FLYERS NEWS

The Flyers welcomed the Devils to the Wachovia center tonight as they looked to snap a 5 game losing streak. Coming into tonight the Flyer's had owned New Jersey this season, with just one loss against them all year. In fact the last time these two teams met the Flyers swept New Jersey in a home and home. Desperately in need of 2 points, the Orange and Black could not have picked a better time to face New Jersey again. They basically picked up right where they left off in the home and home, with a couple quick scores in the 1st period by Matt Carle and Ville Leino for an early 2-0 lead. Just seconds into the 2nd period Kimmo Timonen scored off the power play for a 3-0 lead. With just seconds left in the 2nd period Lukas Krajicek deposited a rare goal for a 4-0 lead. Just past the halfway point in the 3rd, Ilya Kovalchuk finally got New Jersey on the board to cut the lead to 4-1 but it was too little too late for the Devils.

Only about 30 seconds later Leino and Danny Briere set up Simon Gagne for another score and an insurmountable 5-1 lead. Thanks to Brian Boucher and his 32 saves that lead held up the rest of the way and the Flyers got their 2 points. While Boucher was fantastic the Flyer's defense really stepped up in this one. They did allow 33 shots on goal but for once few of those shots represented good scoring for New Jersey. Perhaps more impressive though were the 5 goals they scored. With all the scoring struggles they have had lately, just the fact that they were able to score 5 just like that tonight shows what this team is capable when they focus and give it their all. They'll need to keep doing that from here on out if they still want to lock up a playoff spot and go anywhere this season. For now with 82 points overall, they're back up to 6th in the East, 4 points ahead of the 9th place thrashers and 6 ahead of the 10th place Rangers.