Late Rally Sinks Flyers

Koivu scored his 17th goal with 7:59 left in the third period and Saku Brian Savage scored in overtime as the Montreal Canadiens beat Philadelphia 3-2 Thursday night, denying the Flyers a crucial point in their bid for home-ice advantage in the opening round of the playoffs.

Savage scored his 21st goal 3:49 into overtime to seal Montreal`s comeback win. Philadelphia earned one point from the overtime loss and drew even with idle Buffalo for fourth place in the Eastern Conference at 96 points.

Philadelphia led 2-1 before Koivu beat Flyers goalie Roman Cechmanek through the legs to tie the game 12:01 into the third.

Philadelphia and Buffalo, likely first-round playoff opponents, each have two games remaining, including each team`s season-finale on Sunday. Pittsburgh is in sixth place in the conference with 93 points.

Buffalo is scheduled to face Washington on Friday. Philadelphia plays host to Pittsburgh on Saturday.

Michal Sykora assisted on Ruslan Fedotenko`s 14th goal of the season 6:30 into the first and added a short-handed goal later in the period as the Flyers took an 2-0 lead.

Canadiens` defenseman Karl Dykhuis scored his eighth of the season 3:02 into the second as Montreal closed within one.

Just moments after Philadelphia had killed off a penalty to Mark Recchi, Koivu was left alone in front of Cechmanek and scored to tie the game at 2.

With forwards John LeClair and Simon Gagne struggling after returning from injuries, the Flyers relied on Fedotenko and Sykora to provide much-needed offense.

Fedotenko opened the scoring 6:30 into the first when he put Sykora`s rebound through goalie Jose Theodore`s pads.

Sykora was credited with his fifth goal at 17:52 when his shot off the boards bounced off Theodore into the Canadiens` net, just moments after the Montreal goalie had stopped Paul Ranheim`s backhander on a breakaway.

The Canadiens closed within one early in the second when Dykhuis scored on a shot from the point through traffic.

Game notes:
Philadelphia has scored 11 short-handed goals. ... The Flyers were winless in four games against Montreal this season, going 0-2-1-1. ... With two games remaining, Cechmanek has 10 shutouts, two short of Bernie Parent`s team record of 12. ... Montreal center Chad Kilger missed the game due to a strained groin. ... Canadiens RW Oleg Petrov left the game in the second period with a right knee injury and did not return.

Courtesy Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2001.

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Author: 6 ABC - Action News (AP)