Martin Erat scored with 5:09 left to help the Nashville Predators win their third straight NHL game, 3-2 over Philadelphia on Wednesday.
Steve Sullivan and Alexander Radulov also scored, and Chris Mason stopped 24 shots for the Central Division-leading Predators. Mason has been strong in goal since replacing the injured Tomas Vokoun [thumb], improving to 5-1-1 this season.
About 90 seconds after the last-place Flyers showed some surprising spirit to tie it at 2-2 on R.J. Umberger's seventh goal of the season, the Predators scored on a turnover that showed why each team is at their current spot in the standings.
PHOTO: AP
Flyers defenseman Mike Rathje whiffed over the top of the puck and had it swiped away in the circle by Paul Kariya, who quickly fed to Erat for his sixth goal of the season.
Not surprisingly, the crowd erupted in boos and the Flyers failed in their bid to win three straight games for the first time this season. Antero Niittymaki had 26 saves and Mike Knuble scored his eighth goal for the Flyers.
Blackhawks 2, Stars 1
At Chicago, Tuomu Ruutu scored with 1:48 left to give Chicago the victory in Denis Savard's first game as the Blackhawks' head coach.
The goal, Ruutu's fifth of the season and fourth in five games, gave the Blackhawks just their fourth victory in 16 games and their first over Dallas since January 2002.
Savard took over the team on Monday after Trent Yawney was fired.
Chicago's Duncan Keith tied it at 1 with 8:17 left in the third.
Jere Lehtinen had a first-period goal for Dallas.
Sharks 2, Wild 1
At St. Paul, Minnesota, rookie Joe Pavelski and Steve Bernier scored goals and Evgeni Nabokov made 15 saves for San Jose in its fourth straight victory.
Pavelski has scored in consecutive games and has three goals in four NHL games.
Mattias Weinhandl scored for Minnesota.
The Phoenix Coyotes suspended rookie forward Enver Lisin without pay on Wednesday after he left to play in his Russian homeland instead of reporting to a US minor league. The Coyotes had reassigned the 20-year-old Lisin to their American Hockey League affiliate in San Antonio on Monday. But the right wing returned home where he is expected to play for Ak Bars Kazan in the Russian League.
"We are very disappointed in Enver's decision to not report to the San Antonio Rampage," Coyotes general manager Mike Barnett said. "We fully expected him to honor his contract, thus we have no choice but to suspend him as a result of his actions."
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