Mike Richards tallied the game-deciding
power-play goal late in the third period, as Philadelphia recovered from a
two-goal deficit to top New Jersey, 3-2, at Wachovia Center.
James van Riemsdyk and Jeff Carter also lit the lamp for the Flyers, who
snapped a two-game slide and face New Jersey in Newark on Wednesday in the
back end of this home-and-home set.
Michael Leighton was sharp in net, stopping 28 shots.
Zach Parise and Anssi Salmela scored for the Devils, who have dropped four of
five. Martin Brodeur took the loss despite making 34 saves.
"They played a good game. It's a good team, and they were constantly on the
puck making good plays," said Devils head coach Jacques Lemaire of the
opposition. "I felt on our part, we didn't finish, and didn't control the puck
as well as we're capable of doing."
Philadelphia took its only lead of the contest courtesy of the power play,
when Kimmo Timonen dished from behind the net to Richards, whose quick tip
beat Brodeur up high with 7:58 left in the contest.
New Jersey was given a power play with 1:52 remaining and the visitors went
with an extra skater seconds later. New acquisition Ilya Kovalchuk unloaded a
pair of hard shots in the final seconds, but the first one went high and the
last was wide as time expired.
The Devils picked up the game's first goal while up a man seven minutes in,
when Parise's attempted pass into the slot deflected off Flyers defenseman
Chris Pronger's skate and in.
New Jersey went up 2-0 with 61 seconds played in the second period as Salmela
beat Leighton with a wrister, but the Devils defenseman was forced to leave
the game after being leveled on a clean shoulder check by Philly forward Jeff
Carter.
Van Riemsdyk finally got the Flyers within a goal with 1:36 left in the
period, then Carter finished off a 2-on-1 break with 23.2 seconds to go.
"The last two or three minutes of the second period sparked us," Pronger
noted. "Van Riemsdyk made a great individual effort on his goal, and Hartsie
(Scott Hartnell) made a good pass to Cartsie (Carter) on the tying score. We
haven't bounced back like that many times this year and it couldn't have come
at a better time."
Game Notes
The Flyers have won three of four meetings with the Devils this
season...Pronger picked up two assists...New Jersey has dropped its last five
road games.
©2010 Sports Network. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
