Boucher stars as Flyers break 22-year drought in Detroit

by Bob Herpen
Phanatic Hockey Editor
  
Brian Boucher celebrated his 34th birthday by stopping 25-of-27 shots as the Philadelphia Flyers erased more than 22 years of frustration in Detroit with a 3-2 victory over the Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena.

James van Riemsdyk, Dan Carcillo and Scott Hartnell notched second-period scores for the Flyers, who nearly wasted a three-goal lead but posted their first win -- regular season or playoffs -- in the Motor City since November 4, 1988.

Philadelphia had gone 0-16-2 since then, including two losses in the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals.
With the victory, the Flyers tied idle Pittsburgh atop the Atlantic Division with 53 points, and joined the Penguins and Red Wings atop the NHL standings.

Valtteri Filppula and Henrik Zetterberg tallied in the third period for the Red Wings, who have dropped consecutive one-goal decisions on home ice.

Jimmy Howard suffered the loss, pulled after allowing three goals on 27 shots in two periods. Chris Osgood finished the game by halting all five shots he faced.

Osgood was tested in the first 30 seconds of the period, but he made two pad stops in close on Mike Richards.

Shortly thereafter, Johan Franzen hit Filppula, who went around a Flyers defenseman and whipped a shot home from the left wing at 51 seconds.

Boucher snagged a sizzling wrister from Franzen roughly 7 1/2 minutes in but was helpless on a Detroit power play with 7:32 remaining as Zetterberg scored on the backhand to make it 3-2.

Detroit maintained pressure and the Flyers were reduced to long clearing attempts. Philly's best chance down
the stretch came with 2:40 left, but Danny Briere's wraparound was squeezed off between Osgood's pads.

The Wings gained an extra skater starting with 1:07 to play, but failed to generate a quality shot until the buzzer.

The Red Wings failed to convert on an early 5-on-3 advantage, then after the Flyers couldn't convert a power-play chance, Boucher stoned Darren Helm on a clear breakaway.

Philadelphia took a 1-0 lead at the 51-second mark of the second, as van Riemsdyk's attempted centering pass from the boards along the goal line caromed off a Red Wing stick and sailed by Howard.

Seconds after Carcillo was unable to lift a puck over a prone Howard, the disc found its way back to the point to Andrej Meszaros, who ripped a shot that Carcillo did deflect home at 5:32.

Hartnell made it 3-0 with 5:36 left in the second when he managed to lift a shot through bodies at the left post and under the crossbar.

After stopping all nine shots he faced in the first period, Boucher added 11 more saves in the second.


Notes: Murray Craven, while fending off a two-hander to the side of his face by Miroslav Frycer, notched the game-winning goal with 13 seconds left in regulation in that 1988 contest, despite a hat trick from Red Wings franchise icon Steve Yzerman...Philadelphia improved to 13-5-3 all-time on January 2 and have taken six in a row since a loss at San Jose on January 2, 2002...Carcillo hadn't scored since October 29...The Flyers end their five-game road trip in New Jersey on Thursday...The Red Wings begin a five-game trip at Edmonton on Tuesday.