The Enquirer and wire reports

John LeClair had a goal and an assist in his first game of the season, and Robert Esche earned his sixth career shutout, leading the Philadelphia Flyers to a 5-0 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Monday night.

Simon Gagne, Tony Amonte, Michel Handzus, and Marcus Ragnarsson also scored goals for the Flyers, who ended a three-game winless streak (0-2-1).

"LeClair was excellent," Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock said. "It looks like he never missed a beat from camp."

LeClair missed the first seven games after breaking a bone in his left foot. Montreal lost its second straight.

• Thrashers 3, Leafs 2, OT: Marc Savard and Jeff Cowan scored 24 seconds apart in the third period, and Savard scored again with 15 seconds left in overtime.

The win came in front of the family of Dan Snyder, the Thrasher who died Oct. 5 from injuries suffered in a car crash six days earlier. Snyder was from Elmira, Ontario, 70 miles from Toronto.

"We played this game for Dan Snyder and his family," said back-to-back NHL player of the week Ilya Kovalchuk, who assisted on the winning goal. "It was a difficult game for us but I think he's happy right now."

RED WINGS: Goalie Curtis Joseph was recalled from the minors. He made a rehabilitation start Friday for AHL Grand Rapids. He had 20 saves in his first minor league game in eight years.

WILD: All-Star holdout Marian Gaborik returned to Minnesota from Slovakia, hoping for a deal that would get him back with the Wild. Now he's leaving again because the impasse was not resolved. Wild general manager Doug Risebrough said Gaborik's agents have rejected a three-year, $9.45 million contract offer that would triple the player's base salary.

CANUCKS: Vancouver signed All-Star winger Todd Bertuzzi, 28, who had a career-high 46 goals last season, to a new four-year deal.

ECHL CYCLONES: Cincinnati went 2-1 last week with wins over Toledo and Dayton and a loss to Roanoke. Against Dayton, Cyclones captain Mike Casselman assisted on a goal by defenseman Ryan Brindley. The assist was Casselman's 700th career point (249 goals, 451 assists). Brindley is tied for the ECHL lead with three power-play goals.

AHL: A total of 638 players appeared on opening night rosters for the 28 teams, including the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks, in the American Hockey League, and 332 of them (52 percent) began the year no more than 23 years old, including 81 players who had not yet celebrated their 21st birthdays.