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PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- Ruslan Fedotenko never had scored a postseason goal. He may never score one bigger. Fedotenko scored 7:47 into overtime after Roman Cechmanek stopped 35 shots as the Philadelphia Flyers edged the Ottawa Senators, 1-0, in the opening game of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series. Defenseman Eric Weinrich intercepted a pass in the neutral zone and dumped a pass to Adam Oates, who sent Marty Murray down the left side. Murray stopped in the faceoff circle and got the puck to Fedotenko in the slot while falling to the ice. Fedotenko spun to his backhand and snapped a shot past sliding defenseman Curtis Leschyshyn and just inside the right goalpost to send 19,420 fans home happy. "Marty Murray went down the wing and he turned around and lost the edge of his skate," Fedotenko said. "He found a way to flip the puck where I was. I turned around and I just shot it. I backhanded it and it went in." "I guess the puck hit a skate and went right in the slot," Ottawa goaltender Patrick Lalime said. "They got a big scramble in front of the net. He just turned around and shot it, and it was a nice shot. You expect that in the playoffs." The Flyers had not won a playoff overtime game since an eight-period marathon with Pittsburgh on May 4, 2000, losing twice to Buffalo last season. They never had entered the extra session scoreless in their previous 50 playoff overtime contests. "It was a huge win for us," Fedotenko said. "We played well defensively and our goalie played great. This time, I scored; next time, different guys will step up. We have a deep team and it's not a problem for us." Cechmanek was shaky in the early going but settled down and got stronger as the game progressed. Twelve seconds into the contest, Daniel Alfredsson fired a slap shot from outside the blue line that handcuffed the Flyers' goaltender and hit the left post. Cechmanek also got help from the iron at 3:29 of the third period when defenseman Wade Redden's slapper from the left point rang off the left post. Cechmanek's best save came at 2:21 of the third. Alfredsson wristed a shot from the bottom of the left faceoff circle that the Flyers' goaltender got a piece of with his glove. The rebound landed just outside the crease, where Benoit Brunet fired a wrister that Cechmanek snagged with his glove just before the puck crossed the goal line. "It was good to get a lot of shots on me," Cechmanek said. "This is the playoffs, every second is important. It is good for us to get the win. It's just one little step." "Goaltending is a major factor in a team's success," Philadelphia coach Bill Barber added. "They can win you a game. Cechmanek kept us right in there. He was right on top of his game. That is the way he plays. He gave our team a chance to get our wheels back on. He was outstanding the whole game." Philadelphia's best scoring chance in regulation came 2:40 into the third when Jeremy Roenick's redirection of a pass from Simon Gagne in the slot went over the net and into the crowd. Lalime remained winless in postseason play, dropping to 0-5. Ottawa has lost 15 of its 18 postseason road games, including the last 13. Their last win was a 2-1 triumph at New Jersey on April 22, 1998. "We played a lot better than we did last year (against Toronto) in that first game," Lalime said. "Tonight we took the play to them, we had a lot of shots and a lot of scoring chances. It could have been a different game if we scored. We have to be positive about it and we just have to keep it going." The Senators outshot Philadelphia, 27-10, through two periods but were held to eight shots the rest of the way. It was the third time in nine overtime contests that Ottawa held an opponent scoreless through regulation. "We came out the way we wanted," said Alfredsson, the Senators' captain. "We wanted to get a quick start in their end of the zone as much as possible. Overall, I think we did a great job. We weren't getting the bounces tonight. They got a little bit of the momentum in the overtime. We had two or three bad shifts in a row. Patty came up big a couple of times, but they got a break and they got the goal." "I feel like we played two different games," Philadelphia captain Keith Primeau said. "The first two periods were one game and the third and overtime were another. We played the first two like the way we've played the last five or six games. We just couldn't allow that anymore and the guys found their legs. It's probably one of those games where we didn't deserve to win based off the way we played the first two periods. (Cechmanek) did his part and earned us a victory in Game One." Philadelphia survived a scary moment midway through the second period when Roenick crashed into his own net while backchecking and slammed his right elbow into the goalpost. He received treatment but did not miss a shift. "We proved tonight what can happen with a hot goaltender," Roenick said. "They (the Senators) played one of the best games I've seen them play in the first two periods. We don't feel that we were lucky tonight. We felt that we earned it come the third period and in the overtime. It's almost like they dominated the first two, we dominated the last two. It's nice that we batted them down a little bit and got that first win." The Flyers believe their play must improve Saturday to take a two games to none. "We know we didn't play our best game," right wing Mark Recchi said. "They really did a great job against us tonight and we know we are going to have to be a lot better on Saturday. But winning that first game at home will hopefully take a big lift off our shoulders, allow us to relax and play Philadelphia Flyers' hockey on Saturday." |
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