Record Night for Murray’s Panthers

The Florida Panthers, playing their first game under new Coach Bryan Murray, routed the Boston Bruins, 10-5, Wednesday night with a franchise-high goal total as Ray Sheppard scored three times.

Dave Nemirovsky had his first two-goal game and Ray Whitney, who was claimed off waivers from Edmonton on Nov. 6, added two goals and two assists, giving him seven goals and five assists in 10 games with Florida.

It was Sheppard’s 11th career hat trick. Scott Mellanby notched a franchise-record four assists.

Dimitri Khristich had a goal and two assists for the Bruins, who dropped their third in a row.

Pittsburgh 3, Carolina 2--The Penguins needed third-period goals from Fredrik Olausson and Alex Hicks to overcome a sluggish start as they stopped the Hurricanes at Pittsburgh.

The victory, the Penguins’ season-best fourth in a row, extended Pittsburgh’s unbeaten streak to 5-0-1.

Philadelphia 3, Buffalo 1--Rod Brind’Amour scored two goals and Garth Snow stopped 26 shots as the Flyers avoided their first three-game losing streak since October 1996 with the victory at Buffalo.

Eric Desjardins scored the other goal for the Flyers. Michael Peca scored for Buffalo, which has lost four of its last six.

Tampa Bay 3, Colorado 3--Alex Selivanov’s goal with 6:48 left in regulation gave the Lightning the tie at home.

Selivanov picked up a loose puck outside the crease and put a backhander over Avalanche goaltender Patrick Roy.

Colorado had taken a 3-2 lead at 10:06 when Rene Corbet’s power-play backhander was redirected off Tampa Bay forward Rob Zamuner’s skate.

The Avalanche, formerly the Quebec Nordiques, are 0-6-1 at Tampa.

N.Y. Islanders 4, N.Y Rangers 1--Robert Reichel had three goals and an assist, including his 400th NHL point, to help the Islanders end a four-game winless streak at home.

Kenny Jonsson also scored for the Islanders. Alexei Kovalev scored the Rangers’ only goal on a wrist shot with 3:16 left in the game.

Montreal 6, Washington 5--Shayne Corson and Mark Recchi each scored two goals as the Canadiens ended their seven-game losing streak against the Capitals. Richard Zednik had two goals and Phil Housley had three assists for Washington in the game at Landover, Md.

Detroit 4, Ottawa 1--Kris Draper had a goal and an assist as the Red Wings extended the Senators’ winless streak to nine games with the victory at Detroit. Brendan Shanahan, Darren McCarty and Mathieu Dandenault also scored.

Daniel Alfredsson scored Ottawa’s only goal with 3:06 left, ending a franchise-record scoreless streak at 187 minutes 42 seconds.

NHL Notes

New York Islander defenseman Dennis Vaske, who has suffered concussions in three consecutive seasons, most recently Nov. 14, will seek outside medical opinions on his condition, General Manager Mike Milbury said. “The concussions themselves aren’t an issue,” Milbury said. “It’s the fact that Dennis suffers from post-concussive syndrome.”