NHL CAPSULES Wednesday's games



Panthers 4, Rangers 2
NEW YORK -- Ed Belfour made 35 saves and Jozef Stumpel scored two goals to help Florida earn its first road victory of the season. Coming off consecutive losses to Atlanta, the Panthers improved to 1-4-1 on the road and 5-5-1 overall. New York, idle since winning a shootout in Toronto on Saturday night, lost for the fifth time in its last seven games to fall to 4-5-0. Juraj Kolnik and Gregory Campbell also scored for Florida. The 41-year-old Belfour, 2-2-0 in his first season with Florida, allowed Petr Prucha's power-play score early in the second period and Martin Straka's goal off an uncontested close-range shot with 6:50 left in the game. Stumpel opened the scoring with a power-play goal in the first period and sealed the victory with 3:29 remaining with his fifth goal of the season.
Red Wings 2, Sharks 1
DETROIT -- Robert Lang's third-period goal broke a tie and lifted the Red Wings over the Sharks. Detroit (4-4-1), which ended a three-game losing streak, also got a goal and an assist from Mathieu Schneider. Dominik Hasek made 22 saves, including a tip attempt and rebound by Steve Bernier with 37 seconds left and a backhander by Milan Michalek from in close with 30.2 seconds left. Bernier scored the lone goal for San Jose (7-3-0) and gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead. Schneider's power-play goal 38 seconds into the third period tied the game.
Hurricanes 5, Thrashers 4, OT
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Anton Babchuk scored 1:11 into overtime to help the Hurricanes win their first game at home, beating Atlanta. Babchuk took a cross-ice pass from Justin Williams and beat Atlanta goalkeeper Kari Lehtonen with a nifty backhand shot for his first goal of the season. The Hurricanes fell behind 1-0 as Eric Boulton scored 3:14 into the game when he netted a tip-in. Carolina rallied and scored the next three goals to take a 3-1 lead at the end of the first period as Eric Staal, Scott Walker and Andrew Hutchinson scored. Atlanta tied the game in the second period on goals by Jon Sim and Scott Mellanby. Ryan Bayda's first goal of the season didn't stand up for the Hurricanes, whose 4-3 lead in the third period was short-lived. Ilya Kovalchuk tied the game at 4-all when he deflected a shot in the slot from Vitaly Vishnevski with 11:39 left.
Wild 3, Kings 1
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Manny Fernandez made 35 saves and Brian Rolston scored two goals to help the Wild extend their franchise-best start. Rolston scored his team-high seventh and eighth goals of the season, Todd White had a goal and two assists, and Pierre-Marc Bouchard added three assists for the Wild. Northwest Division-leading Minnesota (8-1-0) moved into a tie with Dallas for the Western Conference's best record. Buffalo (9-0-0) is the only team in the NHL with a better mark.
Associated Press
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