ots when we get a chance. Were not going to change and go to like five (receivers) every play.HEAVY DOSE OF DZimmer is a defensive-minded coach, and he has his unit playing at a high level early in the season

MONTREAL -- Max Pacioretty scored the tiebreaking goal in Montreals three-goal third period as the Canadiens beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-1 Thursday night for their sixth straight win.Alex Galchenyuk and Torrey Mitchell also scored to help Montreal improve to 7-0-1, remaining the only NHL team without a regulation loss. Carey Price made 29 saves to win for the fourth time in four starts this season.Alex Killorn scored the lone goal for the Lightning, who lost against an Eastern-Conference opponent for the first time this season. Ben Bishop stopped 23 shots.With the scored tied 1-1, Pacioretty got the go-ahead goal at 10:23 by beating Bishop glove-side. Blown coverage by the Lightning left the Canadiens captain all alone on the edge of the face-off circle, and Bishop couldnt see the shot with Andrew Shaw posted firmly in front of goal.PENGUINS 4, ISLANDERS 2PITTSBURGH -- Sidney Crosby scored the tiebreaking goal late in the third period to lead defending champion Pittsburgh.Patric Hornqvist, Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel also scored -- each getting his third of the season -- to help the Penguins win for the third time in four games and improve to 5-0-1 at home.Crosby, playing for the second straight game after missing the first six with a concussion, scored with 2:25 left as he caught a pass from Scott Wilson at the top of the crease and quickly turned to his forehand to put the puck behind Islanders goalie Jaroslav Halak. Kessel added a power-play goal to cap the scoring 32 seconds later.Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 35 shots while starting for the eighth straight game.Travis Hamonic and Shane Prince scored for the Islanders, and Halak finished with 31 saves.MAPLE LEAFS 3, PANTHERS 2TORONTO -- Mitch Marner had three assists and goalie Frederik Andersen bounced back from a horrid outing as Toronto won for the second time this season.Marner set up Tyler Bozak for two goals and also assisted James van Riemsdyk. Andersen, who gave up a career-worst seven goals on Tuesday, stopped 29 of 31 shots for the Maple Leafs (2-2-3).Jonathan Marchessault had both goals for the Panthers. Roberto Luongo made 25 saves.Andersen was under the microscope heading into the game after another rough start two nights earlier against the Lightning (seven goals on 24 shots).COYOTES 5, FLYERS 4PHILADELPHIA -- Martin Hanzal and Brad Richardson scored the decisive goals to help Arizona snap a five-game road losing streak.Jamie McGinn, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Ryan White also scored for the Coyotes, whose two wins this season are both against the Flyers.The Coyotes salvaged one victory on a season-high, six-game road trip.Louis Domingue stopped 28 shots and won his first game of the season. He had been 0-4 with a 5.03 goals against average and had stopped only 85 percent of his shots.Nick Cousins, Brayden Schenn, Andrew MacDonald and Wayne Simmonds scored for the Flyers.RED WINGS 2, BLUES 1, SOST. LOUIS -- Henrik Zetterberg scored in the eighth round of a shootout to lift Detroit past St. Louis for the Red Wings sixth straight win.In the shootout, St. Louis first shooter, Alexander Steen, scored but then Vladimir Tarasenko, Kevin Shattenkirk, David Perron, Nail Yakupoc, Robby Fabbri, Patrick Burgland and Dmitrjij Jaskin all came up short.Gustav Nyquist scored on Detroits second attempt but Frans Nielsen, Dylan Larkin, Andreas Athanasiou, Tomas Tatar, Riley Sheehan and Darren Helm all missed.St. Louis Jaden Schwartz missed a wide-open net early in overtime, and Jori Lehtera was stopped on a breakaway midway through the extra period by Detroit goalie Petr Mrazek.Shattenkirk scored early in the second for the Blues, and Jake Allen had 27 saves through overtime.Nielsen tied it with 6:06 to go in the middle period, and Mrazek had 31 saves.JETS 4, STARS 1WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- Patrik Laine scored twice on the power play to help Winnipeg beat Dallas.Defenseman Tyler Myers got the Jets on the scoreboard 15 seconds into the game and rookie Kyle Connor got his first NHL goal. Connor Hellebuyck had 38 saves.Winnipeg, which lost at Dallas in the opener of the home-and-home on Tuesday, has scored five power-play goals this season, with the 18-year-old Laine getting four.Tyler Seguin scored early in the third period for Dallas, and Antti Niemi stopped 32 shots.In the opening minute, Myers took advantage of a loose puck bouncing off the boards in the Dallas end to fire a one-timer from the point past Niemi. Connors high shot doubled the lead with 3:48 left in the opening period, and Laines fifth of the season at 4:30 of the second made it 3-0.WILD 4, SABRES 0BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Devan Dubnyk made 38 saves for his second straight shutout to lead Minnesota.Ryan Suter had a goal and an assist, and Joel Ericsson Ek, Jason Zucker and Mikko Koivu also scored. The Wild went 2-1-1 on a four-game road trip to improve to 5-2-1.Anders Nillson made 18 saves in his second straight start for the Sabres, losers of four in a row.Minnesota built a two-goal lead in the first period, but Buffalo controlled the action in the second. Dubnyk made 19 saves, including 15 in the first 6:11 of the period, and the Wild killed two penalties.Suter scored his third goal of the season 2:58 into the third period, sending a wobbly wrist shot from the right circle over Nillsons glove. Koivu added an empty-net goal with 1:09 left. Atlanta Hawks Pro Shop .C. -- Al Jefferson joked that he feels he can score from anywhere on the court. Hawks Jerseys 2021 .J. -- Marty Brodeur beat the Pittsburgh Penguins yet again. https://www.cheaphawks.com/ . Los Angeles star goalie survived those perilous gymnastics with no problem, and he eventually backstopped the Kings to a skid-snapping win. Quick stopped 27 shots in his return from a 24-game injury absence, Jeff Carter scored the tiebreaking goal with 7:55 to play, and the Kings snapped their five-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night. Wholesale Hawks Jerseys . But by the time the game started, the Toronto Raptors forward felt even worse. And, for three quarters, it showed as Gay shot a woeful three-for-13 from the field. Fake Hawks Jerseys . The Islanders dealt Thomas Vanek to the Montreal Canadiens after less than a year on Long Island. Meanwhile, the Oilers dealt long-time sniper Ales hemsky to the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday for a fifth-round pick in 2014 and a third-rounder in 2015. EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- In this day and age of high-flying passing attacks, the Minnesota Vikings have been a bit of a throwback in their run-first approach to offense.So now that the focal point of that offense is lost for the foreseeable future, the season is over, right?Not so fast.Adrian Peterson had surgery on Thursday to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee, a procedure that is expected to keep him out for at least several months with a strong possibility that he misses the rest of the season.And the Vikings were ranked 28th in the league in offense with the best running back of his era on the field.I know everybody is all concerned about we dont have this or we dont have that but its a team, coach Mike Zimmer said.Thats why we have 53 guys here, so that we can try to win as a team. Thats all Ive ever done since Ive been here.The Vikings started the season with Super Bowl aspirations, even after quarterback Teddy Bridgewater went down just over a week before the opener with a devastating knee injury.This week they lost Peterson and starting left tackle Matt Kalil (hip) to long-term injuries, but they remain confident that all is not lost heading into a Week 3 matchup at Carolina.So here is the formula the Vikings (2-0) will have to follow to survive life without Peterson carrying the offensive load:RUNNING BACK CREWPeterson was one of the few true workhorses left at running back in the league. He had 31 carries in the first two weeks, while the rest of the running backs on the roster combined for just 13.Now the offense will use a running back by committee, with shifty Jerick McKinnon getting the start, thumper Matt Asiata spelling him and the recently signed Ronnie Hillman there for insurance.While none of those three have anything close to the resume of Peterson, they all bring different things to the table that can help them be effective as a group.McKinnon is an accomplished receiver out of the backfield, an area that Peterson never mastered.Asiata hits the holes quick and never dances in the backfield like Peterson would do on occasion, taking some of the burden off the beleaguered offensive linemen to sustain their blocks.Theyre both capable of being good pass protectors. Theyre both good receivers, offensive coordinator Norv Turner said.We can mix them however we want, but Jerick with his eexplosiveness and his ability to come out of the backfield when appropriate we will try to take advantage of that.ddddddddddddBRADFORDS ARM, DIGGS HANDSSam Bradford surpassed all expectations on Sunday night when he took hold of the offense after two weeks of practice and was so sharp in a victory over the Green Bay Packers.Bradford completed 22 of 31 passes for 286 yards and two touchdowns, taking advantage of a defense that had loaded up to stop Peterson.He immediately clicked with second-year receiver Stefon Diggs, a budding star who had nine catches for 182 yards and a touchdown in the game.With Peterson gone, it would figure that the offense would evolve more to feature the passing game with Bradford, Diggs and tight end Kyle Rudolph. But Zimmer and Turner both said they were committed to a balanced offense.Thats our identity and thats how were built. Were going to continue to stay that way, Zimmer said.Hopefully we can play good defense and hopefully we can run the ball. Take our shots when we get a chance. Were not going to change and go to like five (receivers) every play.HEAVY DOSE OF DZimmer is a defensive-minded coach, and he has his unit playing at a high level early in the season. The Vikings rank fifth in total defense, scored two touchdowns in the season-opening 25-16 victory in Tennessee and kept Aaron Rodgers and the Packers offense under wraps in the 17-14 win on Sunday night.The Vikings shouldnt need to get into many shootouts to win games this season, and they dont have to look back far for inspiration.The Broncos rode a dominant defense to the Super Bowl championship last season, with DeMarcus Ware, Von Miller, Aqib Talib and crew helping a weakened Peyton Manning win his second title.With Everson Griffen, Harrison Smith, Danielle Hunter and Eric Kendricks, the Vikings have a versatile, aggressive, playmaking unit that will take the pressure off the offense.Youre going to have guys go down throughout the year, defensive end Brian Robison said.And us as a defense, were going to put it on our shoulders and were going to make sure that we do whatever we can do to put the offense in a good position.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP-NFL ' ' '