PHILADELPHIA -- After squandering a pair of leads in
the third period, the Philadelphia Flyers came through in the
shootout.
Mike Richards and Jeff Carter scored in the bonus format as the
Flyers skated to a 4-3 victory over the New York Rangers on
Friday.
Daniel Briere tallied twice and Richards also netted a goal in
regulation for Philadelphia (37-28-10), which moved past idle
Boston (37-28-9) and into seventh place in the Eastern
Conference.
Defenseman Marek Malik, Nigel Dawes and captain Jaromir Jagr
scored and blue-liner Christian Backman collected three assists
for the Rangers (39-26-10), who climbed within one point of the
idle Ottawa Senators (41-26-7) for fifth place in the East.
After watching leads of 2-0 and 3-2 slip away in the third
period, the Flyers successfully killed a late power play for the
Rangers in overtime to get the game to the shootout.
Entering with a league-worst 1-5 mark in the bonus format,
Philadelphia took an early advantage when Richards slipped a
nifty backhander between the pads of goaltender Stephen
Valiquette on the first attempt.
On New York's first chance, Brendan Shanahan's backhander sailed
wide of the left goalpost. Carter followed by lifting a
backhander past Valiquette, giving the Flyers a 2-0 edge.
Needing to score in order to keep alive New York's hopes, Dawes
was denied by netminder Martin Biron, sealing the Flyers' first
home win over the Rangers in eight tries.
In addition to losing a point, New York also lost the services
of All-Star center Scott Gomez, who crashed into the end boards
midway through the first period and left the game with an upper
body injury.
Gomez was taken for X-rays, but no update was given on his
injury.
Richards gave the Flyers an early lead, scoring his 26th goal of
the season just 4:37 into the game.
After blocking a dump-in attempt by Malik, Richards gained
control of the puck and raced down the ice on a breakaway. The
All-Star unleashed a wrist shot that beat Valiquette to the
glove side for a 1-0 edge.
The goal was the first allowed at the Wachovia Center in 124
minutes, 37 seconds by Valiquette, who posted shutouts in each
of his previous two starts here.
Following a scoreless second period, Philadelphia doubled its
lead midway through the third.
Vaclav Prospal kept the puck in the offensive zone at the blue
line, punching it down low to Briere. After skating behind the
net, Briere banked the puck off the stick of defenseman Dan
Girardi and in at the left goalpost at 10:50 to make it 2-0.
New York wasted little time halving the deficit as Malik
received a cross-ice pass from Jagr and beat Biron with a
wrister from the left point just 71 seconds later.
Scott Hartnell nearly restored the two-goal lead with just under
seven minutes remaining, but he lost control of the puck on a
partial breakaway and it hit the left post.
Less than a minute later, the Rangers forged a 2-2 tie as Dawes'
one-timer from above the slot deflected off the leg of Patrick
Thoresen and between the pads of Biron with 6:11 left in the
period.
Briere put the Flyers back in front at 16:23, converting a feed
from Hartnell while being pushed into the net. But Jagr
answered with 1:51 to go, unleashing a backhander from along the
end line on the right side that caromed off defenseman Jason
Smith and into the net for his 19th of the season.
The goal also was the 640th of Jagr's career, tying him with
Dave Andreychuk for 12th place on the all-time list.
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