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Rangers remain hot

ATLANTA - Jaromir Jagr scored his league-leading 21st goal to help the Rangers win their fourth in a row, 6-3 over the Thrashers.

Wednesday, Jagr strained a muscle near his right hip during practice. He had treatment during the first period then took the ice after Atlanta overcame a 3-1 deficit.

Swooping in off right wing, Jagr found plenty of room between the circles and snapped off a shot that put New York ahead 4-3 with 2:02 left in the second.

"There's no way Jagr should get that kind of room in the slot," Atlanta coach Bob Hartley said. "We actually had four guys back. It was a three-on-four. But we just didn't communicate, and the puck ended up in our net."

Blair Betts made it 5-3 8:09 into the third, slipping behind defenseman Niclas Havelid and deflecting in a pass from Marcel Hossa.

While Jagr expects to be okay, the Rangers aren't sure about goalie Kevin Weekes. His right ankle was bruised early in the third when the net fell on him.

PREDATORS 4, KINGS 3: Marek Zidlicky had three assists for host Nashville. Scottie Upshall scored on a slap shot from a few feet inside the blue line and Paul Kariya on a breakaway 3:33 apart in the first to put the Predators up 2-0. Steve Sullivan scored from the inside edge of the right circle and Adam Hall on a shot from the slot during a two-man advantage 4:32 apart in the second to make it 4-0.

CANUCKS 3, SHARKS 2: VANCOUVER, Markus Naslund and Anson Carter scored 55 seconds apart in the third period, lifting the Vancouver Canucks to a 3-2 win over the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night. Alex Auld made 20 saves to pick up his second straight win since Vancouver's No.1 goalie Dan Cloutier injured his knee Sunday in Anaheim.

LONDON, Ontario - Dick Pound, the president of the World Anti-Doping Agency, said he suspects as many as a third of the NHL's 700 players might take some form of performance-enhancing substances. Ted Saskin, executive director of the players' union, and NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly took exception.

"I would respectfully suggest that Mr. Pound's comments have absolutely no basis in fact," Daly said. "I find it troubling, to say the least, that he would find it necessary to comment on something he has absolutely no knowledge of."

Under the new collective bargaining agreement, players are subject to a minimum of two tests a year without warning. A first-time offender gets a 20-game suspension, a second 60 games and a third a lifetime ban.

BLUE JACKETS: Goalie Marc Denis and left wing Alexandre Picard were put on injured reserve. Denis, who last played Sunday, has a strained groin while Picard sustained a concussion.

CANUCKS: Goalie Dan Cloutier will miss at least three games because of a knee injury, leaving Alex Auld as the starter.