Flyers Use Late Goal to Beat Blackhawks in Overtime

The Philadelphia Flyers next 10 games on the schedule are brutal, but the team started off the stretch with an incredible overtime win.

Claude Giroux scored the game-winning goal with 4.2 seconds left in overtime.  Mark Streit started the late rush and gave the puck to Giroux, who skated into the Blackhawks zone.  He took the snap shot and beat Antti Raanta over the shoulder.

The Blackhawks came out and took an early 2-0 lead.  Brayden Schenn turned the puck over in the offensive zone, and Patrick Sharp pounced on the puck.  Sharp skated the puck into the zone and got the puck over to Michal Handzus, who took a shot, but Ray Emery made the save.  The rebound came out to Andrew Shaw, who was in front of the net, and he scored to make it 1-0 Blackhawks.  The defending champions were 31-1-6 when scoring first.

A 1:22 later, the Blackhawks were at it again in the offensive zone.  Jonathan Toews passed the puck to -Duncan Keith and he took a slap shot that skidded past Emery.  The goal was Keith's first in 30 games.  The other assist on the goal went to Marian Hossa.

The Flyers seemed to settle down after a sloppy start.  Emery was playing in his first game since February 27th when he got hurt against the San Jose Sharks.  Braydon Coburn rolled the puck behind the Blackhawks net to Scott Hartnell, who tried to make the pass to Giroux.  The puck deflected off of the skate of Marcus Kruger and into his own net.  The Flyers couldn't capitalize on a couple of power play opportunities.

Then at 16:27 of the period, Hartnell scored his second goal of the game.  Matt Read battled for the puck behind the net, Giroux came in for support and passed the puck to Hartnell, who fired it past Raanta to tie the game 2-2.

In the second and third periods each team had its chances, but both Emery and Raanta kept the teams off the board.  In the second period, Zac Rinaldo and Sheldon Brookbank dropped the gloves after the gloves after Rinaldo hit Brookbank along the boards.

In the third period, the Flyers had two straight power plays but couldn't convert on either of them.  The Blackhawks came into the game 23rd in the league on the penalty kill, but kept the Flyers power play off the board in five chances.  Brayden Schenn had two chances to win the game for the Flyers, but couldn't put the puck in the net.

The win was Emery's first since February 8th versus the Calgary Flames because he was out with a groin injury.  The win also gave the Flyers some breathing room in the playoff race with the Columbus Blue jackets losing, 3-1, to the Carolina Hurricanes.  The Flyers are three points ahead of the Blue Jackets in the standings.

The next game doesn't get any easier for the Flyers as the Dallas Stars come to the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday.