The decisive goal was scored by Ilya Kovalchuk in a shootout last night to give the Thrashers a 3-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens.

Ilya Kovalchuk put a shot past the Canadiens rookie Carey Price on the Thrashers’ 3rd attempt, and Atlanta goalie Johan Hedberg forced Kovalev to shoot wide. Each team scored in the 2nd round after neither of them scored in the 1st one. The Canadiens forced overtime after Higgins scored on a power play with only two minutes remaining in regulation.

The Coyotes scored two times in the final 8 minutes to earn a comeback victory at home. Zigomanis tied the score with seven minutes remaining and Sjostrom scored the winner on a wraparound shot with 3 minutes left. After no goals in the first and second period, Brad Boyes scored his 9th goal in ten matches to give the St. Louis Blues a lead.

Evgeni Malkin from the Pittsburgh Penguins had 2 goals and one assist and Sidney Crosby added one goal and 3 assists for visiting Penguins.

Sidney Crosby assisted on a power-play goal by Sykora that broke a 2-2 tie midway through the 3rd period, and then scored less than 5 minutes later.

The Minnesota Wild was without two forwards Demitra and Gaborik and goalie Backstrom because of their injuries.

In other NHL matches, Filppula scored with twenty-five seconds left to give the Red Wings a 2-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers; and Jarome Iginla scored 2 goals to help the Calgary Flames defeat the visiting Nashville Predators, 5-1.

Simon Gagné from the Philadelphia Flyers has not played for the team since he experienced dizziness after colliding with the Panthers defenseman Jay Bouwmeester in last Wednesday’s match.

Jaromir Jagr scored with only 9:15 remaining yesterday night to help the Rangers to a 3-1 win over Tampa Bay. Former Wing Shanahan connected for another power-play goal a couple of minutes later, with assists from Jaromir Jagr and Chris Drury, to seal the Rangers’ 2nd win in 7 matches (2-4-1). Dawes scored the 1st for New York, who have an NHL-low ninteen goals in eleven games. Lecavalier scored his 9th on a 2nd-period penalty shot for Tampa Bay– 5-0-1 at home, 0-4 on the road.

The Edmonton Oilers beat the defending Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks 3-2 Sunday night for the 1st time since Penner’s away from Anaheim with a 5-year, $21.25 million offer sheet that Brian Burke declined to match. This move triggered a public spat between the two general managers, who have not spoken to each other since. Penner, who left the Ducks as a restricted free agent after his rookie season, didn’t receive a warm welcome from the crowd of over seventeen thousand fans. In other National Hockey League games, it was Detroit 3, Vancouver 2; and Colorado 3, Minnesota 1.

It seems that a new exciting and prosperous new chapter for the NHL Players’ Association has begun. Boston lawyer Paul Kelly, 52, was formally introduced as the union’s new executive director at a news conference yesterday. Paul Kelly is going to replace Ted Saskin. The latter was fired in May amid allegations he ordered the spying of NHLPA player e-mails in the midst of a player uprising against his leadership. A 5-player search committee got help from a Chicago search firm and interviewed a long list of candidates before Paul Kelly was recommended.

Fleury stopped 36 shots in another fierce start last night, and the Penguins won their 3^rd consecutive game by handing the New York Rangers their 2nd 1-0 loss in a row. It marked the 1st ever time in the team’s history that the New York Rangers, who have thirteen goals in 8 matches, have suffered back-to-back 1-0 loss. Malkin scored a power-play goal in the 2nd against Lundqvist, who made a succession of excellent saves while stopping twenty-one shots. The best came on Staal’s penalty shot less than one minute after Evgeni Malkin’s goal.

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