Simon Gagne scored three goals and added an assist, and the surging Philadelphia Flyers stretched their winning streak to four games by handing the New York Rangers their worst loss of the season, 6-0, Wednesday night. Former Rangers forward Blair Betts scored 54 seconds into his return to Madison Square Garden, and Danny Briere and Claude Giroux took advantage of New York turnovers to push the Flyers' lead to 3-0 in the first period. That was enough to end the night for goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who remained on the bench after the first intermission of his 300th NHL game. Goalie Michael Leighton, claimed by the Flyers off waivers Dec. 15 from Carolina, made his fourth consecutive start and has won them all. Philadelphia is 4-0 on its six-game trip that will continue tomorrow in the Winter Classic at Boston's Fenway Park. The Flyers were on a 2-10-1 skid before this trip. Chad Johnson was thrown into his NHL debut and was victimized on the first shot he faced. Gagne stole the puck from Brandon Dubinsky along the right-wing boards, skated in alone and beat Johnson just 23 seconds into the middle period. Johnson settled down, and made a nice stop at the left post against Gagne, but he couldn't the Flyers at bay. During a 5-on-3 power play late in the period, Gagne turned a pass from Briere into another goal that made it 5-0 with 5:19 left in the second. Gagne finished his third NHL hat trick with 8:30 remaining. He has four goals and three assists in six games since returning from abdominal surgery. Bruins 4, Thrashers 0: Byron Bitz tipped in a shot to start a three-goal first period and Boston warmed up for the outdoor Winter Classic by beating Atlanta. The Bruins won for the fourth time in five games heading into the league's annual New Year's Day game. First they took care of the Thrashers for the second time in eight days, handing them their sixth consecutive loss. They drove goalie Ondrej Pavelec from the game in the first period both times. Avalanche 4, Senators 0: Ryan O'Reilly scored the winning goal early in the third period, and Craig Anderson stopped 27 shots in visiting Colorado's victory. O'Reilly's goal gave the Avalanche a 4-1 lead en route to their second victory in a row and fourth in five games. Rookie Matt Duchene, Kyle Quincey and Chris Durno also scored for Northwest Division-leading Colorado, 8-2-1 against the Eastern Conference and 4-0 against the Northeast Division. Canadiens 2, Lightning 1: Tomas Plekanec scored at 3:32 of overtime for visiting Montreal. Flames 2, Kings 1: Tomas Miikka Kiprusoff made 23 saves for host Calgary. Oilers 3, Maple Leafs 1: Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers made 27 saves for host Edmonton. Sharks 5, Capitals 2: Evgeni Nabokov made 24 saves for host San Jose.
