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Ducks soar past Flyers with strong third period

Oct 30, 2013 - 3:02 AM Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - Kyle Palmieri tallied the tying and winning goals in the third period, as the Anaheim Ducks claimed a 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday.

Andrew Cogliano registered the other goal for the Ducks, who improved to 10-3-0 on the season thanks to their third straight victory on the fifth test during their current seven-game road trip.

"Everything we wanted to do in the first period, they did to us and we were sort of sitting back in awe almost, of them," admitted Ducks head coach Bruce Boudreau. "Then after the first period we realized they were human and you know if we just do what we do as long as we do it, that we might have a chance."

Jonas Hiller earned the win with a 26-save effort.

Matt Read and Vincent Lecavalier hit the back of the net in the first period for the Flyers, whose season-best two-game win streak came to an end.

Wayne Simmonds recorded assists on both goals, but Steve Mason fell to 3-6-0 despite making 34 saves.

"You always want to come away with the two points, but there are things out of your control that happen during the game that affect the outcome," said Mason. "Tonight we blew another lead, and we keep digging ourselves a hole that we can't get out of."

Anaheim threw 16 shots on net in the final 20 minutes, and it was only a matter of time before the better club asserted itself.

Palmieri knotted the game just 61 seconds into the third period, stripping Lecavalier at his own blue line, skating in on Mason and sliding a backhander through the pads.

"He's such a skilled player and such a dynamic player that just trying to take away his time and space up there -- obviously it was kind of a weird play with their defenseman going down," Palmieri said. "I was able just to try to get in front of it and keep him in front of me and the puck took a nice bounce for me and I was able to get down to the races."

The Philadelphia netminder made several more key saves to keep the game tied as his defense became a step slower, until a Nick Bonino pass resulted in a redirection from Palmieri with 4:09 remaining that pushed Anaheim in front to stay.

During a late-game power play created when the visitors were called for too many men on the ice, the Flyers skated 6-on-4 but couldn't net that elusive equalizer.

Read followed up his own rebound at the left post to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead just 3:40 after the opening faceoff. The score was set up by a clean cross-ice dish from Simmonds.

Skating with the advantage, Lecavalier doubled the hosts' edge with 3:26 left before intermission on a perfect one-timer from the right circle thanks to a cross-ice pass from Claude Giroux.

Anaheim appeared to have climbed back within a goal less than a minute later, but a shot from Francois Beauchemin was ruled to have been deflected in by Mathieu Perreault's high stick. A brief review then failed to overturn the on- ice call.

Cogliano did halve the Ducks' deficit with 3:35 left in the second period, when he followed up an errant shot from Ryan Getzlaf and beat Mason with his own chance.

"We had a really good first period, I thought we got really sloppy in our play, and we ended up turning the puck over too much," noted Flyers head coach Craig Berube.

Game Notes

Anaheim has won three straight games in Philadelphia since October of 2009 ... The Ducks improved to 10-8-2 with five ties all-time against the Flyers ... Mason fell to 5-6-0 lifetime against the Ducks, and is still seeking his first win against the franchise since Oct. 30, 2011, when he started for the Blue Jackets ... Anaheim veteran forward Teemu Selanne left in the third period and did not return due to a facial injury. He was struck by a high stick and lost several teeth... Andrej Meszaros returned to Flyers blue line after being scratched the last five games ... Giroux has recorded at least one point in five of the last six contests.