Sergei Samsonov scored his second goal of the season with 1:07 remaining in overtime as the Hurricanes prevailed 3-2 on Friday afternoon at Wachovia Center, putting an end to the Flyers' six-game winning streak and ending a three-game skid for Carolina.

Patrick Dwyer scored his first NHL goal and Tuomo Ruutu scored 1:06 later in regulation for the Hurricanes, but a second point wasn't secured until Samsonov skated to the goalmouth and beat Flyers goalie Martin Biron to the glove side with a forehand shot.

"You try to get as much speed as you can to avoid the poke check," Samsonov said. "Once I got to the net, I had more room than I thought, so I just tried to squeeze one by."

Joffrey Lupul and Jeff Carter each had a goal and an assist for the Flyers, who moved into third in the Atlantic Division, one point ahead of idle New Jersey. Biron made 27 saves, but Philadelphia couldn't extend a win streak that was the team's longest since the 1999-2000 season.

"We had some great opportunities that we didn't capitalize on," Flyers coach John Stevens said. "We let them (Carolina) hang around and because of that, they end up winning the hockey game."

Among the 24 stops Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward made were brilliant saves off breakaways by Carter and Scottie Upshall late in the first period with the Flyers already holding a 1-0 lead.

"He's been real good," Laviolette said. "He's seeing the puck really well and we have to give him a little offensive help."

Lupul's eighth goal, a power-play goal at 4:08 of the first period, opened the scoring. Lupul's shot deflected off the stick of Carolina defenseman Joni Pitkanen, an ex-Flyer, and over Ward's left shoulder.

That lead held up until quick strikes by Dwyer and Ruutu in the final five minutes of the second. Dwyer picked up his first NHL goal at the 15-minute mark, deflecting a Pitkanen shot past Biron, and Ruutu followed with a shot from inside the blue line that took a bounce off the leg of Philadelphia defenseman Ossi Vaananen and into the net, giving the Hurricanes a 2-1 advantage.

Carter got the Flyers even by netting his League-leading 16th of the season with 46 seconds left in the period, streaking in to beat Ward with a backhander.

The win not only got Carolina back on a winning track but helped the Hurricanes keep pressure on Washington for first place in the Southeast Division while staying firmly ahead of the rest of the pack.

"Every game seems to be a battle for us," Samsonov said. "We've been playing from behind a lot lately, so it's not a good thing. We try to stay positive."

Bruins 7, Islanders 2 | Video

Boston and New York were both looking to rebound from tough losses, but it was the Bruins who did so in a big way Friday afternoon.

GAME OF THE NIGHT

Capitals keep rolling at home

Brian Compton - NHL.com Staff Writer
Not even a slew of injuries could stop the Capitals from recording another win at Verizon Center, as Jose Theodore shut out the Canadiens 3-0 and helped Bruce Boudreau record his 50th win as Washington coach. READ MORE ›

 

• Hiller, Getzlaf lead Ducks past Blackhawks, 1-0
• Tellqvist makes 37 saves as Coyotes beat Avs
• Shots on Goal: The Night in Photos

NIGHTLY ROUNDUP ARCHIVE ›

Blake Wheeler and David Krejci set each other up for goals 10 seconds apart during a five-goal third period and Michael Ryder scored twice as Boston turned a close game through 40 minutes into a blowout at TD Banknorth Garden.

Chuck Kobasew, Dennis Wideman and Phil Kessel also netted goals as Boston hit the Islanders with a blitz of five unanswered goals after ex-Bruin Nate Thompson got New York on the board first in the opening minutes of the game.

"We put on a good show," Wheeler said. "Some people say we're too defensively minded, but we can do that and move the puck down the ice. I think it's a good recipe for us."

Boston improved to 10-1-1 in November, with their only regulation loss this month coming Wednesday against Buffalo.

"They played great in the third, honestly," said Islanders captain Bill Guerin, whose seven-game point streak ended. "They've got a scary combination. They've got size and talent. A lot of their big guys have real good talent, too, to go along with it. You don't see that a lot."

Richard Park also scored for New York, which blew a 3-0 lead in the final 21 minutes and lost 5-3 to Pittsburgh on Wednesday. Goalie Joey MacDonald was pulled after Wheeler and Krejci made it a 4-1 game and Peter Mannino didn't fare much better in his NHL debut, yielding three goals on eight shots.

"What I said to him was, 'Hey, it's not about you, it's about making sure that you're ready to go tomorrow,' and I didn't like what I was seeing from our team," Islanders coach Scott Gordon said.

Thompson's goal at 1:46 gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead after the first period, but Kobasew tied the score on a power play 3:28 into the second and Ryder beat MacDonald through a screen with 4:44 left in the period after picking off an attempted clear by Brendan Witt to put the Bruins ahead to stay.

"I just told them that we had to stick with it and things would break," Boston coach Claude Julien said.

Manny Fernandez stopped Guerin on a breakaway early in the third with the score still 2-1 and finished with 22 saves, improving to 6-0-1 since losing his season debut.

Wild 4, Lightning 2 | Video

After blowing a third-period lead and almost letting another slip away earlier this week, Minnesota turned the tables Friday afternoon by doing the rallying themselves.

James Sheppard and Mikko Koivu scored 4:08 apart early in the third as the Wild came back from a 2-1 deficit after two periods to turn away Tampa Bay at Xcel Energy Center. Eric Belanger capped the comeback by scoring into an empty net with 23 seconds remaining.

"We showed that we can battle back and had a really strong third period, which is a big reason why we won," said Owen Nolan, who opened the scoring for Minnesota in the first.

The Wild watched a four-goal lead all but disappear in a 4-3 win Monday against Washington, then lost 4-3 to Dallas on Wednesday after holding a 3-1 advantage.

They still had to hang on after taking the lead on the Lightning, as Nick Shultz took a high-sticking penalty and Koivu an unsportsmanlike call with 5:05 left, giving Tampa a 5-on-3 advantage for a full two minutes. Niklas Backstrom, who made 19 of his 35 saves during the third period, stopped six shots as Minnesota killed off the penalties.

"It was scary, that 5-on-3, 3-on-5 at the end, especially with the guys they have. We had a couple breaks there," Minnesota coach Jacques Lemaire said. "They came close, but you have to give the guys who killed the penalty credit. Usually, you lose a game this way very easily."

Radim Vrbata scored for the Lightning with 40 seconds left in the first to answer Nolan's earlier tally, then Ryan Malone put them ahead midway through the second by finishing off a scramble in front of the net.

"I got a goal, but it doesn't matter because we lost," Malone said. The Lightning are 1-2-3 since replacing Barry Melrose with interim coach Rick Tocchet.

Defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron, who has five assists in his last three games, took a shot that Sheppard deflected for the tying goal at 2:02 of the third. Bergeron then drew the secondary assist on Koivu's game-winner.

"It's always a little more intense in the third," Bergeron said. "I've had a lot of shots blocked, so it's something I've been focusing on to get those shots through. The last couple games have been good."

Coyotes 2, Avalanche 1 | Video

Given the rare opportunity to start back-to-back games, Mikael Tellqvist didn't disappoint. The Phoenix backup made 37 saves to support goals by Derek Morris and Kevin Porter as the Coyotes won their second straight.

"This is two outstanding games in a row for him," coach Wayne Gretzky said. "He's definitely been the difference the last two games."

After making 38 saves on Wednesday in a victory over Columbus, Tellqvist carried a shutout into the third Friday at Jobing.com Arena before Ryan Smyth scored for Colorado.

"It's just for me to come in and stop the puck," Tellqvist said. "But the defense also is doing one hell of a job, too."

Morris, who had missed three games with an upper-body injury, needed only 3:33 to announce his return to the lineup and stake Phoenix to a quick lead. After gaining control of the puck at the outside of the right faceoff circle, Morris used a Daniel Carcillo screen to beat Peter Budaj on a shot into the upper right corner of the net.

Porter made it 2-0 in the second period, scoring at 4:49 off a rebound. After the original shot by Keith Yandle was stopped and Enver Lisin's attempt was blocked by Scott Hannan in front, Porter capitalized from the left side of the crease.

A redirection goal by Smyth 4:07 into the third brought Colorado within one, as the forward found himself in the right place when Ian Laperriere's bouncing shot went off his stick and past Tellqvist.

"If we continue to play with that effort and that intensity, the majority of the time we're going to come away with a win," said Avalanche coach Tony Granato.

Both teams played without some key components to their lineup. Phoenix was missing Olli Jokinen, who will miss 2-to-4 weeks with a shoulder strain, while Colorado lost Joe Sakic after just one shift with back trouble that had sidelined him for seven of the team's last nine games.

"We thought we were going to have him in there," Granato said. "To have him just a shift changes your whole dynamic of what you're going to do."

Ducks 1, Blackhawks 0 | Video

In a battle between goalies abruptly thrust into starting roles, Cristobal Huet was strong Friday but down at the other end Jonas Hiller was flawless.

Hiller stopped all 26 shots he faced and Ryan Getzlaf lit the lamp with 4:41 left in the second period as Anaheim won a defensive struggle against Chicago at Honda Center and kept rolling -- the Ducks are 12-3-3 after a 1-5 start to the season.

Hiller, making the start after Jean-Sebastien Giguere left the team and returned to his hometown of Montreal for family reasons, earned his second shutout of the season. He was rarely tested during the first and third periods, but faced 15 shots during the second and stopped them all.

"During the game, you don’t think too much about [a shutout]," Hiller said. "You just try to make the next save. Sometimes you look up to see how much time is left. At the end it doesn’t really matter if its four-to-zero or one-to-zero. You just try to stop the next puck. For sure I'm happy about the shutout."

Meanwhile, Getzlaf got the Swiss goalie all the offense he would need by sending a backhander past Huet, finishing a sequence that started when Bobby Ryan forced a turnover along the left boards. Corey Perry gathered the puck and delivered a pass that initially caromed off Getzlaf's skate, but he recovered it in time to score the decisive goal.

"It went through a couple of legs," Getzlaf said. "I was able to get a skate on it and keep it in play. Their guy came through a little bit and the goalie slid across. It was a big mess in there so I just swung at it, lifted it up and put it in."

Huet was making his first start since Nikolai Khabibulin suffered a lower-body injury in the second period of an overtime loss Wednesday to San Jose. Signed over the summer to be the Blackhawks' No. 1 goalie, Huet struggled early and watched as Khabibulin reclaimed the job and posted a 7-1-4 record prior to going down.

"He gave us a chance," Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said. "They are dangerous around the net. There are some big bodies there and quick plays and skill around there and he did what he had to do. Tough loss."

While the victory in a rare Friday afternoon contest was hardly a thing of beauty, two points are two points as far as Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle was concerned.

"I think the games immediately after Thanksgiving seem to be a little bit different," Carlyle said. "I don't think either team executed to the level that their coaches would be happy with. There is more room for improvement, but as a coach, I've said it a million times, you're not going to critique the win. We got a goal and they didn’t. We'll take it."

Overtime was beckoning, but Marian Hossa made sure Detroit wouldn't have to work extra to get two points Friday.

Hossa scored his second of the night with two minutes left in regulation and Kris Draper added a shorthanded empty-netter in the closing seconds to turn back Columbus at Joe Louis Arena.

"He puts a lot of heat on himself to deliver," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said of Hossa, who now has 13 goals and a team-leading 26 points.

Henrik Zetterberg and Jiri Hudler also scored for Detroit. Chris Osgood had a light workload and only need to make 13 saves.

Jakub Voracek opened the scoring for the Blue Jackets and defenseman Fedor Tyutin had a pair of goals, with the second tying the game 1:17 into the third. Tyutin stepped into a slap shot from center ice and beat Osgood cleanly.

"Just get lucky. They let me skate it up to the red line. I thought 'I can dump it in or shoot,'" Tyutin said. "I don't know why, but I took a shot on goal. If I shoot 100 more of those, I'm sure they wouldn't go in."

Pavel Datsyuk got the puck to Hossa for the go-ahead goal, which beat Columbus goalie Pascal Leclaire from the bottom of the left circle.

"We had a plan. The inside wing is going to jump. The puck came up to me," Hossa said. "I surprised the goalie. Just tried to shoot basically at the paint. I think it just hit the outside of his pad and he put it in himself."

Voracek put home the rebound of an R.J. Umberger shot at the 14-minute mark of the first to give the Blue Jackets their only lead. Zetterberg's power-play goal from the right circle, his 11th of the season, tied the game with 2:54 left in the opening period.

Hudler put the Wings ahead 8:43 into the second on another man advantage, jamming home his eighth goal off a scramble in front. Tyutin put a wrist shot past Osgood at 17:28 for his first of the game and second of the season, temporarily drawing the Jackets even, but Hossa made it 3-2 with 26 seconds left in the period by one-timing a Datsyuk feed.

"He's been unbelievable for this hockey team, not just the way he plays but he's a great guy in the room," Draper said. "He works so hard every night. I think everyone knew he was a world-class hockey player, but until you're with him every day you don't know how hard he works."

Rangers 4, Panthers 3 (SO) | Video

Once the horn sounded to end overtime, the momentum shifted clearly into New York's favor.

Markus Naslund and Nikolai Zherdev scored in the shootout and Henrik Lundqvist stopped two of three Florida attempts as the Rangers came away from BankAtlantic Center with two points and gave coach Tom Renney his 150th win coaching the team, fourth in club history.

"You find ways to win and this team has been able to do that this year," Renney said. "As much as nobody wants to give us a lot of credit for that, I will."

Zherdev, Dan Fritsche and Aaron Voros all scored in regulation for the Rangers and Lundqvist finished regulation and overtime with 38 saves. He then continued his run of excellence in the shootout, where he has stopped 15 of 17 attempts this season and led New York to a 5-1 mark.

Rostislav Olesz scored right off the bat for the Panthers, but Naslund drew the Rangers even. Lundqvist then turned aside Stephen Weiss and Michael Frolik, with Zherdev beating Craig Anderson in between for the decisive tally.

The Panthers wiped out a 2-0 deficit on goals by Radek Dvorak and Jay Bouwmeester, and David Booth scored with 1:33 remaining to earn them a point. Anderson finished with 43 saves but would fall to 0-2 this season in shootouts.

"That's about as hard as we can play," Panthers coach Peter DeBoer said. "If you looked at the lineups on paper we probably didn't have any business being on the ice with them. Our guys, through guts and will, found a way to compete tonight."

Lundqvist was angered by Booth's late goal but made sure the Panthers couldn't put another puck behind in overtime, but was beat by Rostislav Olesz in the shootout.

"It was a good shot. He just roofed it on the backhand. It was a good move," Lundqvist said. "I was still mad for letting in the third one. When they tie it so late, you get a little upset."

Predators 4, Thrashers 3 (OT) | Video

After allowing three separate one-goal leads slip away during regulation, Nashville made sure the final got it scored Friday would stand up.

Ryan Suter beat Johan Hedberg on a breakaway 1:44 into overtime as the Predators edged Atlanta and took the extra point at Philips Arena, where they hadn't won since Dec. 6, 1999.

"That was pretty cool," Suter said. "Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals would have been better, but this will do for now. ... I knew the goalie was coming out. I aimed at the five-hole."

Dan Hamhuis, Scott Nichol and Jason Arnott scored in regulation for Nashville, which took the lead in all three periods. And each time Atlanta answered, on goals by Todd White, Nathan Oystrick and Ilya Kovalchuk. The latter would force the extra period by putting a shot past Pekka Rinne with 9:34 left in the third.

Hamhuis ended up contributing to goals by both sides in the first. He scored shorthanded at 8:39, taking a drop pass from Vernon Fiddler and beating Hedberg off a fake. But eight minutes later Atlanta drew even when Hamhuis inadvertently threw the puck off White's stick and past Rinne while trying to clear it from behind his net.

Nichol, who had the secondary assist on the Hamhuis goal, scored his third of the season 42 seconds into the middle period. It took video replay at the next stoppage to show Nichol had scored, as his shot went high into the net, cut through and went back into play, making it seem initially as though it had missed the goal.

"It was a little weirder than I've seen it before," Atlanta coach John Anderson said. "What are you going to do. I'm surprised that they let the play go on so long."

Oystrick came off the bench and jumped into the play to score his second NHL goal at the 10:06 mark. Eric Perrin had dug the puck out of the corner and Jason Williams made a perfect pass to Oystrick, who later assisted on Kovalchuk's goal and has four points in his last two games.

Arnott's team-leading 11th of the season 6:21 into the third put the Predators ahead for a third time, but once again it wouldn't last and overtime would be needed to decide this one. Rinne improved to 3-0 this season, stopping 22 shots.

"I'm happy with my wins," Rinne said. "That's the most important state for me. The more wins I get, the more games I get."

Sabres 4, Penguins 3 | Video

Paul Gaustad's first goal of the season must have given the fourth-year forward a boost of confidence. His second goal of the season gave Buffalo its second straight win.

Gaustad snapped a tie with 3:24 remaining and Drew Stafford also netted a pair of goals as the Sabres continued to bounce back from a recent five-game losing streak. Ryan Miller made 27 saves in net.

"They're a great team and we know they have the firepower, but we stayed within our system and it paid off for us," said Gaustad, who missed the first nine games of the season because of a thumb injury. "We didn't run around and we stayed within ourselves. When we do that we're a strong team and a hard team to play against."

Sidney Crosby scored twice in a span of 6:09 to give the Penguins a 3-2 lead heading into the third period, but Stafford scored his fourth of the season and second of the night at 3:11 to even things up. In the waning minutes, Gaustad charged the net and redirected Jason Pominville's shot past John Curry, who won his NHL debut Wednesday in relief against the Islanders and was making his first career start.

"It's disappointing. Being my first start I wanted to get a win," Curry said. "It just didn't come out our way."

Tyler Kennedy opened the scoring for Pittsburgh midway through the first period, one-timing a Matt Cooke pass and beating Miller at the 10:29 mark. Stafford struck 56 seconds later, converting a Maxim Afinogenov pass from behind the net, and the teams entered the second tied up.

Gaustad, who had been without a goal in his first 12 games, struck on the power play at 12:21 to put Buffalo ahead for the first time. He whiffed on his first attempt from the slot but got a second chance and beat Curry.

"You can't blame him on any of the goals," Crosby said. "He made some big saves and kept us in it. He did a great job."

Crosby took over the rest of the period, needing only 34 seconds to knot the score once again. Evgeni Malkin's shot bounced off the end boards and the Pittsburgh captain was there to swat the puck out of the air and into the net. Then, with 56 seconds left in the period, Malkin stripped Jaroslav Spacek of the puck in the neutral zone and fed Crosby for a wrist shot that beat Miller.

Despite winning consecutive games, the Sabres are still just 3-6-1 following an 8-2-2 start, and Gaustad cautioned about making too much over their recent success.

"It's great that we won but we have to put it behind us and stay consistent," he said.

Sharks 6, Stars 2 | Video

When they met in the playoffs less than seven months ago, Dallas ended San Jose's season en route to a berth in the Western Conference Final. The teams met Friday at opposite ends of the spectrum, and the final score indicated which team has been world beaters and which has just been beaten up on.

Dan Boyle scored a pair of first-period goals, Evgeni Nabokov made 25 saves and the Sharks just kept rolling with a decisive victory at American Airlines Center against the woeful Stars, who remained dead last in the Western Conference standings.

"I remember that feeling sitting in that dressing room after getting knocked out," said Sharks left winger Ryane Clowe, who had three assists. Dallas eliminated San Jose in four overtimes in the series clincher.

Joe Pavelski, Milan Michalek, Rob Blake and Tomas Plihal also scored for San Jose, off to the best start in franchise history at 19-3-1 and 10 points ahead of Anaheim in the Pacific Division. They're already 21 points up on Dallas.

"It's about getting team victories," Boyle said. "Everybody is chipping in. The defensemen are contributing offensively. From top to bottom, everybody is playing well."

Loui Eriksson and James Neal had goals for the Stars, who pulled Marty Turco after he yielded five goals on 19 shots through two periods. Turco currently has the worst goals-against average in the League.

"Our goaltending has to be better," Tippett said. "Our (penalty kill) has to keep pucks out. We have a lot of things we have to work on. We expect a lot more from certain players and that starts in goal with Marty."

Pavelski and Eriksson scored 1:31 apart to start the scoring before Boyle snapped the tie and put the Sharks ahead for good. The defenseman collected a power-play goal at 14:38 of the first, driving a slap shot past Turco from the right point, and struck again 4:07 later off a Joe Thornton feed in the slot for his eighth of the season.

"It's a credit to our team," Boyle said. "We played really well in the first period. We didn't give them any chances to get some momentum going and come back on us."

Material from wire services and team broadcast and online media was used in this report.