Matt Hunwick (Front) of the Colorado Avalanche turns the puck away from Chris Stewart (C) of the St. Louis Blues as goalie Semyon Varlamov of the Colorado Avalanche defends the goal at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado, Wednesday. — AFP

NEW YORK — Jakub Voracek completed a hat trick with less than two minutes to play to give the Philadelphia Flyers a 6-5 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins Wednesday.



Voracek scored his first goal late in the second period and then put the Flyers 4-2 up early in the third as Philadelphia (8-9-1) took control of the Atlantic division battle.



However, the Penguins fought back, tying the game at 5-5 in a see-sawing third period before Voracek sealed the win for the Flyers with his sixth goal of the season.



Pittsburgh, who was eliminated from last season’s playoffs by the Flyers, opened strongly and took a 2-0 lead early in the first through Matt Niskanen and Evgeni Malkin.



Goals from Nicklas Grossmann and Wayne Simmonds tied the score in the opening frame before two from Voracek put the Flyers 4-2 up.



Tyler Kennedy, James Neal and Brandon Sutter scored to get Pittsburgh back into the game, while Philadelphia’s Simmonds also netted in the third.



With the score tied at 5-5, Voracek put the finishing touches to his stellar night with a game-winning wrist shot at 18:29. The Penguins (11-6-0) had won three in a row before Wednesday’s game.



Avalanche 1, Blues 0: David Jones scored with 17 seconds left in overtime and Semyon Varlamov made 33 saves to get host Colorado past St. Louis.



Kings 3, Flames 1: Jeff Carter had a goal and an assist, lifting visiting Los Angeles over Calgary.



Sabres fire coach



Lindy Ruff is out as coach in Buffalo, meaning the slow-starting, inconsistent and sometimes lethargic Sabres have now become Ron Rolston’s mess to clean up.



Rolston was promoted from the Sabres’ minor league affiliate, AHL Rochester, to finish out the season as Buffalo’s interim head coach Wednesday.



The move was made hours after Ruff was fired amid growing criticism for the team’s early-season struggles. And it came less than a week after Ruff had defiantly said he wasn’t done trying to “clean up this mess.”



The turnaround never came for Ruff and the Sabres (6-10-1), who are in the midst of a 4-10-1 slump following a 2-1 home loss to the Winnipeg Jets Tuesday. — Agencies