Flyers Steal One In OT, Avenge Wednesday's Loss To Bruins

Public Enemy Number One in Boston added to his rap sheet Saturday afternoon. The Flyers Randy Jones took a shot that deflected off Bruins defenseman Andrew Ferrence and past goalie Manny Fernandez to give the Flyers a 4-3 win in overtime.

Jones was booed every time he touched the puck, as Bruins fans showed their displeasure for his season-ending hit on Patrice Bergeron two Octobers ago. He seemed unphased by this treatment, however. "It doesn't bother me if they want to boo me or cheer me or say whatever to me, it's another game."

This wasn't just another game, though. The Flyers needed this win. They needed it to avoid a 3-game losing streak. They needed it to prove that they could play 60 minutes against the best team in the league. They ended up having to play more.

And it certainly wasn't an easy win. The Bruins struck first when Marc Savard snuck one past Marty Biron less than four minutes into the game, but appeared to shoot themselves in the foot when they took two lazy penalties less than a minute apart. The Flyers capitalized, drawing even when Simon Gagne found the back of the net at the end of a 5-on-3 power play.

Boston came back a few minutes later, scoring on a tip-in by Byron Bitz, set up by a laser from Mark Stuart that hit the crossbar and landed right in the goal mouth. Just eight seconds later, the Flyers allowed Chuck Kobasew to maneuver into the zone and snap a wrister over Marty Biron's right arm. Call it bad defense, call it poor goaltending, but any way you slice it, the Bruins had opened up a 3-1 lead.

Flyers coach John Stevens opted to pull Marty Biron in favor of Antero Niittymaki, and it worked. The Flyers came out firing in the second, and Niittymaki stopped all 10 shots he faced. Glen Metropolit, the former Bruin, brought the Flyers back within one after receiving a beautiful pass from Aaron Asham deep in the Boston zone. Metropolit broke his 39-game scoring drought two minutes into the period. Four minutes later, Scott Hartnell connected on the power play, out-muscling four Bruins in front of their net to knot the score at three, where it would remain until overtime.

Near the end of the third period, it appeared fortunes would turn the Bruins' way, as Niittymaki took a delay of game penalty for deflecting the puck over the glass in his defensive zone. Knowing he had put the team in a difficult position, he took it upon himself to make it right. He stopped every shot on the ensuing power play (which carried over into the extra session) and every shot in overtime to set up the Jones goal.

This is a win that should be the spark to ignite a Flyers playoff push. This should be a measuring stick. The Boston Bruins are the best team in the league and deserve to be. They played a great hockey game and somehow, some way, the Flyers figured out how to win, and they did it without their captain on the ice. With Mike Richards in this lineup, who knows how much better the matchups become? The point is, on a day when someone needed to step up, someone did, and that's something you can build on.