Joe Sacco, playing in his first game with Philadelphia, scored the tiebreaker early in the third period Thursday to help the Flyers beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-1.
Sacco, a 12-year veteran who was signed to a free-agent contract Wednesday, threw the puck toward the front of the net. Michal Handzus spun around, shot between his legs and hit the post. Sacco then skated in and hammered home the rebound to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead at 3:04 of the final period. It was his first goal since March 30, 2001, when he was playing for the Washington Capitals.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Handzus flipped in a wrist shot from the slot with 4:09 remaining to make it 3-1, and Chris Therien scored an empty-net goal with 13 seconds left.
Senators 3, Mighty Ducks 1
In Ottawa, Martin Prusek came within 5:41 of recording Ottawa's fourth consecutive shutout and Marian Hossa scored his 29th and 30th goals as the Senators increased their league-leading points total to 64.
Prusek stopped 23 of 24 shots, extending Ottawa's team-record shutout streak to 244 minutes, 47 seconds before allowing Stanislav Chistov's power-play goal with less than six minutes remaining.
Hossa, who was named to the Eastern Conference All-Star team during the game, scored his 12th power-play goal of the season in the first period and added his second of the game 4:27 into the third.
Wild 5, Canucks 2
In St. Paul, Minnesota, Pascal Dupuis recorded the first two-goal game of his career and Marian Gaborik had a goal and three assists to lead Minnesota over Vancouver.
Dupuis' second goal came with 8:33 remaining in the game after Trent Klatt had pulled the Canucks to 3-2. Dupuis took a nice pass from Gaborik on a two-on-one break to beat Dan Cloutier and give Minnesota a 4-2 lead.
Gaborik, who became the franchise's first-ever NHL All-Star selection earlier in the day, broke his seven-game goalless streak with an empty-net goal with 1:58 to play.
Islanders 3, Blues 2, OT
In St. Louis, Oleg Kvasha scored on a backhander with 3:01 remaining in overtime as New York rebounded from a shutout loss 24 hours earlier to beat St. Louis.
The Islanders had lost twice in overtime in their previous four games, including 5-0 to New Jersey on Wednesday. Kvasha broke in on Brent Johnson on the winner, converting New York's only shot of the extra period for his fifth goal and second in three games.
Pavol Demitra forced overtime when he scored with 3:51 to go in regulation off a goalie-freezing setup from Al MacInnis as the Blues rallied from a two-goal deficit to salvage a point. Cory Stillman also scored for the Blues.
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