Hull Is Getting Over Empty Feelings

There was a time when Brett Hull disdained empty-net goals. Not anymore.

Brett Hull fired his third goal of the game Saturday night into an empty net with 27 seconds to play.

He also had two assists, leading the Detroit Red Wings past the Blues, 5-2, at St. Louis.

It was Hull’s 31st career hat trick.

“They’re so hard to get,” Hull said. “I used to tell everybody I didn’t want empty-netters. Now, if I can get 30 of them, I’d take them all. I think everyone in the league feels the same way. It’s just nice to be out there. For years, I wasn’t out there in that situation.”

Hull’s linemates, Pavel Datsyuk and Boyd Devereaux, each scored a goal and had two assists.

The Red Wings are 4-0-1 in their last five games. It was the second consecutive loss for the Blues, who had won 10 in a row. The loss also ended a seven-game winning streak at home.

Hull, who has 21 goals this season, scored twice within 17 seconds and assisted on another goal in the first period.

Keith Tkachuk’s 27th goal, on a power play, pulled St. Louis within 2-1 in the period.

The Red Wings led, 4-1, on a goal by Devereaux at 8:07 of the second period. St. Louis responded with a goal by Cory Stillman at 11:29.

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Philadelphia 4, Carolina 2--Jeremy Roenick and Justin Williams scored 38 seconds apart in the first period for the Flyers at Philadelphia.

Mark Recchi and Simon Gagne also scored for the Flyers, who are unbeaten in 16 games (15-0-1) against Southeast Division teams.

Brian Boucher made 16 saves for Philadelphia. Carolina was held to 18 shots.

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Boston 4, Florida 2--Joe Thornton scored the 99th and 100th goals of his career in the third period, spoiling Mike Keenan’s return to Boston.

Thornton, who has 21 goals this season, became the fourth Boston player with 20 goals or more.

Pavel Bure scored his 400th career goal for the Panthers, becoming the 68th player to reach that milestone.

Keenan coached the Bruins for most of last season.

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Edmonton 4, Toronto 1--Mike Comrie scored twice, including the go-ahead goal midway through the third period, and the host Oilers ended a three-game losing streak.

Ethan Moreau and Todd Marchant also scored for the Oilers.

Bryan McCabe scored for Toronto, which has lost two in a row and is 1-4-0-1 in its last six.

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Pittsburgh 3, Atlanta 2--Randy Robitaille set up the Penguins’ second goal, then scored the game-winner with 58 seconds left in overtime at Pittsburgh.

The Penguins won for the sixth consecutive time.

Pittsburgh also got goals from Mario Lemieux and Aleksey Morozov.

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New York Islanders 6, Tampa Bay 2--Mariusz Czerkawski and Claude Lapointe each had two goals and the Islanders ended a four-game home losing streak at Uniondale, N.Y.

Mats Lindgren and Michael Peca also scored for the Islanders.

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Ottawa 1, Montreal 1--Daniel Alfredsson scored with 2:59 left, giving Ottawa a tie at Montreal.

Richard Zednik gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead with his 14th goal early in the period.

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New York Rangers 6, Washington 3--Radek Dvorak had two goals and Eric Lindros and Theo Fleury each scored at New York, and the Rangers won their third in a row.

Sandy McCarthy and Bryan Berard also scored for the Rangers.

Dainius Zubrus scored twice for Washington and Brendan Witt scored once.

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Phoenix 3, Columbus 2--Daniel Briere had a goal and an assist at Columbus, Ohio, and Andrei Nazarov scored in his first game with Phoenix.

The Coyotes traded a fifth-round pick in this summer’s draft to Boston for Nazarov on Friday.

Nazarov didn’t score in 47 games with Boston.

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New Jersey 2, Minnesota 2--Martin Brodeur made 34 saves, including two in overtime, and New Jersey pulled off a tie at St. Paul, Minn.

With Minnesota on the power play late in the third period, Brodeur stopped a flurry of shots.

Dwayne Roloson stopped 25 shots for the Wild, who got goals from Darby Hendrickson and Stacy Roest.

Sergei Nemchinov and Valeri Kamensky scored for New Jersey.

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Vancouver 2, Calgary 0--Peter Skudra made 29 saves and the Canucks extended their winning streak to five games.

Brent Sopel scored early in the first period and Todd Bertuzzi had a power-play goal with 3:40 to play.

It was Bertuzzi’s 16th goal this season and extended his point-scoring streak to 12 games.