TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Ryan Craig and Ruslan Fedotenko scored second-period goals and Marc Denis made 34 saves to help the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-1 on Thursday night.

The Lightning, who had lost four of five, also got third-period goals from Vinny Prospal and Nikita Alexeev. Tampa Bay has won nine straight games against the Flyers, outscoring Philadelphia 43-16.

Denis lost his bid for his first shutout of the season and 16th overall when Sami Kapanen scored a short-handed goal with 4:12 left.

Philadelphia center Peter Forsberg left in the first after spraining his left wrist. The Flyers’ captain, expected to miss Friday night’s game at Florida, was hurt when he used his arm to brace himself against the boards. A team official said X-rays were negative.

Antero Niittymaki made 32 saves for the Flyers, who were coming off a 9-1 loss to Buffalo on Tuesday night. Philadelphia has dropped four in a row.

Craig put the Lightning ahead 1-0 at 7:38 of the second when he made a waist-high deflection off a tipped pass from Brad Richards. Criag left later in the second with a right knee injury.

Fedotenko made it 2-0 on a rebound goal with 6:12 left in the second. Philadelphia has been outscored 15-6 during the second this season.

Notes: The Flyers sent C Petr Nedved and LW Niko Dimitrakos to Philadelphia of the AHL. Both had been placed on waivers Wednesday. … Criag has four goals in three career games against Philadelphia. … Flyers D Mike Rathje returned after missing five games with a back injury. … Lightning C Andreas Karlsson (strained groin) played after sitting out five game.

AP-ES-10-19-06 2207EDT

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