Saturday, Jan. 13 7:30pm ET
Flyers spread the wealth vs. Panthers
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BOX SCORE
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) -- Philadelphia Flyers goalie Roman Cechmanek
is playing like he can't lose. The Florida Panthers, meanwhile,
can't seem to win at home these days.
Cechmanek made 24 saves to extend his unbeaten streak to 12
games as the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Florida Panthers 4-1
on Saturday night. It was the third win in as many road games for
the Flyers.
The Panthers are streaking in the other direction, falling to
3-12-4-2 at home this year. The Panthers have an NHL-low eight
victories overall.
"Our goaltending was outstanding and guys responded," Flyers
coach Bill Barber said. "Cechmanek is making the stops needed for
our team to have success. His focus is so very strong, he doesn't
like to get scored on. He sees everything coming at him.
"He makes the saves you need to keep the team in the game."
That was the case again against the Panthers as Justin Williams,
Mark Recchi, Paul Ranheim and Rick Tocchet provided the offensive
punch for the Flyers. In the teams' last meeting, the Flyers had
goals from five different scorers.
"I was the second goalie at the start of the season,"
Cechmanek said. "I thought I'd play maybe 20 games. Now I've
played 26. It feels good to win. I played two games in two days."
Rob Niedermayer scored the lone goal for Florida, which is
2-7-1-1 in its last 11 games.
Williams took a pass from Peter White and got his 10th goal when
he flipped the puck over goalie Trevor Kidd's shoulder at 12:26.
Recchi made it 2-0 when he scored with 35 seconds left in the
period over Kidd's right side.
"It was a blue-line turnover for them, White made a great play
to get the puck back to me," Williams said.
The Panthers were outshot 30-13 through the first 40 minutes.
Pavel Bure's goal with 3:31 left in the second was disallowed as
Mike Sillinger had taken out Cechmanek well before the puck went
into the net. Sillinger was given a charging penalty, and any
Florida momentum was over.
"That's a tough call," Florida coach Duane Sutter said. "The
rule was any time the goaltender loses his mask, the whistle is
supposed to blow right away, so that would have nullified the
goal."
After a lethargic start, the third period featured considerable
action.
Ranheim scored a short-handed goal at 4:32 of the third to make
it 3-0. After a cross-ice pass from Kent Manderville, Ranheim poked
the puck behind Kidd's left skate.
It was the ninth short-handed goal given up by Florida, and only
the second scored by the Flyers this year. Both teams ranked 27th
in the league in those respective categories entering the game.
But just 34 seconds after Ranheim's score, Niedermayer scored
off a deflection on the power play. The goal broke a 123-minute,
20-second scoreless streak.
Tocchet scored on shot from the slot at 9:26 to make it 4-1.
Florida is 1-22-7-6 when giving up more than one goal. The
Flyers have won five of the last six meetings between the clubs.
Cechmanek is 9-0-3 since a 5-3 loss at Ottawa on Dec. 2.
"Even in practice it's tough to score on him. He's playing with
a lot of confidence," said Flyers defenseman Eric Desjardins. "He
always gets himself squared to the puck, and he knows what he's
doing."
Game notes
Bure was voted in as a starter for the 51st NHL All-Star
game. Bure, the MVP last year after a hat trick and an assist, has
been selected to the team six times. ... Panthers president Bill
Torrey missed the game as he was honored by the New York Islanders
before their victory over Pittsburgh at the Nassau Coliseum. Torrey
was the architect of New York's dynasty of the early 1980s that saw
the Islanders win four consecutive Stanley Cup championships. ...
Flyers center Daymond Langkow has played in 204 straight games
dating to Oct. 21, 1998, the eighth-longest streak in the NHL. ...
The Flyers are 9-2-5 since Bill Barber took over as coach.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Philadelphia Clubhouse
Florida Clubhouse
RECAPS
Boston 4
NY Rangers 1
Montreal 5
Phoenix 2
Toronto 4
New Jersey 4
NY Islanders 6
Pittsburgh 5
Washington 4
Atlanta 1
Philadelphia 4
Florida 1
St. Louis 4
Los Angeles 2
Ottawa 5
Calgary 2
Nashville 5
San Jose 3
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Justin Williams gets the scoring started in the first period for the Flyers.
avi: 537 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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