Flyers make it four in a row
Wayne Simmonds scored two goals and the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Dallas Stars 4-2 Thursday night for their fourth straight win.
Mark Streit and Michael Raffl also scored for Philadelphia, which improved to 11-2-1 in its last 14 games while maintaining its hold on second place in the Metropolitan Division.
Jamie Benn scored twice for Dallas, which lost its fourth straight. The Stars began the day two points behind Phoenix for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
Simmonds scored his second of the game with 7:39 left to put Philadelphia ahead 3-1. After skating across the blue line, Simmonds fired a wrist shot that beat Tim Thomas to the stick side.
Just 30 seconds later, Benn scored his second of the contest by finishing a rebound from in front of the crease after Tyler Seguin’s shot followed a poor Philadelphia turnover in its own end. It was the 29th goal of the season for Benn, who has points in eight of his last nine games.
Raffl provided some insurance for Philadelphia by beating Thomas with a backhander on a breakaway with 3:12 to play.
The Flyers took a 2-0 lead after one period. Streit opened the scoring with 9:37 left in the first when he beat Thomas to the glove side with a one-timed slap shot from the top of the left circle.
Thomas, Dallas’ backup, got the start because he entered 14-4-2 with a 2.21 goals-against average and .934 save percentage in his career against Philadelphia. The Stars’ starting goalie, Kari Lehtonen, is 0-10-2 with a 3.50 goals-against and .891 save percentage lifetime against the Flyers.
Simmonds scored on a rebound on the power play just under three minutes later to put Philadelphia in front 2-0. Jakub Voracek’s shot from the blue line first hit the right post, then the back of Thomas’ leg and then the left post before deflecting in front to a wide-open Simmonds, who easily finished from lose range.
New Jersey 4, Minnesota 3: Andy Greene scored from in close 2 minutes into overtime and the Devils snapped a three-game losing streak with a 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Wild in Zach Parise’s first game back in New Jersey against his former teammates.
Adam Henrique and Patrik Elias each had three assists and combined to set up the game-winner for New Jersey, which blew a two-goal third-period lead.
Leafs’ Ranger OK: Maple Leafs defenseman Paul Ranger was released from a Toronto hospital after being examined Wednesday night.
The team said in a statement Thursday that Ranger was sent home. Ranger’s head struck the glass on a hit from the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Alex Killorn, and he remained on the ice for seven minutes before he was taken off on a stretcher.
The Leafs said during the 5-3 loss that Ranger was “stable, conscious and alert” after going to the hospital for precautionary reasons.
Aside from two brief statements, the team has not released any other information about Ranger’s condition. Players are off Thursday and return to practice Friday.