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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
MONTREAL (AP) – The Montreal Canadiens are relishing their role
as spoilers.
|  | | Saku Koivu, left, celebrates his third period game-tying goal
while Flyers goalie Roman Cechmanek hangs his head. |
Saku Koivu scored his 17th goal with 7:59 left in the third
period and Brian Savage scored in overtime as the Canadiens beat
Philadelphia 3-2 Thursday night.
Montreal, which will miss the playoffs for the third straight
season, denied the Flyers a crucial point in their bid for home-ice
advantage in the opening round of the playoffs.
"We'd like to be spoilers," said Savage, who scored his 21st
goal 3:49 into overtime to seal Montreal's comeback win. "Philly's
trying to get into fourth spot and we're trying to take some points
away from them."
Canadiens goalie Jose Theodore made a chest save on Eric
Desjardins' wrist shot early in overtime to keep the Flyers from
gaining sole possession of fourth place in the Eastern Conference.
"Those are the kinds of saves that you see, instead of losing a
game, you win games," Theodore said. "Those are really big
saves."
Philadelphia earned one point from the overtime loss and drew
even with idle Buffalo at 96 points.
The Flyers led 2-1 before Koivu beat goalie Roman Cechmanek
through the legs to tie the game 12:01 into the third.
"I don't think we panicked, or anything like that," Desjardins
said. "We had chances in the overtime. We just didn't score."
Philadelphia and Buffalo, likely first-round playoff opponents,
each have two games remaining, as does Pittsburgh, which is in
sixth place in the conference with 93 points.
The Sabres, who host Washington on Friday, play their last two
games at home. The Flyers face the Penguins at home on Saturday
before traveling to Buffalo for the teams' season finale.
"Hopefully, we'll put ourselves in a position on Saturday to
get fourth place on Sunday," Flyers forward Mark Recchi said.
"Saturday's the biggest game of the year for us right now."
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 a 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
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.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Philadelphia Clubhouse
Montreal Clubhouse
RECAPS
Washington 3
Florida 0
Detroit 4
Atlanta 0
Montreal 3
Philadelphia 2
NY Rangers 4
Tampa Bay 3
Nashville 4
Calgary 0
St. Louis 4
Columbus 1
Vancouver 3
Los Angeles 2
San Jose 3
Phoenix 0
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Jose Theodore makes the initial saves, but Michal Sykora eventually gets it by him.
avi: 889 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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