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Flyers hold on to down Panthers

Feb 17, 2011 - 6:56 AM Sunrise, FL (Sports Network) - James van Riemsdyk scored what proved to be the game-winner in the second period and the Philadelphia Flyers held on for a 4-2 win over the Florida Panthers at BankAtlantic Center.

Danny Briere had a goal and two assists while Andreas Nodl added a goal and an assist for the Flyers, who have won five of their last six. Mike Richards scored a goal and Sergei Bobrovsky finished with 33 saves in the win.

David Booth and Rostislav Olesz both scored in the third period for the Panthers, who have dropped three of their last four. Tomas Vokoun stopped 31- of-34 shots in the loss.

"They're a great team and had us on our heels," said Florida head coach Peter DeBoer. "But we battled back and I'm proud of the effort our guys displayed tonight."

Philly was holding a 3-0 lead to start the third period, bot Olesz made it a two-goal contest just 1:40 when he backhanded in a rebound off a Jason Garrison shot.

Later in the frame, Andrej Meszaros tried to clear his zone but the puck went right to Booth, who snapped a wrister in to make it a 3-2 contest with 7:31 to play.

Florida pulled Vokoun in the final minute and Bobrovsky came up with a big save on a Garrison point shot after a right circle faceoff.

Briere sealed the win with an empty-netter with 22 seconds to play.

"It's not the way we wanted to end the game, but we survived." Briere said, "At the end of the day, that's what matters the most."

Philly took a 1-0 lead just 8:36 in when recently-acquired Kris Versteeg sent a pass from the outside right circle to the inside where Richards snapped it into the net to break a 10-game goal drought.

Just over a minute later it was 2-0 as Briere, on the fly, sent a hard pass from the right circle to the front where Nodl redirected it in.

At the 5:50 mark of the second, Briere skated the puck into the Florida end, went inside-out to get around a defender and get a shot on net that saw van Riemsdyk clean up the rebound from the right side for a 3-0 lead.

Bobrovsky stopped all 16 shots he faced in the first two periods.

Game Notes

Philadelphia left wing Ville Leino missed the game with a lower-body injury and is listed as day-to-day...The Flyers continue their road trip in Carolina on Friday...Florida hosts Detroit on Friday...Philly has taken two of the three games against Florida this season. The teams will meet one last time this season on March 15 in Florida...It was the 1,700th win in Philadelphia's history.