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Flyers Win ... I Get to Shave! |
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Michael Leighton makes his first NHL start in nearly three years and Simon Gagne ties it in regulation and then wins it in overtime as the
Flyers beat the St. Louis Blues, 4-3 at the Wac.
"The fact that we won a hockey game, we'll take it any way we can get it," said coach John Stevens. "But one of the things we're happy about is Tim gets to shave."
Yes, that bad bet that Ant trapped me in with Craig Berube is finally over. I was starting to look as old as chairman Ed with this gray beard.
The Flyers played a good game at home - their fourth, straight home game that went OT or shootout and won for just the fourth time this season. Their last home win was 78 days ago on Black Friday against Ken Hitchcock and Columbus.
“It feels great; we’ve been close to many times, and we deserved to win,” said Peter Forsberg. “It was just fun to win a game because we’ve been losing so many.”
Mike Knuble echoed the thoughts.
“It’s been so long, it’s going to feel good to drive home and not feel like a jerk,” Knuble said. “You don’t have to drive home and think of what you could have done better. We were ultimately due to win. The process has been right for us to win a game. We finally caught a break with a penalty going into overtime.”
Derian Hatcher said, "Guys are actually smiling for once."
Leighton had a tough start and admitted he was nervous but he settled down with 25 saves.
“It’s been a long time between games,” Leighton said. “I got one period in Nashville in six weeks. It was good jus to get out there and to get a win, it’s a bonus.”
Gagne has five goals in his last four games. He's on fire, eh?
“It happens sometimes, you get it at the right time and chances have been there lately, but they didn’t want to go in,” Gagne told me. “When you have the right timing, pucks come to the right side for you.
“It’s fun to finally get this at home. We’ve been getting closer and closer. We got a break with a power play in overtime. We had some luck.”
Although the Flyers had reason to be tired, I like the fact they didn't quit on the game.
“It was three games in four nights and I knew we’d have to battle through the cloud there for 60 minutes,” Stevens said. “Once we got down, we started digging after it.”
Mike Richards had an accurate observation about the fans.
"You could see the relief in the crowd, too," he said. "They were on their feet near the end ..."
Detroit comes in Monday night ... gonna be a long shot for the Flyers to keep the home "winning" streak going.
BTW: Flyers Veep for Marketiong, Shawn Tilger, gave me an orange gift bad after the game ... it has a razor and shaving cream.
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Al Morganti and I were chatting before the game about John Stevens' strategy. We both think John is overmatched, at times.
Al was saying that Stevens continues to allow young Mike Richards to go up against bigger centers and he's getting worn out.
St. Louis' second goal bears that out. Stevens had Richards on the ice for the full shift against Doug Weight, who outmuscled him twice, including along the boards for a puck that ended as the tying goal in the second period from Keith Tkachuk.
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The Flyers have not won a game at home since Black Friday when Ken Hitchcock made his first appearance here as coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
They could win one tonight against a bad St. Louis Blues club. Regardless, the real news should be tomorrow.
Peter Forsberg is slated to meet with Flyers' chairman Ed Snider on Sunday afternoon to discuss his future _ either here or elsewhere. Snider told the Courier Post yesterday he wants an answer NOW on whether Forsberg wants to re-sign.
If Forsberg says he wants to move on to play the spring for a playoff team, I expect the Flyers will move quickly to put something together rather than wait until the trade deadline.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger • 
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