FLYERS NEWS

With their backs against the wall again the Flyers took the ice at the Wachovia center for game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals. It turned out to be yet another classic game but again it probably didn't have to be. The Flyers seem to prefer things to be gut wrenching and dramatic though so I guess it was pretty fitting night. Anyway they came out with a lot of energy right out of the gate but Chicago withstood it. That is until Marian Hossa slashed Aaron Asham. About a minute later the Flyers capitalized on the power play with Scott Hartnell making a tremendous back pass to Danny Briere for the score. Chicago got a power play before the end of the 1st period as well but the Flyers killed it off and went into the 2nd period leading 1-0.

Thanks to a stupid roughing penalty by Dustin Byfuglien the Flyers were on the power play again to start the 2nd period but they couldn't take advantage and then Chicago surged right off the penalty kill and into the Flyer's zone where Duncan Keith took a shot that deflected off Jeff Carter and in for the 1-1 tie. 7 minutes later the Orange and Black got their 3rd power play and made the most of it with Scott Hartnell slapping one in, that required video review to be counted. The two teams played on for almost 2 minutes before a stoppage finally allowed officials to review the goal, kind of an odd circumstance but the Flyers will take it. The Flyers had a few golden opportunities after that to go up 3-1 but they couldn't take advantage. Somehow or other there ended up being a faceoff in the Flyers' zone which Chicago won for about the first time all period long and Brent Sopel slapped in right off the faceoff past a surprised Leighton. So the game went into the 3rd tied at 2.

Just 2 and a half minutes into the 3rd the Flyers turned it over in the Chicago zone leading to a breakaway for Patrick Zane who ripped a wrister past a helpless Leighton for a 3-2 Chicago lead, causing the Wachovia center to fall silent for about a minute. I'll admit I even thought it was over, but Ville Leino who helped cause the breakaway had other ideas. Less than a minute later he rumbled into the Chicago zone, fed Claude Giroux a beautiful pass and slapped in the rebound off Giroux's shot past a sprawling Anti Niemi for a 3-3 tie. Despite the best efforts of both teams it stayed that way for the remainder of regulation and into OT. There it was Chicago who got off to the quick start but the Flyer's withstood the charge and then appeared to win it as Simon Gagne scored his first goal of the series with a wicked slap shot. Instead replays showed the puck never crossed the goal line. So played but only for another few moments before Briere and Matt Carle setup Giroux for the easy game winner. So Chicago's series lead is cut to 2-1 and the Flyer's fans can breath a sigh of relief until Friday anyway.