Flyers Skate to Tie with Blue Jackets

For the second straight game, the Philadelphia Flyers were unhappy with a tie and the Columbus Blue Jackets weren't happy with anything less than a win.

"It was a real tough way to tie a game," Columbus coach Dave King said after the Flyers scored two goals in a 50-second span of the third period to forge a 2-2 tie on Monday night. It was the second time in 48 hours the teams had fought to a tie. On Saturday night in Philadelphia, the Flyers also came back from a two-goal deficit in the third period to salvage a 3-3 deadlock.

"We played so well tonight in so many areas of our game. We really felt that we played a more complete hockey game tonight," King said. "Any time the other team gets a tie from you, I don't think you enjoy that. When you come back and get the tie, it's a much different feeling."

Jan Hlavac's goal ricocheted off of two Columbus defenders.

"We could have walked away with four points from the Philadelphia Flyers," Columbus goaltender Marc Denis said.

Hlavac's unassisted goal with 6:47 left came on a shot from the slot that bounced off the skate of Columbus' Deron Quint and then off of Jamie Pushor.

"The second goal was a real lucky one. It went off one defenseman and then off another defenseman's leg," King said. "Marc had no chance on it. It was one of those goals where that doesn't happen more than once a year and it happened tonight."

Hlavac's goal came 50 seconds after Philadelphia's Simon Gagne accepted a pass from Mike Recchi and scored on a backhander past goaltender Marc Denis, who finished with 30 saves.

Columbus had outplayed the Flyers for most of the first 50 minutes before the two quick goals.

"When you face a team like Columbus that has a good work ethic, we need to match that," Philadelphia coach Bill Barber said. "I compliment our guys because we found a way to get a point."

The Blue Jackets had the first four shots of the overtime. Flyers goaltender Brian Boucher stopped two shots by Geoff Sanderson in the first 15 seconds of the extra period and blocked Ray Whitney's wrist shot from close range.

"I was happy with the way I played," Boucher said."I felt comfortable. I wanted to build on the way I played in the preseason and today was a good step."

Boucher finished with 28 saves.

"Boucher kept us in there," Barber said. "He did a real good job for us. I would have liked to have gotten a win for him."

Philadelphia was on the power play for the final 53.5 seconds of overtime after a holding call on Mattias Timander. Keith Primeau whiffed on a shot from the slot with 6 seconds remaining.

"I don't think we've been very happy with the way we've played so far," the Flyers' Jeremy Roenick said.

Leading 1-0 early in the third period, the Blue Jackets stretched the lead off a nifty pass by veteran Kevin Dineen.

After a takeaway near center ice, a slap shot by Columbus' Serge Aubin was high and wide off the back glass. The puck took a big bounce and ended up near the boards on the right side. Dineen dug it out, coasted in from the dot and passed under the stick of Eric Desjardins to Aubin at the left post.

Aubin tapped the puck past a sprawling Boucher.

Quint scored the Blue Jackets' first goal with a slap shot that glanced off the skate of Todd Fedoruk and slid just inside the far post.

"We're getting some ties. They're very cheap lessons," Denis said. "We're not losing any games and we're building off some positives and we're learning as well from our mistakes."

Notes:
Having met twice in 48 hours, the teams don't play again this season. ... The only remaining teams Columbus has not earned a point against are Colorado and the New York Rangers. ... The Flyers were playing their first road game. ... The sellout was the 17th in a row at Nationwide Arena.

(Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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Author: 6 - ABC, Action News