Senators Beat Flyers Again

Suddenly, Ottawa goaltender Damian Rhodes likes playing Philadelphia.

Rhodes, who had never beaten Philadelphia in eight starts, won his second in a row over the injury-plagued Flyers, 5-4, Sunday at Philadelphia as the Senators extended their winning streak to three games.

Ottawa had defeated Philadelphia, 3-1, at home on Thursday for its first win over the Flyers in 13 games dating back to 1995.

“It was a big lift for us when we beat them the other night,” Rhodes said after making 25 saves against the Flyers, who outshot Ottawa 29-20 for the game and 25-12 over the last two periods.

“And then when we came in here and got a couple of early goals it seemed to give us more and more confidence because we knew how difficult it is to win here.”

Ottawa also ended a six-game losing streak in Philadelphia.

After twice losing two-goal leads, the Senators broke a 3-3 tie when Steve Martins and Radek Bonk scored goals within 1:43 of each other late in the third period.

Rhodes said he wasn’t worried when the Flyers came storming back.

“We all sensed that we could pull this thing out,” he said. “The guys were playing really hard in front of me the whole night. You know how powerful Philadelphia can be and they showed it in the third period. We squeaked one out.”

Jason York, Shawn McEachern, and Chris Murray also scored for the Senators. Former Flyer Vaclav Prospal chipped in with three assists.

John LeClair scored twice for Philadelphia.

Shjon Podein also scored for the Flyers, as did Eric Lindros, who is tied for the NHL lead with eight goals.

Calgary 4, Chicago 1--Theoren Fleury scored three goals at Chicago, including two in the first period, as the Flames sent the slow-starting Blackhawks to their third consecutive loss.

Fleury, who now has 40 points in 35 games against Chicago, scored a minute into the game to help the Flames build a 3-0 first-period lead.

It marked the second consecutive game the Blackhawks had surrendered three goals in the opening 20 minutes, and Chicago has now been outscored 16-6 in the first period of its 10 games this season.

The Blackhawks skated off the ice after the opening period to a loud chorus of boos from a relatively small crowd of 15,034 at the United Center.

Fleury added an empty netter with eight seconds remaining for the hat trick.

Vancouver 4, Washington 1--Rookie Bill Muckalt set up three goals, leading the Canucks to a victory over the Capitals in a battle of injury-riddled teams at Vancouver.

Brandon Convery added his first goal of the season and an assist as the Canucks ended a three-game winless streak and regained top spot in the Northwest Division. Goaltender Corey Hirsch stopped 24 shots, earning the win in his first start since March 26, 1997.

The Capitals are now winless in their last four games and have a league-low 16 goals.

The Capitals were missing nine regulars, including Sergei Gonchar, Brendan Witt and Richard Zednik. The Canucks were already minus Brad May and Peter Zezel when they lost No. 1 left wing Todd Bertuzzi, who was hit in the shin by a shot in the first period.

Vancouver captain Mark Messier scored his fifth goal of the season and 602nd of his career, tying him for eighth overall with Dino Ciccarelli.