PHILADELPHIA, PA - Mike Knuble played the hero role by scoring a shorthanded go-ahead goal with only 3.2 seconds left in regulation to lift the Flyers to
a hard fought 5-4 victory over the Florida Panthers Saturday night at the Wachovia Center.
Knuble was in the right place at the right time to retrieve the puck from the boards and slap a blistering shot past
Florida goalie Jamie McClennan for the clincher.
The Flyers managed to keep the Panthers in check, despite losing leads on three different occasions.
With the win Philly completed their five game home stand undefeated, and stretched their overall home winning streak to 8 games. The team's overall record
now stands at 11-3-1 on the season, putting them atop the Atlantic by themselves.
Knuble's game winner seemed to serve some justice because that goal actually should have completed a hat trick. However, Knuble had a goal waved off with less than 5 minutes remaining.
Peter Forsberg made one of the prettiest plays of the year by shrugging off two checks behind the Florida net, and feeding a centering pass to
Knuble who chopped it under McClennan. The play was whistled dead when the referee thought the puck had been frozen by McClennan, but he in fact never had full control of the puck.
"The non-goal was a tough call on us," said Flyers head coach Ken Hitchcock on Knuble's play.
"There were two great plays there on the power play and he usually buries those. But he sure
made up for it, boy...in a big way."
Knuble described the game winer as "probably one of the timeliest goals of my NHL career."
Simon Gagne wasted no time adding to his league-leading goal scoring total by netting his 17th of the year
just 57 seconds into the game. A missed Panthers pass got by the Philadelphia blueline and Gagne broke through two defenders to streak in on net.
A quick side to side deke and the Flyers were up 1-0.
Mike Knuble then followed up with his first goal of the night just 2 minutes later. Knuble used much the same strategy
as Gagne in getting McClennan to commit before he tucked the puck past the downed goalie.
The Flyers did have their hardships with defensive breakdowns as well, and both Gary Roberts and Kristian Huselius were
able to capitalize on poor coverage down low in the 1st period.
Jeff Carter scored his 6th goal of the season on an end to end 2 on 1 with Gagne. Carter elected not to pass, and wristed the puck past the glove of McClennan.
"When I get the puck, I like to use my speed. If I have my speed going through the neutral zone, I'm going to take it to the net every chance I get." said Carter.
Joni Pitkanen scored the Flyers lone power play goal, and for only the second time this season, the Flyers did not
give up a power play goal.
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1st Period Scoring
PHI, S. GAGNE (17) , 00:57
PHI, M. KNUBLE (9) (P. FORSBERG, S. GAGNE), 02:58
FLA, K. HUSELIUS (3) (C. GRATTON, L. KRAJICEK), 07:58
FLA, G. ROBERTS (2) (O. JOKINEN, J. BOUWMEESTER), 09:15
PHI, J. CARTER (6) (D. SEIDENBERG), 13:45
1st Period Penalties
PHI, J. SIM, 10:04 - Tripping
PHI, M. RATHJE, 12:08 - Interference
PHI, J. PITKANEN, 12:08 - Misconduct (10 min)
2nd Period Scoring
FLA, M. GELINAS (5) (S. WEISS, J. KOLNIK), 02:14
PHI, J. PITKANEN (5) (M. HANDZUS), 05:06
FLA, N. HAGMAN (1) (O. JOKINEN), 12:50
2nd Period Penalties
FLA, E. CAIRNS, 04:48 - Hooking
PHI, P. SHARP, 05:55 - Hi stick
FLA, J. BOUWMEESTER, 07:31 - Slashing
FLA, J. KWIATKOWSKI, 10:30 - Holding
PHI, J. SIM, 19:00 - Interference - Goaltender
3rd Period Scoring
PHI, M. KNUBLE (10) (M. HANDZUS, R. ESCHE), 19:56
3rd Period Penalties
FLA, M. GELINAS, 07:00 - Tripping
FLA, S. HILL, 11:34 - Delaying Game-Puck over glass
PHI, J. PITKANEN, 19:00 - Hooking
Attendance: 19654
Referees: Don VanMassenhoven, Dean Warren
Linesmen: Derek Amell, Steve Barton
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