Flyers Score 7 Seconds Apart In 5-2 Win Over Bruins
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Matt Read and Oliver Lauridsen scored goals 7 seconds apart to lead the Philadelphia Flyers to a 5-2 victory over the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night.
Scott Hartnell, Jakub Voracek and Simon Gagne also scored for the Flyers, who failed to make the playoffs this season.
Wade Redden and David Krejci had goals for the Bruins. The Bruins are second in the Eastern Conference and lead the Northeast Division. But the Bruins and Montreal both have 59 points. New Jersey beat Montreal 3-2 on Tuesday night.
The Flyers paid tribute to Boston in the Bruins' first road game since the Boston Marathon bombings. The Flyers showed a message on the video board that read, "From One Tough Town to Another." They also had video images of four blue-yellow ribbons that said, "Boston Strong," on each faceoff circle.
There was a pregame video set to "Carry On" by Fun that included clips of marathon first responders and other rescue personnel.
Flyers fans stood and cheered, and players from both teams banged their sticks against the boards when the pregame tribute ended.
Then Philadelphia pitched in with its wallets. The 50/50 raffle that usually supports Philadelphia charities went to onefundboston.org. The Flyers ended the 50-50 with $85,595 last shown on the board. Also, the Flyers were set to put their jerseys up for auction at meigray.com, with proceeds also benefiting onefundboston.org.
With fans still on their feet from a stirring rendition of "God Bless America," Hartnell kept them there with a goal only 1:40 into the game. Hartnell, who missed a month with a broken foot, scored his eighth goal of the season.
Hartnell's injury was just one of dozens suffered by the Flyers and a big reason why the team missed the playoffs. The Flyers had 11 players scratched for the game, with defenseman Kimmo Timonen joining the list Tuesday. Timonen has a compression fracture in his right foot.
General manager Paul Holmgren said before the game the Flyers could not use injuries as an excuse for underachieving.
"Good teams fight through stuff like this," Holmgren said. "We just didn't find a way to fight through it. Is it a factor? Probably. But at the same time, you need to fight through these things. We didn't."
Redden tied it late in the first period when he flipped the puck over Steve Mason's left shoulder. He knocked in Jaromir Jagr's rebound for his third goal of the season. Jagr played his first game in Philadelphia since he left the team as a free agent over the summer.
Jagr said he had the most fun of his career with the Flyers and wished a deal could have worked out. Holmgren said Jagr rejected a deal in February 2012. By the time free agency started, the Flyers had moved on to other free agents, including an ill-fated pursuit of Nashville defenseman Shea Weber.
The Flyers broke through for good in the second when Read and Lauridsen chased goalie Anton Khudobin.
Read struck first with his 11th goal when he batted in a rebound off Khudobin's kick save with his left skate. Lauridsen didn't do much to earn his first NHL goal. Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara tried to clear the puck deep in the zone but somehow the puck slipped past Khudobin and into the net.
Khudobin slammed his stick against the post in anger and was yanked for Tuukka Rask.
Voracek scored his team-best 21st goal early in the third for a 4-1 lead.
Krejci beat Mason to make it 4-2 and Boston seemingly still had time to rally. But as the goal was still being announced to the fans, Gagne took a perfect cross-ice pass from Claude Giroux and scored for his fifth goal.
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