Cechmanek shuts out Islanders in NHL action

Reuters, Uniondale, New York

Roman Cechmanek made 24 saves for his first shutout in almost a year and the Philadelphia Flyers stayed perfect in 2003, blanking the New York Islanders 4-0 in NHL action Thursday night.

The Flyers are 5-0-0 in the new year and won for the 13th time on the road (13-6-3-0), tying the Vancouver Canucks for the most road victories in the league.

Philadelphia also moved four points ahead of New Jersey in the Atlantic Division standings.

Cechmanek's last shutout came Feb. 27, 2002 against New Jersey and it was the 15th of his career.

He faced just 12 shots in the first two periods combined and 12 more in the third.

Pavel Brendl, Jeremy Roenick, Marty Murray and Eric Desjardins scored the goals for the Flyers, who cooled off one of the NHL's hottest teams with the win.

The Islanders had a 6-0-0-1 record in their previous seven games and had moved into eighth spot in the Eastern Conference standings, but Montreal's win over the New York Rangers dropped them back into ninth place.

In Pittsburgh, Nik Antropov scored a goal and added an assist as the Toronto Maple Leafs downed the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-2 for their third straight win.

Toronto was once again playing without its captain Mats Sundin and the Penguins were without NHL scoring leader Mario Lemieux, who missed the game with a groin injury.

Alexander Mogilny, Jyrki Lumme and Travis Green scored the other goals for the Maple Leafs, who moved into fourth place in the Eastern Conference standings after a poor start.

Shean Donovan and Steve McKenna replied for the Penguins, losers of two straight.

In Montreal, Marcel Hossa's power play goal in the third period lifted the Canadiens past the New York Rangers 3-2.

Jocelyn Thibault made 27 saves for the Canadiens, who ended a seven-game winless streak.

Karl Dykhuis with his first of the season and Andrei Markov scored the other Montreal goals.

Matthew Barnaby and Jamie Lundmark replied for the Rangers, who lost for the 11th time in 17 games (4-10-2-1).

In Tampa Bay, Ilya Kovalchuk's second goal of the game with 16 seconds left in overtime gave the Atlanta Thrashers a 3-2 win over the Lightning.

Tony Hrkac scored the other Thrashers goal, as Atlanta ended a four-game winless streak.

Vincent Lecavalier and Dave Andreychuk replied for Tampa Bay.

In Dallas, Pierre Turgeon scored with 17 seconds left in overtime to give the Stars a 4-3 win over the Chicago Blackhawks.

Mike Modano, Bill Guerin and Rob DiMaio scored the other goals for the Stars, who stretched their unbeaten streak to eight games.

In Calgary, Patrick Lalime made 21 saves as the Ottawa Senators blanked the Flames 1-0 on the day the troubled franchise filed for bankruptcy protection.

In Denver, Petr Sykora scored a pair of goals, including the game-winner with 1:18 left in the third period, to lead the Anaheim Mighty Ducks past the Colorado Avalanche 5-3.

In San Jose, Keith Tkachuk scored a pair of goals to lead the St. Louis Blues to a 4-1 win over the slumping Sharks.