Flyers Get Dual Hat Tricks in Rout

Taking a few extra minutes to clear the hats off the ice was about the only thing that slowed down the Philadelphia Flyers. <br/><br/>Joffrey Lupul completed the first hat trick at home in two years for

Wednesday, December 12th 2007, 7:47 am

By: News On 6

Taking a few extra minutes to clear the hats off the ice was about the only thing that slowed down the Philadelphia Flyers.

Joffrey Lupul completed the first hat trick at home in two years for the Flyers, and R.J. Umberger matched him with three goals in Philadelphia's 8-2 rout of the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night.

``That doesn't happen anymore,'' Lupul said.

Not bad for a Flyers team who went 0-8 against the Penguins last year. This year, Philadelphia is 3-0 against its Atlantic Division rival.

``We definitely have a chip on our shoulder and it's not just the guys that were here last year,'' Umberger said. ``I think the guys that have come in know exactly what happened and they don't want to be a part of that.''

Lupul added three assists for the first six-point game for a Flyer since Eric Lindros on March 1, 1997, against Toronto. The Flyers also had two players with a hat trick in the same game for the first time since Tim Kerr and Dave Poulin each had three goals against the Islanders on Dec. 18, 1986.

``The puck just bounced our way and we were there to finish,'' Umberger said.

In other NHL games, it was: Tampa Bay 3, Montreal 2 in a shootout; Calgary 2, Florida 1 in a shootout; Edmonton 5, St. Louis 4 in a shootout; and San Jose 4, Minnesota 1.

Sidney Crosby assisted on both goals for the Penguins, who had won four straight. Ryan Whitney and Petr Sykora scored in the first period.

A flurry of fights seemed to spark the Flyers and send the Penguins into a postgame snit. Flyers coach John Stevens complained about Pittsburgh's rough play late in the third when the game was already out of reach, and there was a combined total of 156 penalty minutes.

``I think we're back to playing Flyers hockey and challenging them,'' Umberger said.

Penguins coach Michael Therrien accused the Flyers of playing with a lack of respect.

``Are we talking about the same team that got five guys suspended this year? Is that the same team?'' he said.

There was a fight only 20 seconds in the game and some hard hits and scuffles throughout that the crowd absolutely loved. Pittsburgh's Colby Amstrong and Philadelphia's Scott Hartnell each received game misconducts in the third for a lengthy brawl.

The Flyers faithful booed Crosby every time he touched the puck.

``I think we had to stick up for each other at one point,'' Crosby said. ``They have a lot of guys who play physical and probably take it beyond physical sometimes but beyond that I think it's just sticking up for one another.''

Flames 2, Panthers 1, SO

At Sunrise, Fla., Jarome Iginla scored with 10.2 seconds left to send the game to overtime and Calgary went on to beat Florida in a shootout.

Kristian Huselius, a former Panthers player, scored the only goal in the shootout.

Olli Jokinen scored the only goal for the Panthers.

Lightning 3, Canadiens 2, SO

Brad Richards scored in the shootout and Tampa Bay handed the Canadiens their sixth straight home loss.

Marc Denis stopped Tomas Plekanec, Andrei Kostitsyn and Saku Koivu after turning aside 29 shots during the game to claim his first win of the season.

Vincent Lecavalier scored his 20th goal, and Andre Roy his second for Tampa Bay.

Oilers 5, Blues 4, SO

Shawn Horcoff had a goal and an assist and scored the only goal in a shootout to help Edmonton snap the Blues' six-game home winning streak.

Fernando Pisani's first goal of the season tied it at 4 with 4:08 to go for the Oilers, who are 2-10-3 in St. Louis since the 1999-2000 season.

Doug Weight had two goals and an assist for the Blues.

Sharks 4, Wild 1

Steve Bernier scored two goals and Evgeni Nabokov made 36 saves in the Sharks' fifth victory in six games.

Joe Pavelski had a goal and an assist for San Jose, which moved back into a first-place tie with Dallas in the Pacific Division standings by winning at home for just the second time in six games since Nov. 12.

Niklas Backstrom stopped 26 shots for the Wild, who have lost three of four.