PHILADELPHIA – Mike Rathje scored 3:17 into overtime, leading the Philadelphia Flyers to a 6-5 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night.

Maxime Talbot’s fluke goal with 8:03 completed Pittsburgh’s rally from a four-goal deficit, but the Penguins (0-1-4) couldn’t pull out their first victory in their fourth consecutive overtime game.

Shortly after the Penguins killed Philadelphia’s two-man advantage in the extra session, Rathje took a slap shot that appeared to bounce in off the crossbar.

Simon Gagne had two goals and two assists, and Keith Primeau, Joni Pitkanen and Derian Hatcher also scored for Philadelphia, which won for the second time in four games.

Sidney Crosby, John LeClair, Ryan Malone and Dick Tarnstrom also scored for Pittsburgh.

The Penguins, who fell behind 5-1 early in the third period, tied it when Talbot, after winning a faceoff, flicked a shot from beyond center ice that bounced off unaware goaltender Antero Niittymaki and in for his first career goal.

The Penguins closed within 5-4 when Tarnstrom scored during a two-man advantage 5:20 into the third. Malone and Crosby scored 57 seconds apart in the second period, and Pittsburgh had a goal early in the third disallowed.

Penguins goaltender Sebastien Caron made an outstanding, sprawling save with 1:11 left to preserve the regulation tie. After a shot hit the post, Caron, while laying flat on his back, reached around and gloved a rebound shot by Brian Savage.

Primeau and Pitkanen scored to put the Flyers ahead 2-0 in the first. LeClair’s goal with :03 left in the first cut it to 2-1. But Gagne answered with a pair of goals early in the second.

Leafs 9, Thrashers 1

ATLANTA – Jeff O’Neill scored a goal in each period for his second hat trick against Atlanta in two seasons and the Toronto Maple Leafs routed the Thrashers and rookie goalie Michael Garnett 9-1 on Friday night.

O’Neill scored his 200th career goal to give the Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead in the first period. His second goal was the first of three for Toronto in the middle period, and he added a third when the Maple Leafs blew the game open with four goals in the final period.

O’Neill picked up where he left off against the Thrashers before the lockout. He had a hat trick in a 4-3 win over Atlanta on Jan. 16, 2004, while playing with Carolina.

The Maple Leafs scored seven goals in 14 power-play opportunities.

Play was halted midway through the final period when a fight broke out between Tornoto’s Eric Lindros and Atlanta’s Niclas Havelid among others. When play resumed, another brawl was touched off after Maple Leafs forward Darcy Tucker, who had a goal and three assists, was knocked to the ice behind the Thrashers’ net.

Atlanta’s Andy Sutton was ejected after being charged with an attempt-to-injure penalty.

Tucker and Jason Allison also scored in the second period as Toronto pulled away for its first road win.

The game matched Toronto’s 40-year-old goalie Ed Belfour against the 22-year-old Garnett, making his first NHL start. Garnett made his first appearance Wednesday night in a 2-0 loss to Montreal after Mike Dunham injured his groin.

The Thrashers were also without No. 1 goalie Kari Lehtonen, who is on the injured list with a more serious groin injury.

Canucks 5, Wild 3

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Richard Park had the go-ahead goal and two assists against his old team, leading the Vancouver Canucks past the Minnesota Wild 5-3 on Friday night.

On an assist from new linemate Markus Naslund, Park fired an uncontested wrist shot from the back of the left circle that got past goalie Dwayne Roloson early in the third period.

Naslund, Anson Carter and Ryan Kesler also scored for the Canucks, who came back with a spirited effort after a sluggish, embarrassing 6-0 loss here to the Wild here two nights ago.

Watching his team get outshot 41-13, Roloson made 36 saves for Minnesota. After Roloson was pulled with one minute left, Vancouver’s Todd Bertuzzi found a wayward puck, broke free and scored into the empty net.

Vancouver coach Marc Crawford mixed up his top lines, moving the struggling All-Star Bertuzzi back with Kesler and Matt Cooke, and grouping Park with Naslund and center Brendan Morrison. Whether the changes had anything to do with it or not, the Canucks clearly had a much stronger attack than they showed their Northwest Division rival on Wednesday.

They held a 13-1 shots advantage in the first period and hung on during an active second period while the Wild came to life – scoring three times.

‘Hawks 3, Avalanche 2

DENVER – Nikolai Khabibulin played his best game in goal since signing with Chicago, and the Blackhawks scored on all three chances in a shootout to beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-2 Friday night.

Colorado’s Joe Sakic matched Tyler Arnason on the first shot of the shootout, but rookie Marek Svatos missed the net after Chicago’s Tuomo Ruutu scored at the other end. Pavel Vorobiev sealed the Blackhawks’ second win of the season by beating Colorado goalie Peter Budaj to the glove side.

Jaroslav Spacek scored in the first period and Kyle Calder put the Blackhawks up 2-1 with six minutes left in regulation, lifting in a rebound after Budaj made a difficult save against Arnason.

But Chicago, just like it had all game, couldn’t keep players out of the penalty box. After failing on two brief two early man advantages, Colorado capitalized this time, with John-Michael Liles getting a hard slap shot past Khabibulin with 2:03 left in regulation.

Chicago was called for 13 penalties – 11 in the first two periods.

Sakic tied Maurice Richard for 21st on the NHL list with his 544th career goal. Budaj was solid in his second game, stopping 38 shots, including 16 in a back-and-forth second period. But Colorado had trouble getting shots past Khabibulin, particularly on the power play, where the Avalanche were 2-for-12.

Stars 3, Oilers 2

EDMONTON, Alberta – Steve Ott scored his first goal of the season with 8:15 left in the third period and Johan Hedberg turned aside 33 shots as the Dallas Stars beat the Edmonton Oilers 3-2 on Friday night.

Hedberg was solid in his season debut as Stars coach Dave Tippett gave starter Marty Turco the night off.

Jussi Jokinen and Bill Guerin also had goals for the Stars, who beat the Flames in Calgary on Thursday and swept consecutive games in Alberta.

Jason Smith and Jani Rita scored for Edmonton, and Jarret Stoll added two assists.

Ty Conklin started in goal for the Oilers but was pulled for Jussi Markkanen after giving up two goals on eight shots, including Guerin’s tap-in 16 seconds into the second period.

The Oilers were unable to tie it after Ott beat Markkanen in heavy traffic. Stars captain Mike Modano took two late penalties, but Hedberg held off the Oilers.

Trailing 2-0 in the second period, Smith gave the capacity crowd reason to cheer when he scored moments after Michael Peca missed on a chance for his first goal with Edmonton.

Rita scored his first of the season shortly after when he tipped a point shot by Marc-Andre Bergeron past Hedberg.

Oilers center Shawn Horcoff, who had six points in the first four games, injured his right shoulder in the second period and didn’t return.

Notes: Oilers RW Todd Harvey also sat out with a high right ankle sprain. … The game was delayed in the second period as Hedberg was told he needed to replace the black tape on the end of his stick with white tape.

Copy the Story Link