Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Coyotes 3, Flyers 2
PHILADELPHIA — Peter Mueller scored at 6:25 of the third period to break a tie and help lift Phoenix. Mueller punched in a rebound during a wild goalmouth scramble after goaltender Marty Biron had turned away shots by Zbynek Michalek and Steven Reinprecht. Keith Yandle and Fredrik Sjostrom also scored for the Coyotes, who were coming off back-to-back road wins over the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers. Phoenix has won four of its last five games, all on the road. Scott Hartnell and Mike Richards scored for the Flyers, who have a season-longest four-game losing streak. The Flyers have lost eight of their last nine games at home (1-6-2) since opening the season 6-0 in Philadelphia.
Hurricanes 3, Maple Leafs 2 OT
RALEIGH, N.C. — Carolina’s Scott Walker scored in overtime after the Hurricanes scored twice in the final 1:25 of regulation to give Carolina a dramatic victory. With Carolina on the power play, Walker’s deflection of Eric Staal’s slap shot came 32.6 seconds before the game would have gone to a shootout and gave the Hurricanes their second straight win. The Hurricanes came up empty on their first seven power plays. Carolina’s Cory Stillman and Ray Whitney scored less than a minute apart at the end of the third. John Grahame made 34 saves for the Hurricanes. Alexei Ponikarovsky and Tomas Kaberle had Toronto’s goals. It was the Maple Leafs’ seventh overtime loss of the season, most in the NHL.
Panthers 3, Canadiens 2
MONTREAL — Jozef Stumpel and Brett McLean scored first-period goals and Tomas Vokoun made 23 saves, leading Florida. Stumpel scored his fifth goal of the season on a 2-on-1 with Panthers captain Olli Jokinen. McLean made it a two-goal lead four minutes later at 18:12 when his shot from the right point beat Canadiens defenseman Mike Komisarek, who was left trying to play goalie after Carey Price’s aggressive puckhandling led directly to a costly blunder. Stephen Weiss increased the lead to 3-0 when he beat Price from the left side 7:05 into the third. Vokoun had two shutouts in his previous five games and lost a bid to add another 8:25 into the third when Andrei Markov scored to draw Montreal within 3-1.
Senators 3, Bruins 2
BOSTON — Jason Spezza scored a pair of goals to lead the Senators to their sixth straight win in a matchup of the Eastern Conference’s top two teams. Luke Richardson’s goal broke a 1-1 tie midway into the second and Spezza scored his second goal on a power play in the third. The Senators made it last with an uncharacteristic, close-checking style. Martin Gerber made 26 saves for Ottawa, which started its winning streak after losing a season-high seven consecutive games. Chuck Kobasew scored his team-leading 13th goal for the Bruins. He has four of Boston’s five goals in its three losses against Ottawa this season. The Bruins lost for just the second time in six games.
Thrashers 6, Lightning 2
ATLANTA — Garnet Exelby, Mark Recchi and Slava Kozlov each scored first-period goals as Atlanta ended its four-game losing streak. It was Tampa Bay’s third straight loss and fifth in six games, and dropped the Lightning’s road record to a league-worst 3-12-1. Atlanta’s Ilya Kovalchuk, who had an assist, added his league-leading 27th goal in the third period. Recchi, who has five goals, scored his third goal in four games since being claimed on waivers from Pittsburgh on Dec. 8, beating Tampa Bay goaltender Johan Holmqvist from in close at the 15:04 mark of the opening period with Kovalchuk getting an assist.
Associated Press