Carolina Hurricanes' Alexander Semin (R) makes a behind-the-back pass past the Winnipeg Jets' Zach Bogosian (No. 44) to set-up a goal by the Canes' Jiri Tlusty (not pictured) in Raleigh, North Carolina, Thursday. — Reuters TORONTO — Playing under a new head coach for the first time in 16 years, the struggling Buffalo Sabres fell 3-1 to the Toronto Maple Leafs Thursday. A day after firing Lindy Ruff, who had been the National Hockey League's (NHL) longest-tenured coach, the Sabres were mostly flat in interim coach Ron Rolston's debut and slumped to their third straight loss. “He came in, has new ideas, new things that he wants to bring to us but he hasn't really had time to even work on most of the things,” Sabres captain Jason Pominville told reporters. “It's not something that's going to change overnight, the process is going to take time. I mean, who knows, it might take a game, it might take a couple games.” After a decent opening period in which the Sabres built a 1-0 lead, the visitors looked out of sorts the rest of the way and finished the game 0-for-3 on the powerplay. Devils 3, Capitals 2: Ilya Kovalchuk scored the tiebreaking goal on a 5-on-3 power play with about 8½ minutes left to complete the New Jersey Devils' 3-2 comeback victory over the Washington Capitals. Washington led 2-1 entering the third period on power-play goals by Mathieu Perrault and Mike Ribeiro. Andrei Loktionov made it 2-all midway through the last period, and Kovalchuk put New Jersey ahead for the first time off Patrik Elias' assist. Elias had scored a short-handed goal in the second period. The East-worst Capitals (5-10-1) dropped to 0-7-1 against the conference's top six teams. They will get another chance Saturday when they host New Jersey again. Panthers 5, Flyers 2: Jonathan Huberdeau and Peter Mueller each had two goals to help Florida snap a five-game losing streak with a victory over Philadelphia. Senators 3, Rangers 2, SO: Kaspars Daugavins scored in the seventh round of the shootout and backup goalie Ben Bishop earned the victory in relief of injured starter Craig Anderson as Ottawa beat the New York Rangers. Blue Jackets 3, Red Wings 2: Vinny Prospal scored with 24.7 seconds left, capping a comeback that lifted Columbus over Detroit. Islanders 4, Canadiens 3, OT: Rookie defenseman Thomas Hickey scored in overtime for his first NHL goal, and the New York Islanders rallied to snap Montreal's five-game winning streak. In other games it was: Wild 3, Oilers 1; Jets 4, Hurricanes 3; Canucks 4, Stars 3; Boston 4, Tampa Bay 2. — Agencies
