Flyers come back from two-goal deficit, beat Devils 3-2

So they can win big games after all! In my last post I asked where Mike Richards and Jeff Carter’s offense has gone, and they proved me wrong tonight, each scoring a goal en route to a 3-2 victory over their division rival New Jersey Devils, 3-2. The Flyers came back from being down 2-0 and scored three unanswered goals.

I had my doubts before the game even started. The Devils traded for dynamic goal scorer Ilya Kovalchuk from the Atlanta Thrashers last week, and any team who has a guy like him in their lineup is a big threat to the opposing team…perfect timing for Philadelphia (these teams meet again Wednesday). Luckily for the Flyers none of his nine shots went past goalie Michael Leighton, who in his second straight start came up with some pretty big saves.

Zach Parise and Anssi Salmela scored for the Devils, Parise’s coming on the power play in the first period and Salmela’s just one minute into the second period. Salmela, who also came over from Atlanta in the Kovalchuk trade, had a scary moment right after he scored. Carter gave him a hard check into his shoulder that landed him face first on the ice. Salmela laid there still while trainers attended to him but had some movement in his legs before they took him off the ice in a stretcher. After the game he was up walking and talking and appears only to have some cuts which is good news…no word on his return.

The Devils had all the momentum up until 1:36 left in the second period when James van Riemsdyk scored the Flyers first goal.  Just over a minute later Carter took a great pass from Scott Hartnell and shot a one-timer past Martin Brodeur to tie the game at 2-2.

With the momentum shifted to the Flyers, Richards took advantage on the Flyers power play to score the go-ahead goal with less then eight minutes left to play. He took a pass from behind the net from Kimmo Timonen, who had a lot of patience on the play to put the Flyers ahead.

Flyers fans got a little uneasy as the Devils were on a power play the last two minutes of the game, but Leighton and the rest of the defense held them off to secure the 3-2 victory.

As I mentioned earlier, these teams meet again Wednesday night at the Prudential Center which should prove to be another good game between these rivals. Should be interesting to see if the Devils retaliate for Carter’s hit on Salmela.

NOTES:  Carter and Richard’s goals were both their 23rd of the season…Flyers D Chris Pronger had two assists…this was the first time all season the Flyers won when trailing by two goals…Richards has 26 points in 32 career games against the Devils…New Jersey is 4-9-1 in their last 14 games