[Phils20]

Flyers edge Panthers, 3-2, in shootout

By ED MORAN
Philadelphia Daily News
morane@phillynews.com
SUNRISE, FLA. - Just before leaving for Florida, the Flyers spent a large portion of their practice working on their shootout skills. Face it, they have not had a lot of fun with the post-lockout gimmick and, well, they needed the work.
It paid off last night.
Simon Gagne scored and Antero Niittymaki shut down the Florida Panthers for a 3-2 shootout win in BankAtlantic Center.
"It's hard," Gagne said. "You get a little bit nervous before you go out there, but it makes it a lot easier when your goalie is making the first save and second save and you have a little less pressure on your shoulders.
"But it was good for us. We practiced it the other day."
And it was a good win, considering the back-to-back losses to struggling teams the Flyers suffered in the prior two games.
After lackluster efforts against Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay, the Flyers had a solid performance for two full periods. If not for a penalty-filled second, one in which the Flyers took four penalties in a row and gave up two power play goals to allow Florida to tie the game, the shootout would not have been necessary.
Jeff Carter and Gagne both scored first-period goals, and the Flyers seemingly had the game under control.
"I really liked the way we played in the first and the third," coach John Stevens said. "I thought the second period we had too many penalties. The one was kind of a tough call [delay of game on Kimmo Timonen]. It looked like it hit a stick and went out, but we came back and played a really strong third period.
"It's nice to win the shootout, but I still don't know if I'm more happy with the body of work than I am about winning the shootout. I want our team to get back to playing the right way."
Niittymaki, playing in his first game since injuring his groin Jan. 4 in Los Angeles, played a solid game in net, turning away all but two of Florida's 34 shots and then shutting the door in the shootout.
"It feels good," he said. "I haven't really felt that good in the shootout this year, especially after the last couple of games when I lost in the shootout. We've been practicing it a little bit and I got my timing back. I'd been playing too deep the last couple of shootouts. I was more aggressive and I think it worked.
"I'm pretty happy about the game. I got a lot of work in the first period and it got me into the game. The second period we took too many penalties, but overall I think it was a pretty good battle. We had back-to-back games and they had a pretty big rest."
The Flyers finally got the start they wanted, scoring twice in the first period. Carter scored his 30th of the season, a career high, collecting a rebound in front of Tomas Vokoun and lifting it high and in at 12 minutes, 12 seconds.
Gagne made it 2-0 with a power play goal. Mike Richards walked the puck up the wall and then sent it back down to Gagne at the side of the net. Gagne moved just above the goal crease and fired, slipping the puck in for his first goal in eight games.
"The goal was huge for us, especially after the last two games," Gagne said. "We kind of struggled to score on the power play. For us, our power play has been one of the best things going for us this year. This was a huge second goal for us, especially in the first period.
"We kind of watched on tape. Vokoun catches on the other side. For us setting up on that side we needed to make a quick play on the goal line. I just tried to go and wrap-around like I did with a quick shot.
"I don't know if it went stick side or five hole. It was a quick shot. The puck went from [Richards] to me and I just walked in and the puck went in."
Florida took the game to the Flyers in the second and they reacted by taking four penalties in a row. No matter how good the penalty kill unit is, if a team is given 8 minutes of man advantage time the result can be costly.
And it was. Bryan McCabe scored on the third penalty with a shot from the point that beat a besieged Niittymaki low, and Jay Bouwmeester scored on the fourth on a shot that deflected off Gagne's skate.
When the period ended, the game was tied, but Florida had all the momentum and a 28-15 shot advantage.
The Flyers got the momentum going in the third and then in the overtime were dominant. It was a good way to end the short trip heading into the final game before the All-Star break, against Atlanta at home Wednesday.
"We did a lot of good things right for about 30 minutes and then started taking penalties and the penalties allowed them to get back in the game," said Mike Knuble. "We were off to a good start and then made it hard on ourselves.
"After the game the night before I think everybody responded. It was good character shown by our team." *