 |
| |
|
 |
 |
 |
OTTAWA (Ticker) -- The Philadelphia Flyers proved they belong near the top of the Eastern Conference. Simon Gagne scored at 5:16 of the third period to lift the Flyers into a 2-2 tie with the Ottawa Senators, who hold a share of the lead in the East. With just one win in its previous seven visits to the Corel Centre, Philadelphia rallied in the final period to remain unbeaten in its last four road games. Streaking down the left side, Gagne unleashed a high wrist shot from the faceoff circle that beat goaltender Patrick Lalime to the glove side to earn Philadelphia one point in the home-and-home series. The Flyers were beaten, 3-1, on Saturday at the First Union Center. "Lalime made some big saves and made a big difference," Gagne said. "It looks like he has our number. For example, look at the playoffs last year. We are going to have to find a way to beat him." Robert Esche made 26 saves for Philadelphia, which is 4-1-2-0 in the last seven contests. "Our team played extremely hard and deserved more than a point tonight," Esche said. "Ottawa moved the puck well." Todd White and Shaun Van Allen scored for Ottawa, which moved to 13-0-2 when leading after two periods. With Donald Brashear serving a roughing penalty less than five minutes into the game, the Senators relied on a former Flyer to give them the lead. After passing to defenseman Zdeno Chara at the left point, White - who played three games for Philadelphia in 1999-2000 - got back the puck and fired a wrister from the right circle that sneaked between Esche's pads at 4:10. "We play our best hockey against them," White said. "It was an intense, physical game, similar to when we play Toronto." In his last 10 games, White has five goals and 10 assists. Michal Handzus drew Philadelphia even midway through the second. Brashear retrieved a loose puck behind the net and fed Handzus, who netted his 10th goal from the doorstep at 12:11. "Brashear was behind the net and passed it to me between the circles," Handzus said. "I tried to keep the puck low and get it stick side. That's how I scored last game." Van Allen put Ottawa back in front just 2:28 later, knocking in the rebound of defenseman Karel Rachunek's shot from the right circle while shorthanded for his 100th point as a Senator. "I just filled in the space and put the puck in the empty net," Van Allen said. "I'm playing with great guys and they are making me look good." Philadelphia had several chances in overtime, but Handzus was caught from behind by Radek Bonk and defenseman Shane Hnidy on a breakaway with 75 seconds remaining and Lalime turned away Gagne's shot from in front with 33 seconds to go. "I wasn't skating as hard as I could and got a bit of a hook," Handzus said. "It was one of those games," Lalime said. "They had very good chances and I just did my job. When you play home-and-home games, there is a lot of emotion and intensity. It makes for an exciting game." |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
