Flyers off to good start on record road trip
The Philadelphia Flyers are making the longest road trip in franchise history a little longer.
Michal Handzus converted in the fourth round of a shootout Monday night to give the Flyers a 3-2 victory over the Florida Panthers.
The 11-game trek started with an overtime victory in Pittsburgh last Friday.
"I thought we were a little lethargic during the first two periods with all the travel we've done," Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock said. "Our timing was better and our checking a lot better in the third period. We did a better job of getting ourselves into a scoring position later in the game."
The Flyers had good scoring opportunities in the overtime but Roberto Luongo stopped two shots from Frederick Meyer and then turned away Peter Forsberg's shot just outside the crease with 7 seconds remaining as Philadelphia failed to convert on a 3-on-1 break.
After Mike Richards, Forsberg and Simon Gagne were unable to get anything past Luongo in the shootout, Handzus beat him with a backhander.
"I don't think about (pressure) because it's part of the game," Handzus said. "I didn't really think anything and then the backhand opened up."
Chris Gratton put the Panthers ahead 2-1 with his third goal of the season at 4:31 of the third period. Ben Eager, who scored his first NHL goal late in the first period, got his second of the game with 13:17 left in the third period to tie it.
"The second one was just there for me in front of the net," Eager said. "You want to score goals — it certainly helped a little bit. It's something of a surprise."
Chris Drury had a goal and two assists, and Ryan Miller made 16 saves for host Buffalo, which rallied for its 17th win in 20 games. The Sabres swept the four-game, season series after losing seven of its last eight games to the Islanders.
Rookie Michael Garnett had 36 saves and became the first Atlanta goaltender to post consecutive shutouts and Jaroslav Modry had a goal and three assists for the Thrashers.
Nikolai Zherdev tied the game with an acrobatic goal with 23 seconds left in regulation and Jaroslav Balastik scored in overtime as host Columbus ended a six-game losing streak. The Blue Jackets improved to 6-1 in overtime games and shootouts. They are 4-25-0 in games decided in regulation.
Wade Redden had two goals and two assists for Ottawa, which scored three power-play goals in the first period. Redden, who set a career high with the four points, gave the Senators a 3-2 lead in the second period. Ottawa moved ahead of idle Detroit atop the league's overall standings with 53 points.
Bryan McCabe scored his 13th goal of the season in the first period and it stood up as the game-winner and Ed Belfour stopped 33 shots for host Toronto, which won consecutive games for the first time since Nov. 26-28.
Dan Boyle scored with 33 seconds left in overtime and Dave Andreychuk had two goals to lift host Tampa Bay, which snapped a four-game losing streak.
Johan Hedberg, starting while Marty Turco remained in Dallas with the flu, had two assists and 25 saves. Hedberg became the first goalie to have a multipoint game since Colorado's Patrick Roy had two assists against Nashville on Dec. 29, 2000.
Milan Hejduk's third-period goal capped a comeback from a three-goal deficit for Colorado. The Avs, who entered the final period trailing 4-3, added two empty-netters in the final minute.
Marion Gaborik scored with 45 seconds left in the second period to break a tie and Minnesota snapped Edmonton's five-game winning streak. Manny Fernandez made 27 stops for the Wild.
Robyn Regehr scored a power-play goal midway through the third period for Calgary, just 2 minutes after Anson Carter tied the game for Vancouver.
Michael Cammalleri, Joe Corvo and Craig Conroy scored power-play goals for host Los Angeles, which remained tied with Dallas for first place in the Pacific Division.