FLYERS NEWS

The Flyers welcomed the Chicago Blackhawks to the wachovia center tonight as they looked to rebound from an embarrassing loss to the Boston Bruins in their last game. Chicago came in with the 2nd best record in the western conference, so the chances of the Orange and Black getting back on track tonight seemed slim. That's why they play the games though. For the first 2 periods neither team could get on board, as Cristobal Huet and Micheal Leighton both made some incredible saves down the stretch of the 2nd during a 4 0n 4. A litte over a minute into the 3rd period Simon Gagne finally broke through for a 1-0 lead. A couple minutes later Kris Versteeg answered on the power play to tie it at 1. With a little under 9 minutes to play Marian Hossa scored to put Chicago up 2-1. It was still 2-1 with about 2 minutes to play as Kimmo Timonen fired a pass for his own end all the way down the ice to an open Scott Hartnell who muscled one in to tie it at 2.

From there both goaltenders looked too sharp to keep the game from going into overtime, but with about 15 seconds to play the Flyers started one last rush into the Chicago zone. Claude Giroux took the puck zone with Scott Hartnell and Chris Pronger in front of him. He held it for a minute then flicked a perfect pass to Pronger, who in one motion slapped a high shot passed a diving Huet, and into the net for the scoooooooooorrrrrrreeeee!. So just like that the Orange and Black got themselves a thrilling 3-2 win over the Blackhawks. On the whole Leighton had an outstanding night with 39 saves out of the 41 shots he faced. Sure 41 shots is a lot and the Flyer's defense could definitely have been a bit better, but if Leighton can keep playing like that they won't need to be better. Besides, they did at least hold the Hawks top scorers, Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp, and Jonathan Toews to a combined 7 shots and no points.

For Kane it was the first time in 9 games that he failed to register a point. So in that sense it was a good defensive effort for the Orange and Black and one heck of a memorable win. With the win the Orange and Black now have 76 points overall and remain 6th in the Eastern conference.