Brandon Dubinsky had a goal and two assists, and linemate Aaron Voros had two goals and three points while pestering Martin Brodeur in the New York Rangers' 4-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Monday night.

Voros scored the second and third Rangers goals, the last coming on a deflection of defenseman Paul Mara's shot that restored the Rangers' two-goal lead 1:39 into the third period.

That was just the cushion New York needed to improve to 5-0, matching the team's best start established in 1983.

The excitement of the latest victory was tempered by the death of 19-year-old Rangers prospect Alexei Cherepanov, who died earlier Monday while playing a game in Russia. Cherepanov collapsed on the Avangard Omsk bench while talking to teammate and former Rangers captain Jaromir Jagr.

ALSO MONDAY

CANADIENS 5, FLYERS 3: Roman Hamrlik and Michael Komisarek scored goals 44 seconds apart in the third period, helping Montreal rally past host Philadelphia.

Jeff Carter and Mike Richards scored the final two goals of the second period to lift the Flyers to a 2-1 lead going into the third.

Hamrlik, though, erased the lead when he took a nifty pass from Alex Kovalev and slid the puck past Biron from the left slot.

Komisarek then gave Montreal the lead for good, when his shot from the point bounced over Biron to make it 3-2.

CAPITALS 5, CANUCKS 1: Alexander Semin scored twice, Michael Nylander netted a penalty shot, and Washington limited visiting Vancouver to 10 shots on goal.

The Capitals broke a franchise record for shots by an opponent, having never before given up fewer than 11 in a game. Vancouver barely avoided breaking its franchise low of eight.

The Canucks had only two shots against Capitals goalie Brent Johnson in the first period, one in the second, and seven in the third.

SABRES 7, ISLANDERS 1: Thomas Vanek scored twice, and Ales Kotalik and Jason Pominville each added a goal and two assists as visiting Buffalo beat New York.

Jochen Hecht, Adam Mair and Clarke MacArthur also scored for the Sabres, who are 2-0-0 to start the season. Three of Buffalo's goals came on the power play, and the Sabres also added a short-handed goal.

Patrick Lalime made 23 saves for Buffalo.

Trent Hunter had the only goal for New York.

BLUES 5, MAPLE LEAFS 4 (SO): Andy McDonald and Brad Boyes scored in a shootout to give visiting St. Louis a comeback win over Toronto.

Storming back from an early 3-0 deficit, the Blues tied it at 4 at 4:21 of the third period on Paul Kariya's backhander.

Manny Legace stopped Nik Antropov, allowed a goal to Nikolai Kulemin and then stopped Pavel Kubina in the shootout to win it. Vesa Toskala was beaten by both St. Louis shooters.

Boyes, Patrik Berglund and Keith Tkachuk also scored goals for the Blues (2-1-0).

Tomas Kaberle, Nikolai Kulemin, Alexei Ponikarovsky, Niklas Hagman scored for the Maple Leafs (1-2-0).

LATE SUNDAY

SHARKS 1, KINGS 0: Lukas Kaspar scored his first NHL goal, and Brian Boucher made 21 saves to lead visiting San Jose over Los Angeles.

Rob Blake returned to play in Los Angeles for the first time since signing with San Jose as a free agent in the offseason and was greeted with boos whenever he touched the puck.

Blake skated for the Kings in 14 of his 19 NHL seasons -- including the past two -- and is the franchise leader in games played by a defenseman.

NOTES

KINGS DEFENSEMAN SIDELINED: Los Angeles Kings defenseman Jack Johnson will miss up to three months because of a shoulder injury in Sunday's 1-0 loss to the San Jose Sharks.

NHL HEALTHY: Despite the economic downturn, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said Monday that season-ticket sales are up 4 percent over a year ago, and single-game tickets were up nearly 13 percent as of a week ago, data he termed "remarkable."

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