FLYERS NEWS

If there were doubts about the Flyers chances of returning to the Stanley Cup Finals this season, the lied within the though of the facing the Tampa Bay Lightning in the conference finals or earlier. Tampa Bay had defeated the Flyers in all of the 3 of the team's meetings coming into tonight and another win would have brought the Lightning dangerously close to the Orange and Black in the Eastern conference standings at just 4 points back. Fortunately, Brian Boucher's 24 saves and James Van Reimsdyk's Gordie Howe hat trick (goal, assist, and fight) ensured that they would not be able to do so.

Halfway through the 1st period Claude Giroux and Jeff Carter setup JVR for a 1-0 lead. Just over 7 and a half minutes into the 2nd period a JVR blast deflected in off Scott Hartnell for a power play goal and a 2-1 lead. A minute later Darroll Powe converted a penalty shot for a 3-1 lead and the Flyers seemed to a have win locked up. Not so fast. Just 2 minutes later Tampa tied it up at 3 and the outcome was back in doubt. Both goaltenders, Boucher and Dwayne Roloson, stepped it up after that as the game went through the 3rd period and overtime with no further scoring. In the shootout Danny Briere and Claude Giroux both failed while Dominic Moore scored for Tampa to give them a 1-0 advantage. Mike Richards had to score in the 3rd round of the shootout to keep the game alive and he did. After 4 great saves by Boucher, and misses by Kris Versteeg, Carter, and Ville Leino, Kimmo Timonen finally gave the Flyers the edge in the shootout. Boucher followed with save on Martin St Louis and the Flyers had their 4-3 win over Tampa.