Flyers Break Streak

Tampa Bay's Sheldon Keefe was in just the right place to help the Lightning extend their season-high unbeaten string to five games. Keefe scored with 1:36 left in the third period to complete Tampa Bay's three-goal comeback Monday night in the Lightning's 3-3 tie with the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday night.

Standing in front of the crease, Keefe deflected a shot by Dan Boyle past Philadelphia goalie Brian Boucher.

"We had a lot of pressure around the net," he said. "I had my stick on the ice. Boucher went down, and I just deflected it over him. It was a huge goal for us."

It was a costly point for the Flyers who lost their two top centers – Jeremy Roenick and Keith Primeau – to injuries within minutes of each other in the second period.

Roenick, who leads the Flyers with 64 points, had to be helped off the ice after a collision with Tampa Bay's Ben Clymer with 8:07 left in the period.

Roenick hyperextended his right knee and was scheduled to undergo an MRI exam late Monday, said Dr. Art Bartolozzi, the Flyers' orthopedic surgeon. X-rays didn't reveal a fracture.

Primeau went off shortly before after injuring his left ribs on a check by Tampa Bay's Shane Willis. The severity of that injury wasn't expected to be known before Tuesday.

Jassen Cullimore and Nikita Alexeev also scored for the Lightning. Dieter Kochan, making his first start of the season, made 38 saves.

"It was probably the best thing for me to see a lot of shots," said Kochan, recalled from Springfield of the AHL last Friday. "I got my confidence early, lost it a little in the second. But after getting that goal late it was great."

Donald Brashear scored two goals, and Eric Desjardins added another for the Flyers, who have not won in a season-high five games (0-3-2). Philadelphia failed to break a tie with Boston atop the Eastern Conference.

"Losing those two guys (Roenick and Primeau) slowed us down a little bit and changed our way of play defensively," Brashear said. "We had to mix up the lines a little bit and they were having more room. They have guys who can skate. But there was no real reason for us to lose the lead in that game. We made some mistakes defensively and that cost us."

The Flyers, who scored only once in each of their previous four games and had dropped four straight at home, scored twice within 29 seconds early in the second period.

Jiri Dopita set up the second-period goals by Brashear and Desjardins with precision passes. Desjardins scored on a power play from the slot at 2:45, and Brashear converted from the left circle at 3:14 and from just inside the circle at 10:49.

The Flyers failed to score on 12 straight power plays and 25 of 26 over 10 games before Desjardins ended the drought.

Cullimore drilled a rebound of a shot by Jimmie Olvestad between Boucher's legs at 19:33 of the second period.

Alexeev brought the Lightning within 3-2 at 2:23 of the third, skating in from the blue line to beat Boucher.

Jeremy Roenick, who leads the Flyers with 64 points, had to be helped off the ice after a knee-to-knee collision with Tampa Bay's Ben Clymer with 8:07 left in the second period.

Philadelphia captain Keith Primeau went off a few minutes earlier with an apparent rib injury, and didn't return.

Notes: The Flyers are unbeaten in 18 games (16-0-2) against Southeast Division teams. ... Tampa Bay's Brad Richards extended his career-high scoring streak to ten games (18 points) with two assists. Vaclav Prospal's career-high six game assist string ended. ... It was Dopita's first NHL multi-assist game. ... The Flyers are unbeaten in their last 12 home games against the Lightning (8-0-4). Tampa Bay's only win in Philadelphia was 3-1 in 1997.

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Author: 6 ABC-AP