PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Travis Konecny had a goal and an assist to help the Philadelphia Flyers snap a five-game losing streak with a 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night.
Scott Laughton and Garnet Hathaway also scored for Philadelphia. Samuel Ersson made 32 saves.
Erik Karlsson and Kevin Hayes had tallies for Pittsburgh, and Joel Blomqvist stopped 17 shots.
Penguins captain Sidney Crosby (upper body) missed his second straight contest after sitting out Friday’s 3-2 win over the Rangers. Pittsburgh also was without Evgeni Malkin (lower body) and Bryan Rust, who was placed on injured reserve on Saturday.
It was the final game for both teams before a two-week pause in the NHL season for the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament. Crosby is scheduled to be one of three Penguins to participate, along with Karlsson and Rickard Rakell. Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan is the head coach of the United States team, which will compete against Canada, Finland and Sweden.
Flyers coach John Tortorella will assist Sullivan, and Philadelphia’s Konecny, Travis Sanheim, Rasmus Ristolainen and Ersson are playing.
Penguins: The two-week break comes at a good time for the Penguins, with Crosby, Malkin and Rust sidelined by injuries.
Flyers: From his first shift, Andrei Kuzmenko, acquired from Calgary last month, gave the Flyers energy and skilled play. He had an assist in his first game with Philadelphia.
Hayes pulled the Penguins within a goal with 14:18 left in the third. The tally originally was disallowed due to goaltender interference but overturned on video review after Sullivan challenged the call on the ice. As a result, the game was tight until the final whistle.
229 — The number of consecutive games in which Crosby played before missing Friday’s contest.
Both teams return to action on Feb. 22 when the Penguins host the Capitals and the Flyers host the Oilers.
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FILE - Pittsburgh Penguins right wing Rickard Rakell skates with the puck during an NHL hockey game, Jan. 27, 2025, in San Jose, Calif. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
FILE - Philadelphia Flyers' Travis Konecny skates with the puck during an NHL hockey game, Jan. 11, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Derik Hamilton, File)
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Richard “Dick” Codey, a former acting governor of New Jersey and the longest serving legislator in the state's history, died Sunday. He was 79.
Codey’s wife, Mary Jo Codey, confirmed her husband’s death to The Associated Press.
“Gov. Richard J. Codey passed away peacefully this morning at home, surrounded by family, after a brief illness,” Codey's family wrote in a Facebook post on Codey's official page.
"Our family has lost a beloved husband, father and grandfather -- and New Jersey lost a remarkable public servant who touched the lives of all who knew him," the family said.
Known for his feisty, regular-guy persona, Codey was a staunch advocate of mental health awareness and care issues. The Democrat also championed legislation to ban smoking from indoor areas and sought more money for stem cell research.
Codey, the son of a northern New Jersey funeral home owner, entered the state Assembly in 1974 and served there until he was elected to the state Senate in 1982. He served as Senate president from 2002 to 2010.
Codey first served as acting governor for a brief time in 2002, after Christine Todd Whitman’s resignation to join President George W. Bush’s administration. He held the post again for 14 months after Gov. Jim McGreevey resigned in 2004.
At that time, New Jersey law mandated that the Senate president assume the governor’s role if a vacancy occurred, and that person would serve until the next election.
Codey routinely drew strong praise from residents in polls, and he gave serious consideration to seeking the Democratic nomination for governor in 2005. But he ultimately chose not to run when party leaders opted to back wealthy Wall Street executive Jon Corzine, who went on to win the office.
Codey would again become acting governor after Corzine was incapacitated in April 2007 due to serious injuries he suffered in a car accident. He held the post for nearly a month before Corzine resumed his duties.
After leaving the governor’s office, Codey returned to the Senate and also published a memoir that detailed his decades of public service, along with stories about his personal and family life.
“He lived his life with humility, compassion and a deep sense of responsibility to others,” his family wrote. “He made friends as easily with Presidents as he did with strangers in all-night diners.”
Codey and his wife often spoke candidly about her past struggles with postpartum depression, and that led to controversy in early 2005, when a talk radio host jokingly criticized Mary Jo and her mental health on the air.
Codey, who was at the radio station for something else, confronted the host and said he told him that he wished he could “take him outside.” But the host claimed Codey actually threatened to “take him out,” which Codey denied.
His wife told The Associated Press that Codey was willing to support her speaking out about postpartum depression, even if it cost him elected office.
“He was a really, really good guy,” Mary Jo Codey said. “He said, ‘If you want to do it, I don’t care if I get elected again.’”
Jack Brook contributed reporting from New Orleans.
FILE - New Jersey State Sen. and former Democratic Gov. Richard Codey is seen before New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy delivers his State of the State address to a joint session of the Legislature at the statehouse, in Trenton, N.J., Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
