Richards doles out five assists

DALLAS — Former Lightning forward Brad Richards had a career-high five points — all on assists — in his Dallas debut, setting up Niklas Hagman's first hat trick in a 7-4 win Thursday.

"I'm so happy to be a part of this," Richards said. "They've got a good thing going here. I went from looking like I'd be done the first of April to making a good run at (the Stanley Cup)."

Richards arrived Tuesday as the centerpiece of a five-player deal with Tampa Bay because co-general manager Brett Hull figured the 2004 Conn Smythe Trophy winner could make a good offense better. On Richards' second shift, he put a long pass right on the blade of Hagman's stick at the lip of the goal for a tap-in score.

Hagman scored another goal in the second period on a play started by Richards, then Hagman gave Richards a few taps on the helmet after their third hookup came on a power play. His five assists tied a franchise record (Mike Modano, Feb. 10, 2002). Richards had never had more than three assists in a game. He was a plus-2 in 19:16 on the ice. He won seven of 13 faceoffs and was among the first unit on the power play.

Richards added that he "felt like a little kid again" because he was so nervous about how he'd fit in on his new team.

"It was a good solid first outing," Dallas coach Dave Tippett said with a smile.

First Period—1, Chicago, Byfuglien 13 (Williams), 4:08 (pp). 2, Dallas, Hagman 23 (Richards, Daley), 4:57. 3, Dallas, Modano 18, 9:58. Penalties—Lundqvist, Dal (hooking), 3:26; Toews, Chi (high-sticking), 13:45.

Second Period—4, Dallas, Hagman 24 (Miettinen, Richards), 2:47. 5, Dallas, Eriksson 12 (Morrow, Ribeiro), 4:41. 6, Dallas, Daley 3 (Richards, Miettinen), 6:34. Penalties—Seabrook, Chi (holding), 13:51; Boucher, Dal (hooking), 16:35.

Third Period—7, Chicago, Bourque 7, 4:25 (sh). 8, Dallas, Hagman 25 (Richards, Boucher), 5:55. 9, Chicago, Ladd 10 (Kontiola, Williams), 9:20. 10, Dallas, Lehtinen 12 (Richards, Modano), 16:49 (pp). 11, Chicago, Bourque 8 (C.Adams), 18:15 (sh). Penalties—Hjalmarsson, Chi (hooking), 3:49; Byfuglien, Chi (hooking), 7:02; Miettinen, Dal (elbowing), 10:46; Barker, Chi (interference), 14:48; Seabrook, Chi, major (fighting), 14:48; Ott, Dal, major (fighting), 14:48; Burish, Chi, double minor-major-game misconduct (charging, instigator, fighting), 15:18; Ribeiro, Dal (slashing), 15:18; Morrow, Dal, major (fighting), 15:18. Shots on Goal—Chicago 6-8-15—29. Dallas 7-9-9—25. Power-play opportunities—Chicago 1 of 3; Dallas 1 of 6. Goalies—Chicago, Lalime 12-10-1 (13 shots-8 saves), Crawford (6:34 second, 12-10). Dallas, Turco 29-13-4 (29-25). A—18,584 (18,532). T—2:27.

ST. LOUIS — Ilya Bryzgalov made 41 saves and the Coyotes beat the Blues for the fourth time this season.

First Period—1, St. Louis, Johnson 4 (McClement, Mayers), 15:13. 2, Phoenix, Jovanovski 11 (Mueller, Vrbata), 17:21 (pp). 3, Phoenix, Kapanen 9 (Yandle, Morris), 18:05 (pp). Penalties—Kapanen, Pho (delay of game), 12:04; Mayers, StL (hooking), 16:01; Backes, StL (cross-checking), 17:04.

Second Period—None. Penalties—Janssen, StL (charging), 6:11; Jackman, StL (slashing), 7:07; Boyes, StL (high-sticking), 9:17; Tjarnqvist, Pho (high-sticking), 11:34; Ballard, Pho (roughing), 19:33; Jackman, StL (roughing), 19:33.

Third Period—None. Penalty—Mueller, Pho (hooking), 7:41. Shots on Goal—Phoenix 9-8-11—28. St. Louis 16-14-12—42. Power-play opportunities—Phoenix 2 of 5; St. Louis 0 of 3. Goalies—Phoenix, Bryzgalov 24-18-5 (42 shots-41 saves). St. Louis, Legace 23-19-7 (28-26). A—17,867 (19,022). T—2:21.

BOSTON — Tim Thomas stopped 27 shots and Marco Sturm scored twice to reach 200 NHL goals to lead the Bruins.

First Period—1, Boston, Sturm 21 (Kobasew, Metropolit), 9:49. 2, Boston, Sturm 22 (Metropolit, Ward), 12:07. Penalties—Laraque, Pit (hooking), 13:13; Savard, Bos (slashing), 16:57.

Second Period—3, Boston, Chara 15 (Wideman, Savard), 2:21. 4, Boston, Axelsson 12 (Thornton, Savard), 16:01. Penalties—Chara, Bos (hooking), 10:12; Whitney, Pit (hooking), 12:30.

Third Period—5, Pittsburgh, Dupuis 11 (Taffe, Kennedy), 13:03. 6, Boston, Krejci 2 (Stuart, Kobasew), 17:49 (pp). Penalties—Malkin, Pit (hooking), 5:17; Talbot, Pit (boarding), 10:36; Chara, Bos (roughing), 10:36; Wideman, Bos (roughing), 10:36; Malone, Pit (roughing), 15:13; Ward, Bos (roughing), 15:13; Ruutu, Pit, minor-major (roughing, fighting), 17:32; Lucic, Bos, major (fighting), 17:32; Malkin, Pit (tripping), 18:26. Shots on Goal—Pittsburgh 10-9-9—28. Boston 12-8-11—31. Power-play opportunities—Pittsburgh 0 of 3; Boston 1 of 5. Goalies—Pittsburgh, Conklin 17-5-5 (13 shots-10 saves), Fleury (2:21 second, 18-16). Boston, Thomas 22-14-4 (28-27). A—17,565 (17,565). T—2:25.

PHILADELPHIA — The Flyers' Mike Knuble scored twice to spoil Bryan Murray's return behind the Senators' bench. Murray, also the GM, coached the team for the first time since the Ducks eliminated Ottawa in last year's Stanley Cup final.

First Period—None. Penalties—Heatley, Ott (cross-checking), 4:15; Jones, Phi (slashing), 19:14.

Second Period—1, Ottawa, Spezza 25 (Meszaros, Stillman), 6:33 (pp). 2, Philadelphia, Dowd 4 (Cote, Timonen), 13:32. Penalties—Dowd, Phi (goalie interference), 5:20; Biron, served by Kapanen (roughing), 6:33; Spezza, Ott, major-game misconduct (butt-ending), 6:33. Timonen, Phi, minor (holding the stick), 17:51.

Third Period—3, Philadelphia, Knuble 23 (Smith), :41. 4, Philadelphia, Upshall 10 (Timonen, Carter), 6:30. Penalties—Fisher, Ott, minor-major (roughing, fighting), 6:21; Cote, Phi, misconduct-misconduct (), 6:21; Downie, Phi, minor-major (roughing, fighting), 6:21; Stillman, Ott (hooking), 18:29. Shots on Goal—Ottawa 7-12-14—33. Philadelphia 11-16-10—37. Power-play opportunities—Ottawa 1 of 4; Philadelphia 0 of 3. Goalies—Ottawa, Emery 12-12-4 (37 shots-34 saves). Philadelphia, Biron 22-16-5 (33-32). A—19,567 (19,523). T—2:26.

ATLANTA — Trent Hunter scored in overtime as the Islanders recovered after blowing a three-goal lead.

First Period—1, N.Y. Islanders, Comrie 19 (Davison, Martinek), 9:15. 2, N.Y. Islanders, Vasicek 14 (Hunter), 11:26. Penalties—Klee, Atl (hooking), 4:18; Bergenheim, NYI (holding), 4:58; Kwiatkowski, Atl (holding), 5:46.

Second Period—3, N.Y. Islanders, Hilbert 8 (Berard, Guerin), 1:02. 4, Atlanta, Perrin 12, 3:53 (sh-ps). 5, Atlanta, Klee 1 (Armstrong, Perrin), 13:46. 6, Atlanta, Zhitnik 3 (Holik, Little), 15:00. Penalties—Havelid, Atl (holding), 3:39; Fedotenko, NYI (hooking), 4:28; Recchi, Atl (hooking), 17:12; Berard, NYI (holding), 18:33; Zhitnik, Atl (interference), 19:03.

Third Period—7, N.Y. Islanders, Comrie 20 (Berard), 3:17. 8, Atlanta, Holik 11 (Recchi, Klee), 18:38. Penalties—Davison, NYI (roughing), 7:16; Vasicek, NYI (interference), 12:39.

Overtime—9, N.Y. Islanders, Hunter 9 (Vasicek), 1:09. Penalties—None. Shots on Goal—N.Y. Islanders 13-9-13-2—37. Atlanta 7-9-7-0—23. Power-play opportunities—N.Y. Islanders 0 of 5; Atlanta 0 of 3. Goalies—N.Y. Islanders, DiPietro 26-23-7 (23 shots-19 saves). Atlanta, Lehtonen 13-18-3 (37-32). A—16,332 (18,545). T—2:27.

RALEIGH, N.C. — Brandon Dubinsky and Sean Avery scored first-period goals to lift the Rangers.

First Period—1, N.Y. Rangers, Dubinsky 13 (Jagr), 3:50. 2, N.Y. Rangers, Avery 11 (Girardi), 19:16. Penalties—Malik, NYR (hooking), 5:01; E.Staal, Car (hooking), 13:19.

Second Period—3, N.Y. Rangers, Drury 21 (M.Staal, Dawes), 2:14. 4, Carolina, Cole 16 (Hedican, Eaves), 7:39. Penalties—Hedican, Car (delay of game), :10; Backman, NYR (high-sticking), 5:25; Callahan, NYR, major (fighting), 12:15; Conboy, Car, major (fighting), 12:15; Avery, NYR, misconduct, 17:04; Walker, Car, misconduct, 17:04.

Third Period—5, Carolina, Cole 17, 4:54 (pp). 6, N.Y. Rangers, Shanahan 21 (Dawes, Gomez), 7:28. Penalties—M.Staal, NYR, double minor (high-sticking), 1:58; Backman, NYR (holding), 4:54; Backman, NYR (roughing), 9:00; E.Staal, Car (cross-checking), 19:01. Shots on Goal—N.Y. Rangers 15-11-2—28. Carolina 5-10-13—28. Power-play opportunities—N.Y. Rangers 0 of 3; Carolina 1 of 6. Goalies—N.Y. Rangers, Lundqvist 29-21-6 (28 shots-26 saves). Carolina, Ward 27-21-4 (28-24). A—16,041 (18,730). T—2:23.

EDMONTON, Alberta — Ales Hemsky scored two goals and added an assist as the Oilers won their third in a row.