PHILADELPHIA – Jarkko Immonen and Matt Cullen each had a goal and assist and the New York Rangers beat the Philadelphia Flyers 3-1 on Tuesday night for their season-high, fourth straight victory.

Michael Nylander also scored for the Rangers.

Kevin Weekes, making his second consecutive start for the first time since early November, stopped 15 shots as his teammates played tenacious defense and allowed their fewest shots this season.

R.J. Umberger scored for the Flyers, who dropped their fourth straight game.

Immonen broke a 1-1 tie at 15:55 of the second period with a backhander from the right circle that seemed to handcuff Flyers goalie Antero Niittymaki, who allowed the puck to trickle between his pads.

It was Immonen’s first goal in eight games, since last April 8 at Boston. He has played in four games with the Rangers since being recalled from Hartford of the AHL.

Sabres 3, Devils 2

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Daniel Briere set up all three Buffalo goals as the Sabres took a comfortable lead and then held on in the final minute for a 3-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night.

Senators 3, Red Wings 2

DETROIT – Ottawa scored three goals in a span of 5:01 in the second period, two by Jason Spezza, to beat Detroit 3-2 on Tuesday night.

The Senators, who broke a three-game losing streak, also got a goal from Chris Neil. Ray Emery made 43 saves, including a point blank stop on Mikael Samuelsson with 2:39 remaining. Robert Lang, and Pavel Datsyuk got the goals for Detroit, which had its three-game winning streak snapped. Dominik Hasek made 19 saves.

Ducks 5, Panthers 4

SUNRISE, Fla. – Chris Pronger snapped a third-period tie with his second goal of the game and the Anaheim Ducks improved the best start in franchise history by beating the Florida Panthers 5-4 Tuesday night.

The Ducks, who broke the team record with their sixth consecutive road victory, improved to 24-3-6. Their 54 points are the most by any team through 33 games since the 1979 Philadelphia Flyers had 54.

Leafs 5, Lightning 4

TORONTO – Darcy Tucker and Jeff O’Neill scored in the third period and the Toronto Maple Leafs stopped a seven-game skid with a 5-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night.

Chad Kilger scored twice and Alex Ponikarovsky also scored for the Maple Leafs, who called a 30-second timeout after falling behind 3-1 early in the second. Toronto coach Paul Maurice replaced backup goalie Jean-Sebastien Aubin with Andrew Raycroft during the timeout.

The move worked as the Maple Leafs followed with four straight goals.

Toronto captain Mats Sundin, who struggled during the skid, threw the puck on net before Tucker tipped it in for his 18th goal of the season and 13th on the power play, tying Ottawa’s Marian Hossa for the league lead in power-play goals.

O’Neill made it 5-3 by scoring on a rebound at 10:55 of the third.

AP-ES-12-12-06 2212EST


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