Philadelphia’s Garnet Hathaway gets knocked down by New York’s Zac Jones during the second period Friday in Philadelphia. Matt Slocum/Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA — Mika Zibanejad scored two goals, Chris Kreider added a goal and an assist as the New York Rangers beat the Philadelphia Flyers 3-1 over on Friday afternoon.
Blake Wheeler chipped in a pair of assists for the Metropolitan Division-leading Rangers, who have won 12 of 14 contests. Igor Shesterkin made 36 saves for New York.
Sean Couturier scored for Philadelphia, which dropped its second straight after winning five in a row.
Rangers Coach Peter Laviolette tied Dick Irvin for 10th-most career games coached with his 1,448th contest. Laviolette was the coach for the Flyers in 272 games between 2009-14.
New York jumped on the Flyers early, scoring twice in the opening 1:53 to take command.
Zibanejad scored the first of his two goals 45 seconds into the game when he shot high over Carter Hart to finish a 2-on-1 with Wheeler. Just 22 seconds later, Kreider took advantage of a turnover by Philadelphia defenseman Travis Sanheim and shot past Hart for his team-leading 11th goal of the season. Sanheim was trying to pass to a teammate after the Flyers won a defensive zone faceoff, but his errant try went right to the stick of Kreider all alone in front of the net.
The Rangers went ahead 3-0 7:41 into the second period when Zibanejad finished another 2-on-1, this time poking the puck over Hart’s right shoulder after another setup from Wheeler.
Philadelphia scoref with 2:21 left in the second when Couturier deflected home Nick Seeler’s shot from the point.
It looked as if Kreider had padded the Rangers’ lead to three goals when he beat Hart with a backhander after a pass from Zibanejad with 6 1/2 minutes to play, but the goal was overturned after video review showed Kreider was offside when receiving the pass.
BLACKHAWKS 4, MAPLE LEAFS 3: Rookie defenseman Kevin Korchinski scored 4:30 into overtime, and Chicago beat visiting Toronto to stop a five-game slide.
Jason Dickinson scored three times for Chicago, completing his first career hat trick 15 seconds into the third period. Arvid Soderblom finished with 34 saves.
Calle Jarnkrok, Ryan Reaves and Nicholas Robertson scored for Toronto, which had won four in a row. Max Domi had two assists and Ilya Samsonov made 30 stops.
PREDATORS 8, BLUES 3: Ryan O’Reilly scored for Nashville in his return to St. Louis, and the Predators won their fourth straight.
Filip Forsberg and Luke Evangelista each had two goals and an assist for Nashville, which dropped six of seven right before its win streak. Kiefer Sherwood had a goal and two assists, and Yakov Ternin and rookie Spencer Stastney also scored.
CANADIENS 3, SHARKS 2: Jesse Ylönen scored the winning goal in the sixth round of a shootout and visiting Montreal beat San Jose.
Cayden Primeau made 31 saves, including stopping five straight attempts in the shootout.
OILERS 5, CAPITALS 0: Leon Draisaitl scored twice, Connor McDavid had four assists and visiting Edmonton ended a three-game skid.
KINGS 5, DUCKS 2: Kevin Fiala scored two goals and captain Anze Kopitar had a goal and an assist for Los Angeles over host Anaheim in the first Freeway Faceoff of the season.
BLUE JACKETS 2, DEVILS 1: Boone Jenner and Eric Robinson scored first-period goals and Elvis Merzlikins made 40 saves — including 22 in the third period — as visiting Columbus downed New Jersey.
Columbus won for the second straight time after a nine-game losing streak and New Jersey lost its third in a row and for the sixth time in seven games.
SABRES 3, PENGUINS 2: Alex Tuch scored with 2:44 left in regulation, Jeff Skinner had a goal and an assist, and Buffalo came back to beat visiting Pittsburgh.
NOTES
WILD: Marc-Andre Fleury wore a custom mask for the Minnesota Wild’s Native American Heritage night Friday after being told by the NHL it was not allowed.
Fleury took the ice for the team’s game against the Colorado Avalanche wearing the specially designed mask. Agent Allan Walsh confirmed earlier in the day the league informed his client he couldn’t wear the mask, even for warm-ups.
The NHL prohibits players from wearing specialty jerseys, masks, stickers, decals or tape for theme nights.
With the Wild celebrating Native American Heritage night Friday against Colorado, Fleury wanted to honor his wife, Véronique, an Indigenous woman, with a specially designed mask. Walsh said Fleury offered to pay whatever fine he’d receive and the NHL threatened to levy the organization with an “additional significant fine.”
AVALANCHE: Defenseman Samuel Girard will be away from the team indefinitely while he receives care from the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program.
The league and union announced Girard’s status in a joint statement before the Avalanche visited the Minnesota Wild.
Girard, 25, had been away from the Avalanche for personal reasons and did not play in either of their past two games. He will continue to be paid while getting treatment and can return to the team when cleared for on-ice competition by program administrators.
His father, Tony, said in a social media post earlier in the day that Girard was in good hands and asked others to respect his son’s privacy.
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