Flyers 5, Thrashers 2
Danny Briere snapped a tie with 7:12 remaining in the third period, lifting the Philadelphia Flyers to a 5-2 road victory over the Atlanta Thrashers on Friday.
All-Star Claude Giroux and Jeff Carter each recorded a goal and an assist while enforcer Jody Shelley and defenseman Kimmo Timonen also scored for the Flyers, who have won nine of their last 12 road games.
Rookie Sergei Bobrovsky made 27 saves for Philadelphia, which has scored five goals in each of its last three games.
From high along the left wing boards, Scott Hartnell unleashed a shot that deflected to Briere, who deposited the puck into a vacant net from alone on the doorstep for his 24th of the season. Briere has scored six goals in his last five contests and collected 11 points during a six-game streak.
Giroux ended his 10-game goalless drought with 2:57 to play and Carter capped the scoring with an empty-netter.
After a scoreless first period, Atlanta broke through late in the second when captain Andrew Ladd beat Bobrovsky from the right hash marks with 3:24 remaining, extending his points streak to five games. But it took just 58 seconds for Philadelphia to take the lead as Shelley and Timonen tallied 21 seconds apart.
Shelley blocked a shot at the right point and chased down the loose puck in the neutral zone before blasting it past Ondrej Pavelec from the top of the left faceoff circle at 17:13. Moments later, Timonen took a drop pass from Giroux and wristed the puck past a screened Pavelec from the top of the slot for a 2-1 edge.
The Thrashers took advantage of a late penalty on Timonen to pull even before the second intermission. With three seconds left in the period, Rich Peverley buried a rebound on the doorstep for his 12th goal of the season.
Niclas Bergfors registered two assists and All-Star defenseman Tobias Enstrom added one for Atlanta as each stretched their points streaks to five games. Pavelec stopped 31 shots for the Thrashers, who have lost three in a row and eight of 11.