
Scott Hartnell scored two goals in 23 seconds and the host Nashville Predators went back on top of the Western Conference with a 4-1 victory against the Phoenix Coyotes last night.
The Predators, who snapped a two-game losing streak, leapfrogged idle Detroit into first place in the Central Division and the West.
They did it despite not getting any points from new forward Peter Forsberg for the second game in a row.
Jean-Pierre Dumont and Jason Arnott also scored for Nashville, tied with Buffalo for the overall lead in the NHL with 83 points.
Oleg Saprykin scored Phoenix's lone goal.
Dumont scored at 18:49 of the first period when he was awarded a penalty shot after being taken down from behind on a breakaway.
Dumont skated in and beat goalie Curtis Joseph with a shot high over the shoulder to the stick side.
Just 39 seconds into the middle period, Steve Sullivan skated down the left side and fired a shot that bounced off Joseph. Dumont tried to shoot the rebound, but the puck trickled off his stick. Arnott finally hammered the loose puck home.
Hartnell then turned it on, twice getting ahead of the defense.
On the first at 5:34 he was all alone when Kimmo Timonen hit him with a long pass that he shot between Joseph's skate blade and the right post.
It took only 23 more seconds for him to get alone again. David Legwand found him with a pass and Hartnell beat Joseph again.
Other highlight
Petr Tenkrat scored twice during a wild second period and helped the Boston Bruins beat the host Philadelphia Flyers, 6-3.
Note
Buffalo Sabres forward Ales Kotalik will miss the next 4-6 weeks because of a right knee injury. Kotalik hurt the knee colliding with Boston defenseman Andrew Ference in a loss to the Bruins Saturday.
First Published: February 20, 2007, 5:00 a.m.