Heatley's hat trick leads Sharks past Flyers

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Dany Heatley scored three times, Joe Thornton recorded his 600th NHL assist, and the San Jose Sharks beat the Philadelphia Flyers 6-3 on Friday night.

Manny Malhotra, Ryane Clowe and Patrick Marleau also scored for the Sharks, who are 7-0-2 at home.

Claude Giroux scored twice and Danny Briere added a goal for the Flyers, who lost for the second time in nine games.

Thornton, who had points on each of Heatley's goals, earned four assists. He matched his franchise record, and has 30 points this season.

Heatley notched his second hat trick of the season, and the ninth of his career.

Giroux had his first career multigoal game.

The matchup of two of the NHL's top offensive clubs didn't disappoint as the action remained furious throughout.

Heatley leads the NHL with 17 goals, and Thornton has a league-best 24 assists. The Flyers and Sharks combined for 14 goals in two meetings this season.

Evgeni Nabokov stopped 27 shots and improved to 6-0-2 against the Flyers.

Heatley helped create his first goal after picking up a loose puck along the boards and dishing it to Thornton before skating to the net. Thornton split two defenders and put the puck on Heatley's stick in front of an open net 50 seconds into the middle period.

Heatley's short-handed goal 8:41 into the third period was a near duplicate. He completed his hat trick and gave the Sharks a 5-3 lead with a power-play goal with 7:16 left in the game.

Ray Emery (11-5-1) made 23 saves for Philadelphia.

NOTES: D Jason Demers leads NHL rookies with 12 assists. ... Flyers D Matt Carle has recorded assists in two consecutive games following a six-game scoreless streak. ... All four of Malhotra's goals have been scored against Philadelphia or Pittsburgh. ... Briere scored his third goal in five games since returning from an injury. ... Emery made his first career start against the Sharks. ... The Sharks have scored an NHL-leading 40 goals in the second period. ... The Flyers are winless in San Jose since Nov. 15, 1999. ... Heatley has 28 points _ 18 goals _ in 28 games against the Flyers.

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