PHILADELPHIA – In the first meeting between the teams since a shootout on the last day of the season sent the Philadelphia Flyers to the playoffs and the New York Rangers golfing, Blair Betts and Nikolay Zherdev scored against their former team as Philadelphia earned a 4-1 victory Thursday night.
Mike Richards and Chris Pronger added power-play goals for Philadelphia, which extended its season-best winning streak to five games.
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“We knew it was going to be a physical, emotional battle,” Betts said. “We got a couple of big power-play goals and that helped us out quite a bit.”
In the second period, Brandon Dubinsky fired a rebound from Michael Del Zotto’s shot past goalie Sergei Bobrovsky to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead. Dubinsky leads the Rangers with eight goals in 12 games.
Philadelphia scored the next three goals against Henrik Lundqvist, who started despite being hit on the right side of his neck in practice Wednesday.
Richards tied the game at 5:12 with a one-timer from one knee.
More than four minutes later, Betts gave the Flyers the lead when he fetched his own rebound and backhanded a shot past Lundqvist.
BLUE JACKETS 3, THRASHERS 0: Mathieu Garon stopped 25 shots for his second straight shutout, leading Columbus to a win at Atlanta.
Derick Brassard scored for the fifth time in six games, on a snap shot 4:46 into the second period.
Brassard, who had nine goals in 79 games last season, also picked up an assist when Marc Methot scored midway through the third period for a 2-0 lead. R.J. Umberger added an empty-netter.
SENATORS 4, ISLANDERS 1: Jason Spezza had a goal and three assists, and Ottawa handed visiting New York its sixth straight loss.
Spezza, held without a point in his first two games back from a groin injury, set up goals by defensemen Sergei Gonchar and David Hale before scoring his second of the season.
He got his third assist when Chris Kelly scored into an empty net with 12.5 seconds left.
BLUES 2, SHARKS 0: David Perron recovered from Joe Thornton’s elbow to the head and helped St. Louis improve to 6-0 at home.
Thornton drew a five-minute major penalty and game misconduct for head contact after his mid-ice check early in the second period sent Perron sprawling to the ice.
Perron scored late in the second period after Matt D’Agostini got his fifth goal of the season in the first.
The Blues extended their franchise record to 12 wins overall in a row at home despite going 0 for 6 on the power play. Jaroslav Halak made 25 saves for his third shutout of the season.
CANUCKS 3, AVALANCHE 1: Backup goalie Cory Schneider stopped 33 shots, Ryan Kesler scored the first of three power-play goals and visiting Vancouver won its fifth straight.
Henrik Sedin and Raffi Torres also scored for the Canucks, and Daniel Sedin added two assists.
David Van Der Gulik scored his first NHL goal late in the game, spoiling Schneider’s bid for his first career shutout.
Colorado’s Peter Budaj stopped 33 shots filling in for Craig Anderson, who’s out indefinitely with a knee injury.
NOTES: The Dallas Stars signed goaltender Jack Campbell to a three-year entry-level contract.
Campbell, 18, was the 11th pick in this year’s draft and has been playing for the Windsor Spitfires of the Western Hockey League.
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