Patrick Roy, the former Montreal goalie, is having a much better time than current Canadiens star Jose Theodore.

Roy broke one NHL record and extended another in the Colorado Avalanche's 3-2 victory in Phoenix on Thursday night.

Theodore, the reigning league MVP and Vezina Trophy winner as the NHL's top goalie, was yanked in the second period of the Canadiens' 6-2 loss in Philadelphia.

Roy passed Terry Sawchuk again. This time, by playing his 972nd NHL game, a record for goalies.

"He set a record that's going to be tough to be broken," said Mike Keane, who scored the go-ahead goal as the Avalanche rallied from a two-goal deficit.

"If you think about the games he didn't play, the softer games he sits out for weaker teams, that record could have been broken months ago," Keane said.

In other NHL games, it was Ottawa 2, Boston 2; the New York Islanders 5, Florida 3; San Jose 2, Nashville 1; Minnesota 3, Chicago 2; Dallas 3, Calgary 3; St. Louis 2, Edmonton 1; and Anaheim 2, Vancouver 2.

Two years ago, Roy pushed Sawchuk aside in the record book with his 448th victory. On Thursday, the 37-year-old Roy earned victory No. 519.

"It's always nice to put your name in the record book on a night when you get two points," coach Bob Hartley said.

Theodore earned no points for his team or with his coach. The goalie dropped to 1-3-1 and has allowed 20 goals in five games.

"Every time you pull a goalie, it's because you aren't satisfied and the team is in trouble," Canadiens coach Michel Therrien said of the decision to remove Theodore 6:39 into the middle period.

The goal that did it was Michal Handzus' second of the night, a short-handed tally that gave the Flyers a 4-1 lead.

Keith Primeau also had two goals, and Marty Murray and Pavel Brendl each scored one for Philadelphia. Saku Koivu and Richard Zednik had Montreal's goals.

Roy got off to a bit of a rocky start, too, allowing two goals to Tony Amonte in the first period. After that, Roy stopped all 17 shots fired at him to improve to 3-0-1 in his last four starts.

"Phoenix deserves a bit of credit," said Roy, whose first NHL season was 1985-86. "They started fast, and you could tell they had some confidence from their last couple of games. It was good to get out of there only two goals behind."

Alex Tanguay and Milan Hejduk also scored for the Avalanche. Joe Sakic had two assists.

Bruins 2, Senators 2

Brian Rolston tied it in the third period and Steve Shields stopped 30 shots to remain unbeaten as Boston celebrated Terry O'Reilly Night.

In his NHL debut, Jason Spezza made a nifty pass to assist on Ottawa's second goal scored by Marian Hossa.

Hal Gill also scored for Boston. Daniel Alfredsson had the other Ottawa goal.

Patrick Lalime stopped 26 shots for Ottawa, which has not lost since its season opener.

The Bruins retired O'Reilly's No. 24 before the game.

Islanders 5, Panthers 3

Alexei Yashin scored in the last minute of the second period to pace New York over visiting Florida.

Kenny Jonsson, Claude Lapointe, Adrian Aucoin and Aaron Asham also scored for New York, which got 18 saves from Chris Osgood.

New York scored two power-play goals, ending an 0-for-23 drought.

Sharks 2, Predators 1

Teemu Selanne scored in the first period and Miikka Kiprusoff stopped 20 shots as visiting San Jose beat winless Nashville.

The Predators (0-4-1-2) have lost six games by one goal.

Wild 3, Blackhawks 2

Andrew Brunette scored twice in the third period and backup goalie Dwayne Roloson stopped 24 shots for his first win this season as Minnesota won in Chicago.

The Wild improved to 5-1-1, their best record after seven games in the team's three-year history. Pascal Dupuis also scored for Minnesota and Cliff Ronning added two assists.

Blues 2, Oilers 1

Keith Tkachuk snapped a tie at 14:28 of the third period, and Cody Rudkowsky made 10 saves in his NHL debut to lead St. Louis in Edmonton.

Rudkowsky replaced injured rookie starter Curtis Sanford midway through the second period.

Stars 3, Flames 3

Jere Lehtinen scored with 2:49 left in the third period, lifting visiting Dallas into a tie with Calgary.

The Stars led 2-1 entering the third period, but goals less than 2 minutes apart by Craig Conroy and Chris Clark gave the Flames their first lead.

Canucks 2, Mighty Ducks 2

Paul Kariya scored a short-handed goal in the third period for Anaheim, which lost Adam Oates to a broken left hand in a tie at Vancouver.

Mighty Ducks rookie Martin Gerber made 30 saves as Anaheim rallied twice. Brendan Morrison and Jan Hlavac scored for the Canucks, unbeaten in four games with a win and three 2-2 ties.