Flyers Battle Back, Lose 4-3 in OT to Caps Briere, Carter and Richards tally for Philadelphia

Stevens postgame press conference: FlyersTV

Hartnell and Briere postgame: FlyersTV

WIP game recap: 56K (Audio)

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(Philadelphia, PA) – It didn’t take long for Washington Interim Head Coach Bruce Boudreau to earn his first win in the NHL as the Capitals held off the Flyers for a 4-3 overtime win in Philadelphia’s traditional day-after-Thanksgiving matinee at the Wachovia Center.

Nicklas Backstrom, who also registered two assists on the afternoon, scored two minutes into the overtime session to lead Washington to their first win since Nov. 8, snapping a five-game losing streak in the process.

The Flyers battled back from a 3-0 deficit to force the overtime.

Kimmo Timonen and Washington's Alexander Ovechkin battle for the puck along the boards. (Getty Images)

It began late in the second, when Danny Briere opened the Flyers rally, scoring shortly into a four-minute power play at 15:45, poking in a loose puck in the crease.

“After that first period [John Stevens] was in here yelling at us, trying to get us going. We knew we had to step up and somebody had to make a play, and it just happened to be on the power play,” said Scott Hartnell.

With time expiring on the second half of the power-play, netminder Martin Biron threw a pass up ice to R.J. Umberger, who tipped it to an open Jeff Carter who slid the puck through the legs of Olie Kolzig to bring the Flyers within one goal heading into the final period.

Mike Richards again made his case for an all-star bid, by scoring his 12th goal of the year at 4:15 of the third period to tie the game, forcing overtime and securing a point in the standings for the Flyers.

Washington defenseman Mike Green got the Caps on the board early with a power-play goal at 17:33.  Coming in from the point, Green fired a one timer past Martin Biron off a pass from Backstrom for the 1-0 lead.

Green scored the lone goal of the period as the Flyers were out shot 8-6, having failed to score a goal in the opening period in their last three games.

The Capitals kicked off the second period in similar fashion as the first, by scoring within the first five minutes of play.  Taking a feed from Victor Kozlov, captain Chris Clark was left all alone in the slot and went top shelf on Biron to score his fourth of the year.

Former Flyer Donald Brashear extended the Caps lead to 3-0 deflecting a shot from the point from Shaone Morrisonn with just over five minutes to play in the second period.

Biron stopped 31 of 35 shots on the night, including a spectacular save shorthanded with one minute left in regulation to keep the score tied.

“Playing the way we did for basically twenty five minutes of the game we should consider ourselves lucky to get a point because it was not the way we wanted to play for most of the game,” said Biron.

Antero Niittymaki will start in Ottawa Saturday night.

“Some people are in the opinion that there is an easier game today then yesterday and I never look at it like that,” said Stevens of starting Biron Friday. “Every opponent is equally as tough.  Quite frankly I think Antero is capable of giving a terrific performance to help us win a hockey game and that is what I expect tomorrow.”

The Flyers take on the Ottawa Senators in Scotiabank Place in Ottawa on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. (CW-57, 1210 WPHT am), before returning home on Monday night to take on the Boston Bruins.

FLYERS NOTES
Danny Briere has five goals in his last four games… Martin Biron recorded his first point on the season with the assist on Carter’s goal in the second period… R.J. Umberger recorded two assists for his third multi-point game of the year and second against Washington… Mike Green’s power-play goal in the first period was the first goal allowed by the Flyers on the power play at home in the last three games, previously killing off the last 15 attempts.

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