FLYERS NEWS

The Flyers continued to struggle tonight as they finished their home and home with the Canadiens at home in the Wachovia center. Antero Niittymaki got another start in goal after his stellar performance in the Flyer's last game and well, he wasn't so stellar this time around, but that had more to do wth the Flyer's defense that allowed 32 shots on goal, than with him. Anyway, midway through the first period of play, Alexie Kovalev made it 1-0 Montreal. A few minutes later Mike Richards tied at 1 for the Flyers. Then late in the period Fredrick Bouillon made it 2-1 Habs. Early in the second period of play Braydon Coburn tied it at 2 for the Flyers. A couple minutes later Mike Ryder made it 3-2 Montreal. Then late in the period Saku Koivu made it 4-2 Montreal. It stayed that way until with less than two minutes to play in the 3rd period, the Flyers pulled Niittymaki in an attempt to come up with one last rally. It didn't work. Micheal Lapierre scored on the empty net for a 5-2 Habs lead and that was about all she wrote. With under 20 seconds to play Riley Cote scored a meaningless goal to make the final score 5-3 Canadiens. So the Flyers drop to 30-24-5 overall and down to 4th place in the Atlantic division.