FLYERS NEWS

Well if it's the Flyers it must be overtime. Yes that's right they went into OT again tonight at the Wachovia center as they welcomed the Carolina Hurricanes to town. Antero Niittymaki got the rare start in goal and did not have his best game, saving just 26 of the 31 shots he faced, but it was enough to keep the Flyers in it which seems to be just about all they need at this point. Meanwhile, Scotty Hartnell scored a hat trick to lead a furious Flyers comeback that forced overtime and eventually helped to pull out the win. Early in the first period Eric Staal scored for a 1-0 Canes lead. Early in the 2nd period Matt Cullen scored for a 2-0 lead. About halfway through the period Hartnell scored his first to cut it to 2-1. A few seconds later Sergie Samsonov pushed it to 3-1 Canes. A few minutes later ex-Flyer Joni Pitkanen made it 4-1. A few minutes later Staal score again for a 5-1 Canes lead and all hope seemed lost. However, Niittymaki finally bared down and shutout the Canes in the 3rd period and halfway through the period Hartnell had finished off his hat trick to cut it to 5-3. With just under 5 minutes to play Scottie Upshall scored to cut it to 5-4. Finally with just under 2 minutes to play Simon Gagne scored to knot it up at 5 and complete the comeback. From there neither team could accumulate another tally until the game had gone into a shootout. There Tomo Ruutu and Rod Brindamour each missed their attempts, while Gagne and Mike Richards were each successful on their attempts to close out the 6-5 shootout win for the Flyers. So the Orange and Black move to 15-7-6 overall, good for 36 points, 5th in the Eastern conference, and 2nd in the Atlantic division, just 4 points behind the Rangers for first.