pittsburgh 3, Atlanta 1--Martin Straka and Jan Hrdina scored third-period goals as the Penguins ended the Thrashers’ seven-game road unbeaten streak (3-0-4) at Pittsuburgh.

Minnesota 6, Boston 1--Lubomir Sekeras and Maxim Sushinsky each scored twice and the Wild, who failed on 46 consecutive power plays on the road, had four man-advantage goals at Boston.

San Jose 5, New York Islanders 3--Owen Nolan, playing for the first time in three weeks after suffering a strained abdominal muscle, scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period in the Sharks’ win at San Jose.

New Jersey 3, Carolina 2--Patrik Elias scored with 39.5 seconds remaining in overtime to lift the Devils to a victory at East Rutherford, N.J.

New York Rangers 5, Calgary 4--Valeri Kamensky scored with 2:44 remaining in overtime to give the Rangers the road victory at Calgary.

Around the League

New York Islander defenseman Kenny Jonsson stepped down as the team’s captain before the game against San Jose. . . . The Sharks also activated defenseman Marcus Ragnarsson.