Erat leads Predators over Wings

Nashville defenseman Greg Zanon goes to the ice to knock the puck away from Detroit left wing Tomas Holmstrom.

NASHVILLE - Martin Erat scored one goal and assisted on two others, including Radek Bonk's game-winner in the third period, to lead the Nashville Predators past the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 last night.

Jason Arnott also scored for the Predators, who beat their Central Division rivals despite taking six penalties in the first period.

Erat has nine points (four goals, five assists) in his last five games.

Johan Franzen and Henrik Zetterberg had goals for the first-place Red Wings.

Bonk made it 3-2 with a power-play goal at 2:22 of the third period.

He shot from about five feet outside the crease, bouncing the puck off the crossbar and into the net.

Bonk leads Nashville with nine goals this season.

The Red Wings took the lead on a power play at 2:49 of the first when Franzen backhanded the puck over the right shoulder of goalie Chris Mason, who finished with 28 saves.

The Predators tied it at 12:20. J.P Dumont, stationed behind the right side of the net, passed to Arnott as he was skating across the crease. Arnott beat Dominik Hasek from close range with a high shot.

Detroit took advantage of a power play again at 18:36 of the second period. Zetterberg skated through the slot and fired a shot that went into the left side of the net, beating Mason to his stick side.

Just 32 seconds later, the Predators tied it 2-all. Shea Weber ripped a shot from inside the blue line and Hasek made the stop, but Erat controlled the rebound and put it over Hasek, who was face-down on the ice.

NOTES: The Red Wings hosted St. Louis on Wednesday night before coming to Nashville, marking the eighth time in nine homes games that the Predators faced an opponent that played the night before. ... Weber has assists in each of his last three games. ... It was the 40th time in franchise history that Detroit played on Thanksgiving.

Penguins 6, Senators 5

OTTAWA, Ont. - Jarkko Ruutu scored on Pittsburgh's fifth shootout attempt to give Pittsburgh a victory.

Ruutu put a backhander through Martin Gerber's pads for the winner after Ottawa's Jason Spezza and Pittsburgh's Erik Christensen each converted their team's first shootout opportunity.

Dany Sabourin denied Antoine Vermette, Dany Heatley, Mike Fisher and Dean McAmmond for the win after stopping 29 shots in regulation. Sabourin entered midway through the first period.

Sergei Gonchar scored his seventh goal 7:07 into the third as Pittsburgh overcame a two-goal deficit for the second time in the game to tie it at 5.

Spezza scored twice and assisted on Heatley's power-play goal 16:15 into the second, which gave Ottawa its second lead of the game at 4-3.

Christoph Schubert put the Senators up 5-3 when he got credit for his second goal of the season 1:04 into the third.

Daniel Alfredsson had three assists and Chris Phillips also scored for Ottawa.

The Senators, who haven't lost consecutive regular-season games in regulation since Dec. 19-21, have dropped four of six (2-0-3-1) after getting off to an NHL-record 13-1-0 start.

Avalanche 3, Oilers 2

EDMONTON - Marek Svatos scored the go-ahead goal in the second period, and Colorado snapped a three-game skid by beating Edmonton.

Karlis Skrastins and Milan Hejduk also scored for the Avalanche. Shawn Horcoff and Ales Hemsky had goals for Edmonton.

BLACKHAWKS 2, FLAMES 1

CALGARY - Patrick Sharp's fifth short-handed goal of the season 32 seconds into the third period was the game-winner for Chicago.

The other goal for the Blackhawks also came while Chicago was playing a man short and was the first career goal for Jacob Dowell, who was making his NHL debut.