PHILADELPHIA (AP) -Joffrey Lupul scored two goals and Marty Biron made 34 saves for the Philadelphia Flyers, who snapped a season-high, six-game losing streak by beating the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1 on Thursday night.
Jeff Carter and Danny Briere also scored, and Randy Jones had two assists as the Flyers won for only the second time in 11 home games after opening the season 6-0 in Philadelphia.
Mike Richards earned an assist on Lupul’s second goal to stretch his point streak at home to 16 games, tying a team record set by Bobby Clarke in the 1975-76 season.
Mats Sundin scored for the Maple Leafs, who dropped their second straight game and fifth in six.
Andrew Raycroft, making his second start in two games in place of Vesa Toskala who is nursing a groin injury, stopped 30 shots. Toronto went 2-3-2 on its seven-game road trip.
Canadiens 5, Lightning 2
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Andrei Markov and Andrei Kastsitsyn scored 24 seconds apart early in the third period, Cristobal Huet had 28 saves and Montreal beat Tampa Bay.
Maxim Lapierre, Guillaume Latendresse and Alex Kovalev also scored for the Canadiens, who had lost two straight.
Vinny Prospal and Jan Hlavac scored third-period goals for the slumping Lightning, who have lost eight of 10. Tampa Bay has scored two goals or fewer during regulation in 10 of 11 games.
Markov’s goal 44 seconds into the third during a power play, put Montreal up 4-0. Kastsitsyn made it a five-goal lead at 1:08.
Johan Holmqvist was pulled for the fourth time in five starts early in the second after allowing three goals on 11 shots. He returned for the final 13 minutes of the game.
Senators 5, Islanders 2
OTTAWA (AP) – Jason Spezza scored a power-play goal for his 300th NHL point and Dany Heatley had two assists to reach 50 points this season, leading Ottawa over the New York Islanders.
Daniel Alfredsson scored his 22nd goal and Martin Gerber made 24 saves, extending his and the Senators’ winning streaks to three.
Antoine Vermette, Nick Foligno and Mike Fisher also scored for the Senators, who have won nine of 11 (9-1-1).
Bill Guerin scored twice for New York, ruining Gerber’s shutout bid 8:13 into the third. He added his team-leading 12th of the season at 15:39.
New York was without No. 1 goalie Rick DiPietro, who sprained his left knee Wednesday night. Wade Dubielewicz, the Islanders’ rarely used backup, made 32 saves in just his third start of the season. New York had a three-game winning streak snapped.
Panthers 5, Thrashers 3
ATLANTA (AP) – Nathan Horton scored two goals for the first time since last March to help Florida end an 11-game skid in Atlanta.
Ilya Kovalchuk scored his NHL-leading 30th and 31st goals in the third period for the Thrashers, but Jay Bouwmeester sealed Florida’s victory with an empty-net goal with 56 seconds remaining.
The Panthers had gone 0-10-1 at Philips Arena since November 2003. They took a 2-0 lead in the first on goals by Horton and Radek Dvorak.
Ruslan Salei put Florida ahead 3-1 with 16:51 remaining.
Mark Recchi scored his fifth goal in nine games with Atlanta on the power play to make it 4-3.
Penguins 4, Capitals 3, OT
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Sergei Gonchar made up for two misplays by scoring in overtime after Darryl Sydor had tied it late in the third period, and Pittsburgh rallied to beat Washington.
Washington’s Olaf Kolzig made 16 consecutive saves after Brent Johnson sprained his left knee late in the first period as Washington turned a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead, only to give up two goals in little more than three minutes. Sydor’s goal, his first with Pittsburgh in 31 games, came with 2:16 left in regulation. Gonchar won it 1:33 into overtime.
Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby had two assists, giving him 17 points in 10 career games against Alex Ovechkin – nine of them Penguins victories. Ovechkin has four goals and 10 points against Pittsburgh.
Ty Conklin stopped 22 shots and is 3-0 in four starts as Dany Sabourin’s backup.
The Capitals, losing their fifth in seven games, had taken a 3-2 lead on Ovechkin’s goal late in the second.
Predators 4, Blue Jackets 3
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Ville Koistinen’s first NHL goal was a winner as Nashville edged Columbus.
Jason Arnott, Alexander Radulov and Jordin Tootoo also scored for the Predators.
Kris Beech and David Vyborny had power-play goals for the Blue Jackets, and Jiri Novotny also scored for Columbus.
It was the 300th win for both the Predators and Barry Trotz, marking the 18th time a coach has won 300 games with an NHL team.
Wild 3, Coyotes 2
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) – Niklas Backstrom made 46 saves in Minnesota’s victory over Phoenix.
The Wild bounced back quickly from an 8-3 loss in Dallas on Wednesday. That tied the franchise record for goals allowed in a road game.
Backstrom was aided by three power-play goals, the second time in four games Minnesota clicked three times with the advantage.
Eric Belanger, Brian Rolston and Mark Parrish scored for Minnesota.
Phoenix got goals from Joel Perrault and Enver Lisin, just recalled from San Antonio.
Ducks 2, Oilers 1
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) – Doug Weight scored a tiebreaking goal with 3:39 left to lift Anaheim over Edmonton.
Weight took a pass from Bobby Ryan before beating Oilers goalie Mathieu Garon. Corey Perry also scored for the Ducks while Marty Reasoner had the lone Edmonton goal.
The Ducks (19-15-5) are 4-0-1 since defenseman Scott Neidermayer returned to the team. The Oilers dropped their fourth straight.
Red Wings 4, Avalanche 2
DENVER (AP) – Valtteri Filppula scored two goals for the second straight game and Dominik Hasek made 22 saves for Detroit.
It was the Red Wings’ 11th win in December and their 13th victory in 15 games.
Jiri Hudler broke a 2-2 tie with 9 minutes left in the second period, and Mikael Samuelsson added an empty-net goal.
Marek Svatos and Cody McLeod scored, and Peter Budaj had 26 saves for the Avalanche, who had their five-game, home winning streak snapped.
Colorado will be without Joe Sakic for quite a bit longer as the Avalanche captain will undergo hernia surgery on Friday and is expected to miss eight-to-12 weeks.
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