BOSTON: Kimmo Timonen broke a third-period tie with 9:32 left, then added a short-handed empty-netter to lead the Philadelphia Flyers to a 3-1 victory over the Boston Bruins on Monday night in a preview of the Winter Classic.
Brian Boucher stopped 26 shots for the Flyers, who had lost 10 of 12 and entered the night tied for the second-fewest points in the NHL.
Vladimir Sobotka scored for Boston, and also had a first-period goal negated by an early whistle. Tim Thomas, making just his fifth start in a month because of an undisclosed injury, made 35 saves for the Bruins.
The longtime rivals are scheduled to meet again on New Year’s Day at Fenway
Thrashers 3 Rangers 2, SO: In New York, Johan Hedberg made 46 saves and then was perfect in two shootout rounds to lift Atlanta over the Rangers.
Ilya Kovalchuk and Vyacheslav Kozlov scored on the Thrashers’ only shots in the shootout against Henrik Lundqvist. Hedberg made a pad save on NHL-leading goal scorer Marian Gaborik in the first round, then watched the puck slide off the stick of Ales Kotalik before he could muster an attempt.
Kozlov and Colby Armstrong scored to give Atlanta a pair of one-goal leads in regulation, but Ryan Callahan and Gaborik-with his 23rd goal-had power-play tallies to get New York even. Rangers rookie defenseman Michael Del Zotto had two assists.
The Rangers recorded a season high in shots, but lost for the seventh time in eight games (1-5-2). New York scored fewer than three goals for the 11th time in 13 games.
Predators 5 Blue Jackets 3: In Columbus, Ohio, longtime Blue Jackets nemesis Steve Sullivan had three goals for the seventh time in his career, leading Nashville.
In just 39 career games against the Blue Jackets, Sullivan has 16 goals and 27 assists-more points than against any other opponent in his 797-game career.
Patric Hornqvist and Ryan Jones also had goals for the Predators, who have won all three meetings this season, the first two by matching 4-3 shootout scores.
Antoine Vermette, Jakub Voracek and R.J. Umberger scored for Columbus, which has won only two of its last 13 games.
Dan Ellis had 28 saves in goal for Nashville, which improved to 14-2-1 when scoring the first goal.
Red Wings 3 Coyotes 2: In Detroit, Jimmy Howard made 30 saves and Kris Newbury, Patrick Eaves and Derek Meech scored to lift the Red Wings.
Taylor Pyatt and Radim Vrbata scored for Phoenix and Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 29 shots.
Red Wings’ defenseman Jonathan Ericsson injured his left knee on a hit by the Coyotes’ Shane Doan. He will be reevaluated Tuesday.
Panthers 7 Islanders 1: In Uniondale, N.Y., Nathan Horton scored three times for his second career hat trick and Florida won for just the third time in 13 games.
Michal Repik, Stephen Weiss, Kamil Kreps and Radek Dvorak added goals for the Panthers (13-14-7).
Jesse Joensuu scored his first goal of the season for the Islanders (12-14-7), which lost for the fourth time in the past five games.
Thomas Vokoun extended his mastery over the Islanders, improving to 11-4-0 in 15 starts after making 30 saves. The 33-year-old netminder entered with a 2.10 goals against average and .929 save percentage against New York.
Sabres 4 Canadiens 3: In Montreal, Clarke MacArthur scored a power-play goal 14:41 into the third period, and Buffalo extended its winning streak to four.
MacArthur tucked a rebound inside the right post, giving Buffalo its third lead of the game.
Patrick Kaleta, who scored twice in Saturday’s 3-2 road win over the New York Rangers, had his second short-handed goal in two games late in the second to put the Sabres up 2-1. Tim Kennedy’s third goal 12:33 into the third gave Buffalo a short-lived 3-2 lead.
Ryan Miller stopped 21 shots and Andrej Sekera also scored for the Sabres, who are on an 8-2 run.
Canadiens backup Jaroslav Halak made 23 saves in his third start in seven games.
Maple Leafs 3 Senators 2: In Toronto, Francois Beauchemin scored 6 minutes into the third period to break the final tie and the Maple Leafs won their first in three meetings this season with their provincial rival.
Phil Kessel and Jason Blake scored for Toronto.
Mike Fisher and Jason Spezza had goals for Ottawa.
Vesa Toskala made 22 saves, helping the Leafs win their fourth consecutive home game. Toskala has won four of his last five starts, including four straight at home.
Ottawa appeared to tie the game with 35 seconds left, but the referees waved off the goal when it was determined Jesse Winchester kicked the puck into the net.
Canucks 3 Kings 1: In Vancouver, British Columbia, Ryan Kesler opened the scoring 64 seconds in and set up Mason Raymond’s insurance goal with 5:12 left, leading the Canucks over Los Angeles.
Sami Salo also scored in the first period and Roberto Luongo made 24 saves for the Canucks, who have won the first three games of an eight-game homestand. Alexander Frolov scored and Jonathan Quick made 25 saves as the Kings started a four-game road trip with their first regulation loss in nine games (8-1-1).
