Arron Asham Smash 'Em: Flyers Take Down Rangers To Salvage Homestand

When you get production from your third line, you have a chance to win.

The Philadelphia Flyers third line did just that on Saturday against the rival New York Rangers, scoring twice in the third period to seal a victory in the first game of a home and home series.

Arron Asham tallied both goals off assists from Claude Giroux and Daniel Carcillo.

Asham, who usually plays on the fourth line with Riley Cote and Darroll Powe, was bumped up to the third squad by coach John Stevens, and the move paid off.

Credit the third line for coming through, but if anyone deserves this win, it's Flyers goalie Marty Biron. He was stellar today, turning aside 39 of the Rangers 41 shots to keep them at bay.

Not the Flyers best effort defensively, but with the goaltending they received, that didn't matter very much.

Biron's play is the type of performance Flyers fans grew accustomed to seeing in April of last year, as they took down two of the top three seeds in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

The Rangers certainly had their chances in this game, and were actually leading 1-0 after Nik Antropov picked off a defensive zone pass and took it to the house a little more than three minutes into the game.

Antropov has scary speed for a guy his size, and it looked like he just surprised the Flyers. They learned quickly, however, and Antropov was next to invisible for the remainder of the game.

New York also gained some chances when two questionable calls came against Flyers captain Mike Richards in the second period.

The first, for elbowing Brandon Dubinsky, nullified a Flyers power play and eventually gave the Rangers about 20-seconds of power play time, but they couldn't capitalize.

The second was a boarding call that involved newly reformed instigator Sean Avery. Again, the Rangers failed to capitalize.

The referees can't really be blamed for either of these calls, as they were borderline infractions, and in real time it certainly appeared they were fair, however, this is an issue the league should probably take a look at.

When Dubinsky was elbowed, he immediately put his glove up to his face, but replays showed that Richards' elbow actually glanced off Dubinsky's shoulder, and there was no jabbing motion made.

Avery's was a dive, but a well-executed dive at that—two calls that probably aren't made without a little embellishment.

Avery scored a late goal, and it was pretty, but the Rangers just couldn't do enough with their opportunities.

It was a hard-fought and well-deserved victory for the Flyers, and another disappointing loss for the Rangers. The two meet again in less than 24 hours, this time at Madison Square Garden.

 

Notes

• Daniel Briere still hasn't registered a point since his return on March 1st. He registered just 12:07 time on ice with one shot on goal;
• By comparison, Asham had 9:43 TOI and scored two goals and had four shots on goal;
• Incredibly, there were no penalties called in the third period;
• John Stevens picked up his 100th career victory as Flyers head coach;      
• The Flyers finished their season-long five game homestand with a record of 3-2. They play their next four on the road.