ATLANTA - Ilya Kovalchuk came back from a one-game benching to score his league-leading 34th and 35th goals as the Thrashers held off the Rangers 3-2 on Sunday.
The All-Star starter missed a meeting before Friday's game against the Devils. Coach Bob Hartley held him out of that game, won 3-2 by the Thrashers.
"I apologized to the team, and I just wanted to show them I was ready to go," Kovalchuk said. "That's my favorite thing to do in my life, is to play hockey."
The Rangers fell to 5-16 in one-goal games and have lost seven of nine.
Kovalchuk made it 1-0 5:09 in after Randy Robitaille won a faceoff in the New York zone.
His second came after Dany Heatley sent him a diagonal pass from near the blue line to near the crease. He waited then beat Mike Dunham glove side for a 3-1 lead 37 seconds into the third.
STARS 5, OILERS 4 (OT): Bill Guerin scored his second goal of the game 55 seconds into overtime to cap host Dallas' rally from down 4-1. Edmonton is 1-17-2-1 in Dallas since the Stars moved from Minnesota before the 1993-94 season. Edmonton's only regular-season victory there came Jan. 17, 1996. Guerin won it with a one-timer from the right circle off a behind-the-net pass from Pierre Turgeon.
WINGS 4, FLYERS 2: Robert Lang had three assists in his debut for host Detroit. Lang, acquired Friday from Washington, passed the Lightning's Martin St. Louis for the scoring lead with 77 points. His first assist came on his second shift. He won a faceoff in the Philadelphia zone back to Mathieu Schneider, whose wrist shot deflected in off defenseman Chris Therien's stick at 4:26. Up 3-2, Brendan Shanahan's power-play goal with 8:04 left came off a rebound of Lang's shot.
SHARKS 1, BLUES 0: Evgeni Nabokov got his eighth shutout of the season for host San Jose, which has won five of six. Steve Martins' pass was intercepted by Patrick Marleau. He found Jonathan Cheechoo, who scored on a one-timer from the slot 41 seconds into the third.
FLAMES 4, COYOTES 2: Host Calgary scored three in the first 16 minutes. Phoenix made it 3-2 with 3:55 left in the second, converting on a two-man advantage. But Jordan Leopold intercepted a clearing pass, and his quick shot was tipped in by Chuck Kobasew with 4:52 left.
PENGUINS 3, ISLANDERS 2 (OT): Ryan Malone scored 2:45 into overtime for visiting Pittsburgh, which won for the second time in three games after losing 18 in a row. The Penguins tied it with 34.9 seconds left in the second when Milan Kraft won a faceoff to Dick Tarnstrom. He crossed it to Ric Jackman, whose slap shot beat Garth Snow high. Malone put in a rebound of Alexei Morozov's shot.
DUCKS 6, KINGS 3: Sergei Fedorov, Vinny Prospal and Steve Rucchin scored third-period goals for host Anaheim, which beat Los Angeles for the first time this season (1-3-1). Fedorov made it 4-3 2:43 in, intercepting Brad Norton's pass in the offensive zone and beating Cristobal Huet. Prospal scored on a wrist shot from the right circle 1:35 later.
HURRICANES 3, WILD 3: Ron Francis scored with 4:15 left for visiting Carolina. Francis poked a loose puck out of a scramble in front of goalie Manny Fernandez to extend the Hurricanes' point streak to seven (3-0-2-2).
BLACKHAWKS 2, PANTHERS 2: Valeri Bure's power-play goal with 7:16 left lifted visiting Florida, which is 3-1-3 in its past seven. Bure tipped a cross-ice feed from Olli Jokinen past Michael Leighton high on the stick side.
DEVILS: Defenseman Brian Rafalski is day to day with a bruise behind his right knee. He crashed into the goal Saturday.
PANTHERS: Defenseman Jay Bouw-meester, the second overall pick in 2002, was sent to San Antonio for a rehab assignment. Bouwmeester, who has two goals and 14 assists in 46 games, played Friday but missed the previous 18 games with a broken left foot.
