The Philadelphia Flyers are finally healthy and surging straight to the top of their division. The Ottawa Senators, meanwhile, are banged up and slumping.
Scottie Upshall had two goals and an assist, and the Flyers took advantage of balanced scoring to rout the Senators 6-1 on Sunday night for their fourth straight win, moving into a tie for first place in the Atlantic Division.
Braydon Coburn, Scott Hartnell, Sami Kapanen and R.J. Umberger also scored for the Flyers, who are tied with New Jersey and Pittsburgh with 57 points. They’ve lost only once in regulation in their past 13 games (10-1-2).
“Right now depth is a big key to our success,” Upshall said. “Our last 10 games we’ve had everyone except (Joffrey) Lupul healthy.”
Health is suddenly a concern for the Eastern Conference-leading Senators, who lost right winger Brian McGratten with a shoulder injury in the first period and were already without leading scorers Daniel Alfredsson and Dany Heatley.
Alfredsson (29 goals, 31 assists) has missed two games and is day-to-day since injuring his hip against Carolina last Thursday, and Heatley (25 goals, 31 assists) is out indefinitely after hurting his right shoulder against Detroit on Jan. 12.
“I was disappointed in some individuals that are not taking advantage of stepping up,” Ottawa coach John Paddock said. “They’re not being responsible in doing the right thing.”
In other NHL games Sunday, it was Boston 3, the New York Rangers 1; Dallas 5, Anaheim 2; New Jersey 3, Toronto 2; Edmonton 4, Atlanta 2; and Colorado 3, Columbus 1.
Flyers backup Antero Niittymaki, who hasn’t lost in regulation in his past seven starts (6-0-1), made 25 saves against the Senators. His only loss during that span came against Boston, 4-3 in overtime.
Ottawa’s Martin Gerber allowed four goals on 14 shots before being replaced by Ray Emery.
Coburn put the Flyers ahead 1:37 into the first period when he scored on a one-timer from just beyond the slot. Then Hartnell made it 2-0 at 13:16 of the period when he converted another one-timer from the front of the left circle after taking a pass from Jeff Carter.
The Flyers increased their lead to 4-0 by scoring on their first two shots of the second period. Upshall snapped a wrist shot from the left circle 44 seconds in, and Umberger scored on a goal-mouth scramble at 3:50.
Chris Kelly made it 4-1 at 7:27 of the period on a wrist shot over Niittymaki’s blocker, but Kapanen and Upshall added two more goals.
“Having many new players, it takes probably three to four months to get together and start clicking as a team,” Kapanen said. “Going into the stretch was huge for us, and so far we’re doing pretty good.”
Bruins 3, Rangers 1
At New York, Chuck Kobasew had a goal and an assist to lead Boston in a sweep of the key home-and-home weekend series, giving the Bruins a three-point lead on the Rangers in the Eastern Conference playoff race with two games in hand.
Tim Thomas followed his 25-save effort in Saturday’s shootout win by stopping 30 in the rematch. The Bruins managed only 20 shots on Henrik Lundqvist.
Stars 5, Ducks 2
At Dallas, Brenden Morrow and Niklas Hagman scored two goals each to help Dallas end Anaheim’s six-game winning streak and move into first place in the Pacific Division.
Stephan Robidas had a rare goal on a first-period power play, and Marty Turco made 18 saves.
Mathieu Schneider’s power-play goal at 8:45 of the third period ended the shutout bid. Ryan Getzlaf also scored for Anaheim.
Devils 3, Maple Leafs 2
At Newark, N.J., John Madden scored two goals and Martin Brodeur made 34 saves, helping New Jersey end a two-game losing streak on its home ice.
Travis Zajac also scored for the Devils, who were kind enough to their fans to show the NFC championship game between the Giants and Packers on televisions throughout the arena.
Darcy Tucker and Pavel Kubina scored in the third period for Toronto.
Oilers 4, Thrashers 2
At Atlanta, Sam Gagner scored his fourth goal, all in road games, to break a 1-1 tie and help Edmonton snap a three-game losing streak.
Tom Gilbert and Robert Nilsson added third-period goals for Edmonton to put the game away.
Dwayne Roloson stopped 29 shots for the Oilers. The Thrashers’ Kari Lehtonen made 20 saves.
Avalanche 3, Blue Jackets 1
At Denver, Jose Theodore made 26 saves as Colorado split its season series with Columbus.
Ben Guite, Tyler Arnason and rookie Jeff Finger each had a goal, and Ian Laperriere had two assists for the Avalanche, who had six rookies in the starting lineup because of injuries.
Pascal Leclaire had 24 saves for the Blue Jackets.
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