SUNRISE - All the Islanders needed to take care of their road woes was a trip to Florida.
Rookie Trent Hunter scored twice and New York dominated the Panthers again with a 4-1 victory Wednesday night.
The Islanders stretched their unbeaten streak against Florida to seven games (4-0-3), and they also are unbeaten in their past seven (4-0-3) against the Panthers in Florida.
"Maybe they just bring the best out of us," Islanders captain Michael Peca said. "They're a really hardworking team. Streaks have a funny way of working out. We've been on the other end of some of those."
Mattias Timander and Shawn Bates also scored for New York, which won on the road for only the second time this season.
Rookie Nathan Horton scored a power-play goal for Florida, which has lost two straight for the first time under interim coach Rick Dudley. The Panthers are 2-3 since general manager Dudley replaced Mike Keenan on Nov. 9. Rick DiPietro made 26 saves for the Islanders, who face the Lightning tonight.
WILD 6, PENGUINS 2: Antti Laaksonen scored twice in a three-goal Minnesota first period against rookie goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. Marian Gaborik also scored on a penalty shot, only his second goal in the seven games since re-signing with Minnesota.
Host Pittsburgh, the league's lowest-scoring team with 33 goals in 17 games, has 13 goals while going 1-6 since owner-player Mario Lemieux injured his left hip Nov. 1. The team has said he might return next week.
Fleury was pulled after Sergei Zholtok and Laaksonen scored 41 seconds apart late in the first period to make it 3-0. Fleury can start earning as much as $4-million in incentives if he plays another 15 games, a huge amount for a money-losing team that drew fewer than 12,000 for a sixth consecutive home game. Since going 3-2-2 in his first seven NHL starts, Fleury has lost four in a row, allowing 14 goals in seven periods in his past three games.
DEVILS 4, SABRES 1: Scott Stevens set up the first two goals and host New Jersey extended its unbeaten streak to 10 games. Scott Gomez, Jay Pandolfo, Brian Gionta and John Madden scored for the defending Stanley Cup champs, who have nine goals in their past two games. Martin Brodeur, who shut out the Rangers 5-0 on Saturday, was within 13:47 of his 68th career shutout, when Daniel Briere came out from behind the net and scored.
The unbeaten streak is the longest for the Devils since they won a team-record 13 straight in the 2000-01 season. Stevens, two games from tying Larry Murphy for the league record for most games by a defenseman (1,615), assisted on Gomez and Pandolfo's goals.
THRASHERS 5, BRUINS 4 (OT): Ilya Kovalchuk scored his league-high 14th goal 3:42 into overtime to lift Atlanta. The Thrashers fell behind 2-0, 3-2 and 4-3 before Kovalchuk provided their only lead with a power-play goal. Atlanta ended the Bruins' four-game win streak with another comeback victory. The Thrashers have overcome two-goal deficits to earn at least a point six times this season. Three power-play goals were not enough for the Bruins, who became the first visiting team this season to score with a man advantage at Philips Arena.
MIGHTY DUCKS 3, STARS 3: Andy McDonald scored twice, including a one-hopper from the red line with 11:41 left in regulation that rallied visiting Anaheim to a tie, extending Dallas' winless streak to seven. Jason Arnott broke a second-period tie, and Jon Klemm added his first goal for Dallas 58 seconds later to give the Stars a 3-1 lead. Anaheim closed within 3-2 at 16:51 of the second on Petr Sykora's wrist shot that beat Marty Turco, who had 30 saves, through the pads.
RED WINGS 5, BLUE JACKETS 1: Brett Hull scored twice and host Detroit extended its unbeaten streak to five. Kris Draper, Tomas Holmstrom and Steve Thomas also scored for the Red Wings, 4-0-1-0 in their streak. Manny Legace stopped 37 shots. Geoff Sanderson scored for the Blue Jackets, 0-3-2-0 in their past five games. With 724 career goals, Hull moved within seven of Marcel Dionne for third on the league's all-time scoring list. Wayne Gretzky is first with 894 and Gordie Howe second with 801.
COYOTES 5, BLUES 4: Brian Savage and Shane Doan each had two goals and an assist, leading host Phoenix. Savage scored the first and last goals of the game, beating goalie Chris Osgood for the second time with 1:45 left when he tapped in a rebound of a shot by Doan. The final goal helped the Coyotes snap an NHL record-tying, five-straight overtime streak. Doug Weight, playing for the Blues for the first time in five games, tied his career high with four assists. Dallas Drake, Ryan Johnson, Chris Pronger and Scott Mellanby scored the Blues' goals, and Osgood, who had won four straight games, stopped 20.
