By Eric Redner
Claude Giroux scored the winner in the shootout to punch Philadelphia's ticket to the postseason with a 2-1 win over the Rangers.
Danny Briere had scored in the first round and P.A Parenteau scored in the second round, but Giroux gave the Flyers the lead in the third round as he stutter-stepped before snapping a wrister between the pads of Henrik Lundqvist. Olli Jokinen was New York's last chance for the postseason, but his low backhand was stopped by Brian Boucher for the win.
"You play a game like that and you win your emotions run pretty high," said Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette. "It's an emotional game. The guys did everything they could possibly do to make sure we're moving on. I feel we played a terrific hockey game and when you win one like this it feels good."
Matt Carle scored the lone goal while Boucher stopped 24 shots for the Flyers (41-35-6), who locked up the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference and will face New Jersey in the first round of the playoffs, beginning Wednesday.
"Pretty amazing game today," said Boucher. "Two teams that wanted it pretty bad. We had our whole crowd behind us and it was great out there today. It was a dogfight for us to get into the playoffs. Now we have to heal up and get ready to go."
Jody Shelley scored in the first period while Lundqvist stopped 46 shots for the Rangers (38-33-11), who had won five of six coming into the game to put themselves in postseason contention, but fell one point short.
"We did what we could the past few weeks to get back in the race," said Lundqvist. "They were better than us tonight. It's tough to win two games against Philly when the fourth line is your best line. It's tough."
Philadelphia had thrown 30 shots on Lundqvist through the first two periods, but it took a power play in the third for the team to finally get on the board and tie the game.
An interference call to Parenteau gave the Flyers the man advantage and Carle tied the game on his sixth goal of the season. A Briere one-timer from the left circle was stopped, but the rebound sat out front, and after Jeff Carter got his stick on it Carle backhanded the puck home at the 6:54 mark.
The game stayed tied through the rest of regulation and overtime as the contest was decided in the shootout.
New York got on board 3:27 in, after Michal Rozsival sent a slap shot on net from the right point. Shelley was parked in front of the net and redirected the puck past Boucher.
Philadelphia controlled play through most of the first period and put 18 shots on net, compared to just four from New York, but Lundqvist made all the stops and got help from the crossbar a couple of times to keep the Flyers off the board.
Lundqvist continued to stand tall in the second period as he stopped 12 shots and helped New York kill two power plays, including a 4-on-3, while Boucher stopped nine shots to keep it a one-goal game.
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