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Richards, Hartnell lead Flyers to first victory

Oct 25, 2008 - 2:51 AM NEWARK, New Jersey (Ticker) -- With Halloween looming and Daniel Briere set to undergo abdominal surgery, this had all the makings of Friday the 13th for the Philadelphia Flyers. Captain Mike Richards had other ideas.

Richards set up four goals, including Scott Hartnell's go-ahead tally late in the second period, as the Flyers (1-3-3) snapped a 12-game losing streak in New Jersey by beating the Devils, 6-3, for their first victory of the season.

Jeff Carter, Mike Knuble, Simon Gagne and Joffrey Lupul also tallied for the Flyers, who posted their first win in New Jersey since March 9, 2004. Knuble and Lupul, who was playing in his 300th career game, each added an assist.

"It feels good to win in here. I believe it's my first win in New Jersey," said Richards, the 24th overall pick of the 2003 draft. "We deserved to win. I thought we played a good game right from the get-go. We played 60 good minutes and we finished the game."

Martin Biron made 23 saves and picked up an assist for Philadelphia, which hosts New Jersey on Saturday afternoon.

Travis Zajac, former Flyer Dainius Zubrus and Zach Parise scored for the Devils, who had their three-game winning streak snapped.

Winless in their first six games for just the second time in team history, the Flyers got more bad news before taking the ice when they learned that Briere will undergo surgery Saturday to repair a torn abdominal muscle. He joined an injured list that includes defensemen Derian Hatcher, Ryan Parent and Randy Jones.

"(Briere's) one of our best players, but we've got a great group in here, a bunch of warriors," Hartnell said. "We could have gotten rattled, could have shut it down right there, but we had a lot of depth and came back hard and ended up with two points."

The Flyers trailed, 3-2, after the first period, but Gagne tied it midway through the second and Hartnell put them in front with 3:05 to go in the session.

Richards checked former Selke Trophy winner John Madden off the puck and skated untouched behind the net. He curled in front and wristed a shot, with Hartnell in front to put home the rebound for his second goal of the season.

Richards, who had only two assists in his first six games, picked up his fourth of the night with 8:38 remaining in the third. He carried down the left wing and, just before reaching the goal line, threw the puck in front to a charging Lupul, who steered it past goaltender Martin Brodeur for his third of the campaign.

"Richie tries to make a difference every time he's on the ice," Flyers coach John Stevens said. "He's a guy that can make a difference beyond the scoreboard and beyond the scoresheet. He was our leader tonight, and it was a great effort by our captain."

Biron came up big twice in the final period, smothering Zajac's shot from the low slot at 6:36 and denying Parise 3 1/2 minutes later.

"I told the boys after the game, the way they played that second period gave me what I needed for tonight," Biron said. "It wasn't the best first period I've played, but the way they came through in the second gave me a chance to get back in the game."

The Devils have injury problems of their own. Already missing centers Brian Rolston (sprained ankle) and Bobby Holik (broken pinkie), they lost captain Jamie Langenbrunner to a lower body injury after a hard check along the boards in the second period.

New Jersey appeared on the way to its 13th straight home win in the series after Zajac scored just 47 seconds into the first period. But Carter tied it 63 seconds later and Richards picked up the primary assist on Knuble's go-ahead goal at 11:25.

Knuble's first of the season came during a five-minute power play after rookie Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond received a major penalty for boarding Philadelphia enforcer Riley Cote.

"To (have to) kill that five-minute penalty early in the game, that made it a little tougher," Brodeur said.

Zubrus forged a 2-2 tie with 4:51 to go in the period, converting a pass from Parise - who had two assists - while being taken down in front by defenseman Kimmo Timonen.

The Devils regained the lead with 19 seconds to play in the first on Parise's team-high fifth goal. Brian Gionta flicked a shot toward the net that Parise redirected, then jabbed past Biron.

Brodeur made 22 saves but remained eight wins behind Hall of Famer Patrick Roy (551) for first place on the all-time list.

"We just let them play the way they wanted to play," Brodeur said. "They were physical, they threw a lot of pucks at the net. We had four shots in the second period. I think that second period, we just didn't show up."