By The Associated Press

Mike Dunham turned away most of his former Nashville teammates, and even stopped the guy he was traded for on a penalty shot.

Dunham, playing his first game in Nashville since being traded to New York, made 28 saves, and the Rangers scored three goals in a 21/2-minute span late in the first period in a 4-2 victory Thursday night.

New York beat the Predators for the first time since Jan. 31, 2000, a span of four games, despite being outshot 30-23. Tom Poti had a goal and an assist, and Petr Nedved had two assists as the Rangers won their second straight and fifth in their last six games. They also have won four straight on the road.

John Tripp and Jamie Lundmark also scored for New York.

The Rangers could've fallen behind just 4:35 in when Rem Murray, sent to Nashville from New York in the Dec. 12 deal, was awarded a penalty shot. Dunham turned it aside at the left post.

"I thought about that once I saw who was shooting. I'm sure it looks good," Dunham said of the trade. "Fortunately, I came out on the top side that time."

In other NHL games, it was Ottawa 3, Atlanta 3; St. Louis 3, Chicago 3; Boston 4, Pittsburgh 1; Phoenix 7, Calgary 1; Colorado 5, Columbus 0; and Minnesota 2, Los Angeles 1.

Dunham wasn't too sentimental about his return, displaying a similar demeanor to Rangers coach Bryan Trottier. He was the enemy at Nassau Coliseum on Tuesday night in his first game as head coach against the Islanders, the team he starred for.

"I'm a New York Ranger and coming in here we needed to get some points," Dunham said. "We're two points out of the playoff spot. We had a big game on Long Island the other night, and we needed to come in here and play well."

Dunham was only beaten by Scott Hartnell and Karlis Skrastins, who brought Nashville to 3-2.

"Mike is a good goalie, and if you make it easy on him, he'll stop the first shot every time," said Tomas Vokoun, the Predators' new No. 1 goalie. "Not that we didn't make it easy. We didn't make it tough."

Blues 3, Blackhawks 3

At Chicago, Dallas Drake scored St. Louis' third goal in a 16-minute span of the third period as the Blues rallied from a three-goal deficit.

Eric Daze scored to give Chicago a three-goal cushion early in the final period, but the Blues are the NHL's most potent third-period team.

Alexander Khavanov and Al MacInnis also scored for St. Louis.

Andrei Nikolishin and Sergei Berezin scored for the Blackhawks.

Senators 3, Thrashers 3

At Atlanta, Brad Tapper scored with 3:49 left in regulation and Atlanta atoned for its worst loss of the season.

The Thrashers, who came in with the fewest points in the league, battled back from three one-goal deficits to tie the NHL's best team. Three weeks earlier, the Senators routed Atlanta 8-1 at the Corel Centre.

The Thrashers, 3-1-1 under new coach Bob Hartley, also got goals from Slava Kozlov and Tony Hrkac.

Anton Volchenkov, Daniel Alfredsson and Todd White scored for the Senators.

Bruins 4, Penguins 1

At Pittsburgh, Glen Murray scored twice and set up another goal against his former team.

Mike Knuble and Brian Rolston also scored to help Boston end a five-game road losing streak.

With Jeff Hackett on the way after being acquired from Montreal in a three-team trade, Andrew Raycroft turned aside 35 shots for his fifth career victory.

Milan Kraft scored for Pittsburgh, ending the Penguins' scoreless streak at 158 minutes, 42 seconds.

Coyotes 7, Flames 1

At Calgary, Alberta, rookie Ramzi Abid scored twice during Phoenix's four-goal first period that sent the Coyotes to a victory over Calgary.

Abid's second two-goal game of the season gave him six goals in 18 games.

Ossi Vaananen, Daymond Langkow, Daniel Briere, Shane Doan and Paul Mara also scored for the Coyotes, 8-0-2 in Calgary since Oct. 30, 1997. Since moving from Winnipeg, the Coyotes are 18-3-4 against the Flames.

Chris Drury scored the lone goal for Calgary, which had its three-game unbeaten string snapped.

Avalanche 5, Blue Jackets 0

At Denver, Derek Morris, Steven Reinprecht and Adam Foote scored power-play goals as Colorado snapped a five-game winless streak at home.

Patrick Roy, playing in his NHL-record 1,001st game, posted his 62nd career shutout and first of the season. He had 18 saves.

Mike Keane and D.J. Smith also scored for Colorado, both in the third period. It was Smith's first career NHL goal.

Wild 2, Kings 1

At Los Angeles, Marian Gaborik and rookie Pierre-Marc Bouchard each had a goal and an assist and Dwayne Roloson made 31 saves for Minnesota.

Roloson stopped 29 shots before Ziggy Palffy scored with 24 seconds left.

Minnesota extended its streak of successful penalty kills to 30, including five against the Kings.

Injury-riddled Los Angeles was shut out for the fourth time in 15 games.