The Philadelphia Flyers seized upon a costly Carolina penalty to score two power-play goals and beat the Hurricanes 2-1 in the NHL on Thursday.
Carolina’s Tuomo Ruutu was called for slashing late in the second period and Philadelphia made the most of the man advantage early in the third.
Jeff Carter took a feed from Mike Richards and fired a wrist shot off Cam Ward’s glove to make it 1-0, then Danny Briere scored his team-best 27th goal at 11:27, going top shelf on the right side of the net.
Brian Boucher stopped 31 shots for the Eastern Conference--leading Flyers. Carolina ranks 23rd in the league against the power play, 25th on the road.
Ruutu scored for Carolina.
PENGUINS 2, KINGS 1, OT
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Jordan Staal scored in overtime to give Pittsburgh victory over Los Angeles.
It appeared a shootout was on the way before Staal ripped a shot past Jonathan Quick to give the Penguins a needed burst of good news in a tumultuous week.
Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said on Thursday there is no timetable for his return from a concussion. The Penguins have been gutted by injuries and played four call-ups plucked from the minors. Brett Sterling, one of those call-ups, scored his first goal for the Penguins.
Pittsburgh’s Dan Bylsma became the third coach in team history to win 100 games. His .657 winning percentage entering the game was already tops in team history.
SABRES 3, PANTHERS 2
In Sunrise, Florida, Tyler Myers’ overtime goal lifted Buffalo over Florida.
Myers’ slap shot from well above the right circle went over Tomas Vokoun’s left shoulder and into the net for his seventh goal of the season. Mike Weber and Thomas Vanek also scored for the Sabres.
Steve Bernier and Marty Reasoner scored for Florida.
ISLANDERS 4, CANADIENS 3, SO
In Montreal, Kyle Okposo scored on the Islanders’ fourth shootout attempt to give New York a win over Montreal.
Islanders goalie Mikko Koskinen turned aside Montreal’s first four shots in the tiebreaker after stopping 37 shots during the game and notched his first NHL win in his second start.
The Islanders failed to convert their first three attempts before Okposo shot past Alex Auld to hand the Canadiens their third straight loss.
Michael Grabner had two goals and John Tavares also scored for New York.
The Canadiens’ goals came from Max Pacioretty, Benoit Pouliot and Tomas Plekanec.
In other NHL action, it was:
‧ Devils 2, Maple Leafs 1
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