Philadelphia Flyers' Jiri Dopita, right, is congratulated by teammates Keith Primeau, center, and Kim Johnsson after scoring his fourth goal of the game. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        PHILADELPHIA — Jiri Dopita scored four goals — a first this season in the NHL — to tie a team record as the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Atlanta Thrashers 7-4 Tuesday night to take over first place in the Atlantic Division.

        Dopita, who also had an assist, is playing in his first NHL season after leading his team to five league championships in the Czech Republic. He had scored only two goals in his previous 25 games with the Flyers.

        The goals tied a franchise record reached 14 times, most recently by John LeClair in 1998.

        LeClair and Justin Williams added a goal and two assists each for the Flyers, who won their fourth straight home game and moved past the idle New York Rangers into the top spot in the division for the first time this season.

        Ruslan Fedotenko added a goal and an assist.

        Ilya Kovalchuk scored two goals and Lubos Bartecko and Patrik Stefan had the others for the Thrashers, who dropped their fifth straight.

        Bruins 3, Penguins 2

        PITTSBURGH — Boston's top line of Sergei Samsonov, Joe Thornton and Glen Murray each scored a goal and the Bruins beat Pittsburgh for their eighth victory in 10 games.

        Samsonov, who had a goal and two assists, scored the game-winner at 8:14 of the third period in a game that began as a shootout but settled into a defensive struggle.

        Pittsburgh, now a season-high five games under .500 at 15-20-5-2, are 2-9-2 in their last 13 and are in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 1990 unless Mario Lemieux can lead a second-half comeback.

        Lemieux, out since Nov. 14 with an injured hip, is expected back Saturday.

        Kris Beech and Jan Hrdina scored for Pittsburgh.

        Maple Leafs 4, Predators 3

        TORONTO — Mats Sundin scored twice as Toronto rallied past Nashville.

        Sundin tied the game at 3 with his 24th goal of the season at 9:08 of the third, and gave Toronto the win with his 25th at 13:49.

        Sundin, enjoying a career season, is second in the league in goals scored.

        Tie Domi and Dmitry Yushkevich also scored for the Maple Leafs, who beat the Predators for the first time since their inception in 1998-89 (1-2-1).

        Martin Erat, Vitali Yachmenev and Greg Classen scored for the Predators, who are 1-12-1 in their last 14 road games.

        Flames 5, Islanders 2

        UNIONDALE, N.Y. — Jarome Iginla had a goal and two assists and goalie Roman Turek stopped 35 shots as Calgary beat New York.

        Chris Clark added a goal and an assist, and Clarke Wilm, Dean McAmmond and rookie defenseman Steve Montador also scored for Calgary, which has won eight straight meetings between the two teams.

        New York's last win was a 3-1 home victory on Dec. 3, 1996.

        Michael Peca and Shawn Bates scored for the Islanders.

        Chris Osgood started in net for New York, but was relieved by Garth Snow at the start of the second period.

        Sabres 3, Canucks 2

        BUFFALO, N.Y. — Vaclav Varada scored twice as Buffalo won consecutive games for the first time in more than a month, beating Vancouver.

        Tim Connolly scored the eventual game-winner and goaltender Martin Biron stopped 27 shots to record his first home victory since Nov. 23 and second win in his last 11 appearances.

        Brendan Morrison and Todd Bertuzzi scored for the Canucks.

        Stars 2, Lightning 1

        TAMPA, Fla. — Marty Turco won his seventh straight decision, and Joe Nieuwendyk and Mike Modano scored 33 seconds apart early in the third period as Dallas beat Tampa Bay.

        Turco made 34 saves and is 7-0-0 with one no decision in his past eight starts. He lost his shutout bid when Dave Andreychuk scored with 46.2 seconds left in the game.

        Dallas is 10-2-1 in its past 13 road games.

        Blues 6, Sharks 2

        SAN JOSE, Calif. — Dallas Drake scored twice in the first period and St. Louis went on to trounce San Jose.

        Keith Tkachuk, Scott Young, Pavol Demitra and Chris Pronger also scored for the Blues, who extended their winning streak to three games by dominating every phase of the contest.

        Owen Nolan and Scott Thornton scored for the Sharks, who had their three-game winning streak stopped.

        Left winger Sergei Varlamov was unsuccessful on St. Louis' first penalty shot of the year.

        Wild 4, Canadiens 2

        ST. PAUL, Minn. — Wes Walz had two goals, one short-handed, as Minnesota beat Montreal in coach Jacques Lemaire's 600th game as an NHL coach.

        The Canadiens climbed within 3-2 in the third period when Shaun Van Allen took a pass from Joe Juneau from the bottom of the left circle and spun around to shoot it past Manny Fernandez at 2:16.

        But Minnesota's Sergei Zholtok padded the lead at 8:50 of the third.

        Antti Laaksonen also scored for the Wild.

        Andrei Markov had the other Montreal goal.

Sports Stories

At last, RedHawks come home Miami's Cousino honored No. 8 Wildcats look to rebound vs. Georgia Indiana's 3s blast No. 25 Michigan St. Cincy ATP mulls cutting purse Dopita scores four goals Jordan, Wizards top Clippers Recreation notes Coming up this week

Bearcats roll on, win 14th in a row
UC notebook
Women: Syracuse 70, Cincinnati 68
Rams see how other half lives
Bengals to draft in 10th position
Bengals Q&A with Mark Curnutte
Saints, Falcons, Texans new foes on 2002 schedule
Colts fire Mora after 6-10 season
Ozzie makes Hall; can Larkin?
Reds sign Casey, but talks with Harnisch fail
Road to Hall could be uphill for Larkin
Baseball notebook
Woodward rallies to top Mt. Healthy
Gallatin County holds off Williamstown 64-60
Boys basketball roundup
Ohio girls basketball roundup