COLUMBUS, Ohio — Vincent Lecavalier stole the puck from goaltender Marc Denis and scored on a wraparound with 3:48 remaining as the Tampa Bay Lightning remained perfect with a 1-0 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night.
John Grahame stopped 20 shots for his seventh career shutout in his first start of the season.
The Lightning (5-0) have not given up more than two goals in a game and have outscored their opponents 17-6 this season. It is the best start in their 12-year history.
Denis finished with 27 saves for Columbus, which lost its third game in a row.
CANADIENS 3, ISLANDERS 0: At Montreal, Jose Theodore posted his second shutout of the season, and Yanic Perreault, Marcel Hossa and Andreas Dackell scored to lead Montreal over New York. Theodore stopped 34 shots for his 19th career shutout. He has allowed three goals in five games. Montreal has not allowed opponents more than one goal in six games since a season-opening 5-2 loss in Ottawa.
THRASHERS 4, PREDATORS 2: At Atlanta, Ilya Kovalchuk scored three goals, raising his NHL-leading total to nine, and Atlanta stayed unbeaten at home. Kovalchuk scored into an empty net with a minute left, completing his second hat trick in three games. Atlanta has not yet lost in regulation, falling only to Tampa Bay in overtime on Tuesday. Nashville's Jordin Tootoo, the first person of Inuit descent to play in the NHL, scored his first career goal to give the Predators a 2-0 lead just 5 1/2 minutes into the first period. But for the second time in two games, Atlanta rallied from a two-goal deficit, this time with three goals in 3 1/2 minutes.
HURRICANES 2, BRUINS 0: At Boston, Eric Staal scored his first NHL goal and Kevin Weekes made 18 saves as Carolina earned its first victory this season. Carolina (1-2-3) hadn't won since March 12, going 0-11-5 in that span — dating to last season. The Hurricanes were the last NHL team to win this season.
Staal, the No. 2 overall pick in this year's draft, scored on the Hurricanes' second shot of the game. Jeff O'Neill scored at 12:47 of the third period.
Boston had a four-game winning streak and five-game unbeaten streak snapped.
Andrew Raycroft made 30 saves for the Bruins (4-2-2) and has only allowed six goals in four starts.
SENATORS 5, CAPITALS 1: At Ottawa, Marian Hossa had a goal and an assist as Ottawa broke the game open in the third period and beat Washington. Radek Bonk, Bryan Smolinski, Daniel Alfredsson and Zdeno Chara also scored for the Senators. Martin Havlat had two assists in his first game since the restricted free agent signed a one-year contract.
Patrick Lalime made 17 saves.
Peter Bondra scored for the Capitals, who are winless in their last six games (0-5-1). Olaf Kolzig stopped 22 shots before being replaced by Sebastien Charpentier.
AVALANCHE 6, OILERS 1: At Denver, Peter Forsberg scored three goals, and Milan Hejduk added a goal and two assists as Colorado ended a two-game losing streak with a victory over Edmonton. The hat trick was the seventh of Forsberg's career and gave him 202 career goals. Forsberg has scored 20 times against Edmonton, his highest total against any team.
Adam Foote and Dan Hinote added goals for the Avalanche, who were beaten by the Oilers 6-3 on Oct. 18.