Thursday's NHL Capsules

Games played Dec. 19, 2013

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Claude Giroux scored the tying and winning goals in the final minutes of the third period, rallying the Philadelphia Flyers past the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-4 on Thursday night.

Giroux scored two of the Flyers' five third-period goals as Philadelphia stormed back from a 3-0 hole.

Giroux's 100th NHL goal was perhaps his most amazing, a backhanded and blind shot that beat Curtis McElhinney up high with 1:39 left. The Flyers captain had tied it with 4:39 left.

Jakub Voracek, Braydon Coburn, Erik Gustafsson also scored goals for the Flyers. Steve Mason got the win in his first game against his former team.

Cam Atkinson, Jack Skille, Nick Foligno and Blake Comeau had goals for Columbus.

SABRES 4, BRUINS 2

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - Drew Stafford scored the winning goal in the third period, and Ryan Miller made 34 saves in Buffalo's victory over Boston.

Marcus Foligno and Brian Flynn both had a goal and an assist, and Tyler Myers also scored for Buffalo, which has won consecutive games for the first time since Nov. 15.

Stafford netted his first goal in 18 games.

Brad Marchand scored both Bruins goals, and Chad Johnson allowed four goals on 23 shots.

PENGUINS 5, WILD 2

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Chris Kunitz scored his 19th goal, Sidney Crosby had two assists, and Pittsburgh jumped out to a four-goal lead before beating Minnesota en route to its season-high sixth straight victory.

Rookie defenseman Olli Maatta sealed the win when he scored on a third-period penalty shot. Pascal Dupuis and Brandon Sutter each scored for the second consecutive game, and defenseman Matt Niskanen also tallied for Pittsburgh, which has won 11 of 12 overall and nine straight at home.

Crosby had two assists to extend his season-best point streak to nine games. He leads the NHL with 51 points.

Jason Pominville netted his team-high 16th goal, and Dany Heatley scored 3:13 into the third period for the Wild.

MAPLE LEAFS 2, COYOTES 1, SO

TORONTO (AP) - James van Riemsdyk and Joffrey Lupul scored in the shootout to lift Toronto over Phoenix.

Troy Bodie scored in regulation, and James Reimer made 34 saves. It was the Maple Leafs' second victory in seven games.

Martin Hanzal scored for the Coyotes, who got 26 saves from Mike Smith.

LIGHTNING 4, PREDATORS 2

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Anders Lindback made 28 saves and won in his first game against his former team, Alex Killorn had a goal and an assist, and Tampa Bay beat Nashville.

The Lightning also got goals from Martin St. Louis, Teddy Purcell and Richard Panik.

Lindback stopped six shots, including a pair of quality chances by David Legwand, during a two-minute stretch late in the first period. Tampa Bay acquired Lindback in a trade with Nashville on June 15, 2012.

Craig Smith had two goals for the Predators. Carter Hutton allowed four Lightning goals on just 14 shots. Hutton, who turned 28 on Thursday, was pulled after Panik's goal and replaced by Marek Mazanec.

PANTHERS 4, SENATORS 2

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) - Tom Gilbert and Tomas Kopecky scored in the final three minutes, and Florida topped Ottawa for its fifth straight win.

Gilbert beat Craig Anderson with a one-timer off a pass from Tomas Fleischmann with 2:32 left and only two seconds remaining in a high-sticking penalty to Senators forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau.

Kopecky then broke out on a 2-on-1 rush and beat Anderson with 1:41 remaining.

Jimmy Hayes, in the first period, and Aleksander Barkov, in the second, also scored for the Panthers (14-17-5), who got 32 saves from Scott Clemmensen.

Chris Neil and Jason Spezza scored for the Senators (14-17-6), who have lost two straight and three of four.

RED WINGS 3, FLAMES 2, OT

DETROIT (AP) - Daniel Alfredsson scored two goals, including a power-play score at 1:03 of overtime, and Detroit earned a win over Calgary.

Detroit snapped a six-game losing streak (0-4-2) and a five-game skid at home.

Alfredsson added an assist, and Joakim Andersson also scored for Detroit. Pavel Datsyuk had three assists, Niklas Kronwall added two assists, and Jonas Gustavsson made 20 saves.

Mikael Backlund and Mark Giordano scored for Calgary. Mike Cammalleri had two assists, and Karri Ramo stopped 35 shots.

Alfredsson's winner came on a one-timed slap shot from the inside edge of the left circle for his ninth goal. He also earned his 700th NHL assist.

STARS 4, CANUCKS 1

DALLAS (AP) - Jamie Benn and Colton Sceviour scored goals 15 seconds apart in the first period, leading Dallas over Vancouver.

Erik Cole had a goal and two assists, and Tyler Seguin and Rich Peverley added two assists apiece for the Stars.

Kari Lehtonen made 26 saves and allowed only one goal for his 100th win with the Stars.

The Canucks (20-11-6) lost on the road for the second time in three nights, following a seven-game winning streak.

BLUES 5, CANADIENS 1

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Alexander Steen scored twice, and Jaroslav Halak made 25 saves against his former team to lead St. Louis over Montreal.

St. Louis broke a two-game losing streak and improved to 14-3-2 at home.

Montreal has lost four of six.

Steen, who signed a three-year, $17.4 million extension earlier Thursday, has 24 goals, tying his career high set in the 2009-10 season.

Halak improved to 4-0 against the Canadiens, who traded him to St. Louis on June 17, 2010. He is 17-6-2 this season.

Chris Stewart, Jaden Schwartz and Maxim Lapierre also scored for St. Louis. T.J. Oshie added two assists.

Brendan Gallagher scored for Montreal, which began a season-high, six-game road trip. It was his first goal in 12 games.

KINGS 4, SHARKS 1

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Martin Jones made 31 saves in his seventh consecutive win to begin his NHL career, and fellow rookie Tyler Toffoli had a goal and an assist in Los Angeles victory over San Jose.

Dwight King and Jeff Carter also had a goal and an assist apiece for the Kings, who ran over their California rivals for their eighth win in nine games to cap a 15-2-4 stretch since Nov. 2.

Jones' shutout streak ended at 133 minutes, 26 seconds, but Patrick Marleau's goal with 2:10 to play was just the sixth Jones has allowed in his club-record 7-0 start.

Kings captain Dustin Brown was ejected for a knee-on-knee hit on Tomas Hertl late in the first period. San Jose's rookie goal-scorer didn't return to the game.

Antti Niemi stopped 28 shots on a miserable night for the Sharks, who have lost six of eight.

The home team has won 15 straight games between San Jose and Los Angeles.

AVALANCHE 4, OILERS 2

DENVER (AP) - Maxime Talbot broke a second-period tie with a short-handed goal, and Semyon Varlamov stopped 27 shots, leading Colorado over Edmonton.

Tyson Barrie, Ryan O'Reilly and Matt Duchene also scored for the Avalanche, who bounced back from an 8-2 loss to the Oilers two weeks ago in Edmonton.

Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had goals for the Oilers, who finished their road swing 0-4 and were outscored 14-4. They also were without Sam Gagner after he was ejected in the first period when he knocked down Paul Stastny with a stick to the face.

Edmonton pulled goalie Devan Dubnyk for an extra skater with 1:53 remaining, but couldn't score. Duchene added an empty-net goal with 1.1 seconds remaining. He also had two assists.

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