The Florida Panthers have been making a habit of comebacks this season. Suddenly, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim are getting the hang of it, too.
Both recent expansion teams continued to play at a high level Tuesday night as the Panthers rallied to beat the New Jersey Devils 4-3 and the Ducks did the same to nip the Calgary Flames 3-2."It took us about 10 minutes to wake up," added Florida right wing Jody Hull, whose team spotted the Devils a 2-0 lead before rallying.
It was the fourth comeback win for the Panthers in their last 11 games - a stretch in which they have posted a 9-1-1 record. Florida, with a NHL-best 16-5-1 record, avenged a 4-0 defeat at New Jersey at the start of the season.
The Ducks, meanwhile, won for the ninth time in 12 games (9-3-0) with their dramatic victory at Calgary on Steve Rucchin's goal with 3:23 left in regulation.
"This is the most important goal I've scored here so far," said Rucchin, a 24-year-old in his sophomore season after playing four seasons with the University of Western Ontario. "It's unfortunate for Calgary, but we stayed patient and that was our game plan."
Before Tuesday night, the Ducks were 0-9-0 when trailing after two periods.
Bobby Holik and Stephane Richer scored goals in the first eight minutes to give the visiting Devils the early lead. But Jody Hull scored the first of his two goals and Scott Mellanby tied the game before the first period was over.
Hull scored the tie-breaking goal on a power play at 10:37 of the second period and the Devils never caught up.
"We started out well in the first, but we made a few mistakes after that," New Jersey coach Jacques Lemaire said. "We slowed down a bit in the second."
Mighty Ducks 3, Flames 2
Trailing 2-1 entering the third period, Anaheim tied it at 12:05 on a goal by Mike Sillinger. Rucchin then scored the game-winner after taking a pass from David Karpa and evading Flames defenseman Kevin Dahl.
Oleg Tverdovsky also scored for Anaheim, which improved to 11-11-0 and moved within three points of second-place Los Angeles in the Pacific Division. Steve Chiasson and Cory Still scored for the Flames, who outshot Anaheim 34-26.
The Ducks, who entered the game leading the NHL in even-strength goals with 57, finished 2-for-5 on the power play.
"Tonight we were shooting more often on the power play and it won us the hockey game," Sillinger said. "On other nights, our power play has cost us hockey games."
Rangers 9, Penguins 4
In New York, Pat Verbeek scored three goals and Luc Robitaille added a goal and four assists as the Rangers defeated Pittsburgh.
The Rangers, playing perhaps their best game of the season, scored three goals in each period against the Northeast Division-leading Penguins. They also drew a standing ovation after killing off a five-minute major penalty late in the second period against the league's leading club on the power play.
Verbeek completed the hat trick with four minutes remaining on a power- play goal, his 11th of the season, after the Penguins had cut New York's lead to 6-3 with a pair of third-period goals by Bryan Smolinski and Rusty Fitgerald.
Flyers 5, Kings 2
In Philadelphia, John LeClair, Rod Brind'Amour and Mikael Renberg scored goals in a two-minute span of the third period to spark the Flyers past the Kings.
Philadelphia won its fourth straight and is unbeaten in its last five. Los Angeles saw its four-game road unbeaten streak end. Boston 5, Winnipeg 4
In Boston, Jozef Stumpel scored two of his three goals in the third period as he led the Bruins over Winnipeg.
Keith Tkachuk scored two goals and assisted on another for the Jets, but it wasn't enough to overcome the Bruins, who put 41 shots on net.
After Tkachuk gave the Jets a 4-3 lead in the third period, Stumpel scored the game's last two goals. Assisting Stumpel on the game-winner was Cam Neely, who had three assists.
Capitals 3, Sharks 2
Stefan Ustorf and Steve Konowalchuk scored in a 28-second span of the third period as Washington rallied to beat visiting San Jose, ending a six-game winless streak.
Washington finished with a 31-18 advantage in shots on goal, but the Capitals trailed 2-1 until Ustorf scored on a wrist shot from the left circle to tie it with 7:35 left. Konowalchuk then scored the go-ahead goal off a pass from Michal Pivonka, and the Capitals held on for their first victory since going 0-5-1 since Nov. 14.
Maple Leafs 5, Blues 2
Toronto, with Felix Potvin outplaying former goaltending mentor Grant Fuhr, beat visiting St. Louis to move into first place in the Central Division for the first time this season.
Benoit Hogue had two goals for the Maple Leafs, who improved to 11-6-3, including 7-0-3 within their own conference. They have won three in a row and six of their last seven to rise to seventh place in the 26-team league's overall standings.