The Philadelphia Flyers destroyed Los Angeles’ suddenly susceptible defense and beat the Kings 7-4 in the NHL on Thursday.
Mike Richards had two goals and two assists, while Danny Briere, James van Riemsdyk and Jeff Carter each had a goal and an assist for the Flyers, who shredded the mistake-prone Kings.
Los Angeles did have the best defense in the Western Conference, but has now given up 13 goals in its past two games.
Philadelphia goalie Michael Leighton made 32 saves while Scott Hartnell and Ville Leino also scored.
Ryan Smyth scored twice for the Kings, and Justin Williams and Jack Johnson added goals.
LIGHTNING 4, CANADIENS 1
In Tampa, Florida, Steven Stamkos had two goals and two assists to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 4-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens in the NHL on Thursday.
Martin St Louis and Pavel Kubina scored the opening two goals for Tampa Bay, 7-1-1 in its past nine games.
Stamkos made it 3-1 at 1:46 of the third when he beat goalie Carey Price with a backhander after a spin move in the slot during a penalty shot. The center extended Tampa Bay’s advantage to 4-1 on a wraparound goal, his 31st of the season, with 15:20 left.
Lightning rookie goalie Cedrick Desjardins won in his NHL debut, making 27 saves.
Max Pacioretty scored for the Canadiens.
THRASHERS 3, BRUINS 2, SO
In Atlanta, Georgia, Tim Stapleton and Bryan Little scored in the first two rounds of a shootout to lift Atlanta over the Boston Bruins.
Toby Enstrom had two power-play goals for the Thrashers, who snapped a four-game losing streak and ended the Bruins’ winning streak at three.
Stapleton, who doesn’t have a point this season, beat Tim Thomas with a shot through the legs to open the shootout. Atlanta’s Ondrej Pavelec stopped Boston’s Tyler’s bid before Little put the puck past Thomas. Pavelec then stopped Blake Wheeler.
Wheeler and Patrice Bergeron scored in regulation for Boston.
AVALANCHE 4, OILERS 3, SO
In Edmonton, Alberta, Colorado won its first game in four by beating the Edmonton Oilers in a shootout.
T.J. Galiardi, Paul Stastny and Tomas Fleischmann scored in the first 14:49 to stake Colorado to a 3-0 lead, but the Oilers came back to tie it. Taylor Hall connected in the second period and Ales Hemsky and Andrew Cogliano scored early in the third.
Craig Anderson made 32 saves for the Avalanche, then turned aside three shooters in the tiebreaker, with Milan Hejduk scoring Colorado’s winner.
SHARKS 5, BLACKHAWKS 3
In Chicago, Joe Thornton broke a tie on a deflection in the third period and the San Jose Sharks went on to secure victory over Chicago.
Thornton, parked in front of the crease, redirected Marc-Edouard Vlasic’s shot from the left point past Marty Turco 7 seconds after a San Jose power-play ended.
Scott Nichol, Benn Ferriero, Dany Heatley and Ryane Clowe also scored for the Sharks, who bounced back after blowing a 3-1 lead.
Clowe connected into an empty net with 48 seconds left.
Patrick Sharp, Troy Brouwer and Brian Campbell scored for Chicago.
BLUE JACKETS 3, MAPLE LEAFS 2
In Toronto, Kristian Huselius scored twice to give the Columbus Blue Jackets victory over Toronto.
R.J. Umberger added the winner with his 11th goal of the season at 3:34 of the third. With Joey Crabb off for holding, Umberger tipped Rick Nash’s wrist shot past goalie Jonas Gustavsson.
Blue Jackets goalie Steve Mason made 20 saves.
Nikolai Kulemin and Tyler Bozak scored for Toronto.
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