Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - Aaron Ward scored 43 seconds into overtime to lift the Boston Bruins to a 4-3 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers at the Wachovia Center.
Marc Savard and Marco Sturm each scored a goal and added an assist for the Bruins, who blew a two-goal lead in the third. Zdeno Chara notched three assists in the victory, as Boston halted a two-game skid.
Jeff Carter posted a goal and an assist for the Flyers, who had a three-game winning streak stopped and lost for only the second time in their last eight outings (6-1-1).
After the Flyers failed to score with pressure in the Boston zone early in the extra session, Savard was able to send the puck out of his own zone and toward the Philadelphia net.
Flyers goaltender Antero Niittymaki came well out of the crease to play the puck away from an onrushing Sturm, sending it off the boards. The puck went directly to Ward, who fired a weak shot from the right point that made its way past a screened Niittymaki as he scrambled back toward the crease.
"He didn't have a chance to place the puck," said Ward about watching Niittymaki coming out of the crease. "He just had a chance to knock it away. It was a 50-50 chance of going to my side."
Niittymaki finished with 28 saves for Philadelphia, while Boston netminder Alex Auld stopped 21 shots.
"We did everything but win the hockey game," said Flyers head coach John Stevens. "The positive is that we were able to come back."
Philadelphia trailed 3-1 in the third period, but scored twice in a span of just over two minutes to tie it.
The Bruins were whistled for too many men on the ice with 11:12 remaining and the Flyers capitalized just before the power play was set to expire. Carter got free behind the Boston defense and missed the net from in close, but he tracked down the rebound off the back boards and sent a pass toward the crease. R.J. Umberger's whack at the puck went off Auld, but Scott Hartnell crashed the net and chipped a shot past the netminder for his 11th goal.
Philadelphia continued to apply pressure and netted the equalizer with 7:15 remaining. Simon Gagne fired a shot from the right point that Auld stopped, but he was unable to control the rebound. Daniel Briere, alone in front of the net, gathered the puck and skated around the off-balance netminder before backhanding a shot into the empty cage for his 17th goal.
"We stole a point there," said Briere. "We feel if we play the way we did in the third period, we're a very dangerous team."
The Flyers scored on a power play for a 1-0 lead at 11:31 of the first period. Randy Jones stepped in from the right point and fired a shot that went wide and caromed off the back boards. The puck came directly to Carter at the right side of the crease and he quickly snapped it into the net for his 17th goal.
Boston tied it on a power play just over four minutes into the second. Savard took a feed from Sturm and unleashed a rocket from the top of the slot that found the back of the net for his 11th goal.
Sturm put the Bruins on top with just 1:22 left in the second, also on the power play. A shot from the left circle by Chara went wide, but Sturm won a battle behind the net and swept a wraparound under a sliding Niittymaki.
The Bruins held the Flyers to just four shots in the second period, then added to their lead early in the third. Peter Schaefer netted his seventh of the season at the 4:51 mark, deflecting Chara's left point blast through Niittymaki to make it 3-1.
Hartnell had a chance to pull Philadelphia within one just under two minutes later, but Auld stoned him on a clean breakaway.
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