NHL : Red-hot Senators stay perfect with win

Antoine Vermette scored the tie-breaking goal early in the third period, Brian Elliott won his NHL debut in goal and the Ottawa Senators remained unbeaten with a 3-1 victory over the winless Atlanta Thrashers on Wednesday night in Atlanta.

Chris Kelly gave the Senators a quick lead, scoring an unassisted goal on the first shot of the game.

Ilya Kovalchuk tied it for Atlanta with his first goal of the season, but Vermette scored the winner with 18 minutes, 18 seconds remaining.

Blue Jackets 3, Coyotes 0: At Columbus, Ohio, Jared Boll scored his first NHL goal and Pascal Leclaire picked up his second straight shutout to lead the Blue Jackets past Phoenix.

Jason Chimera added a goal and two assists.

Islanders 2, Rangers 1: At New York, Bryan Berard broke a second-period tie, and fellow defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron had a goal and assist to lift the Islanders over the Rangers.

Rick DiPietro made 36 saves for the Islanders.

Canadiens 3, Penguins 2: At Pittsburgh, Carey Price made 26 saves in his NHL debut and Tomas Plekanec and Andrei Markov each had a goal and an assist to lead Montreal to a win over the Penguins.

Red Wings 4, Flames 2: At Detroit, Kris Draper’s goal late in the second period broke a tie and guided the Red Wings to a win over Calgary.

Henrik Zetterberg, Tomas Holmstrom, and Mikael Samuelsson also scored for Detroit.

Lightning 2, Panthers 1: At Tampa, Fla., Chris Gratton scored twice and Johan Holmqvist made 30 saves as Tampa Bay beat Florida.

Panthers backup goalie Craig Anderson stopped 21 shots.

Wild 2, Oilers 0: At St. Paul, Minn., Niklas Backstrom made 21 saves for his second shutout of the season in Minnesota’s victory over Edmonton.

Pavol Demitra had a goal and an assist, and Marian Gaborik was credited with two assists.

Stars 5, Kings 1: At Dallas, Niklas Hagman matched his career high with two goals and the Stars beat Los Angeles.

Antti Miettinen, Mike Ribeiro and Joel Lundqvist added goals for Dallas.

Sharks 2, Blackhawks 1: At Chicago, Milan Michalek’s second power-play goal of the game, with 3:31 left in the third period, snapped a tie and lifted San Jose over the Blackhawks.

Blues 4, Predators 1: At St. Louis, Paul Kariya helped beat his old team in the Blues’ home opener, assisting on two first-period goals by Brad Boyes in a victory over Nashville.

“St. Louis rookie defenseman Erik Johnson is day to day with a hairline fracture of his right foot.

Ducks 2, Bruins 1: At Anaheim, Calif., Ryan Getzlaf scored the tying goal and assisted on the winner in the third period, helping the Ducks defeat Boston.

Francois Beauchemin scored with 13:35 remaining in the third.

Flyers 8, Canucks 2: At Vancouver, British Columbia, Mike Richards had four points to help Philadelphia rout the Canucks.

Jeff Carter and R.J Umberger scored 13 seconds apart midway through the first.