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Upshall, Biron lead Flyers past Bruins

Mar 2, 2007 - 3:50 AM BOSTON (Ticker) -- Scottie Upshall and Martin Biron made more of an impact than Dennis Wideman and Aaron Ward.

Upshall scored an acrobatic goal with 9.9 seconds remaining in overtime to make Biron's debut with his new team a successful one as the Philadelphia Flyers registered a 4-3 victory over the Boston Bruins.

Upshall and Biron were two of the recent acquisitions made by the Flyers, who have an NHL-low 44 points. The duo showed flashes Thursday that they could be part of the massive rebuilding project in Philadelphia.

Biron made a host of big saves in his first game after being acquired from Buffalo prior to Tuesday's trade deadline. His last save on a blast by Andrew Ference led to the game-winning goal.

After Biron's stop, Sami Kapanen made a beautiful outlet pass to Upshall, who pulled away from Ference and slid the puck past goaltender Tim Thomas while falling down for his fifth goal of the season and third in seven games since being acquired in the deal that sent Peter Forsberg to Nashville.

"That's the highlight of my career so far," the 23-year-old Upshall said. "I knew a defenseman was on my back and I had to make a quick move. By the time I got to the goalie I thought I had one move left and that was to bring it back and fortunately it went in."

"It wasn't the way we wanted to play, that's for sure," said Thomas, who made a career-high 51 saves. "As a goalie I just try to be ready that night and be ready just in case you get a lot of action."

Bruins coach Dave Lewis praised his netminder.

"Tim was outstanding," Lewis said. "I don't think a goaltender can put on a better performance than that."

Biron finished with 34 saves.

"I was pretty jacked up to start the game," Biron said. "In warmups I sweated more in warmup than I had in some of the games. It felt a little weird but as soon as I saw the orange out there I was feeling pretty good about it."

It was an extremely disappointing loss for the Bruins, who acquired Wideman and Ward - a pair of defensemen - on Tuesday in order to shore up their back line.

However, the new blue liner's made little difference for Boston, which allowed a season-high 55 shots. It was the second time in three games that the Bruins allowed 50 shots.

"There were some communication issues, some feeling out, some coverage issues," Lewis said. "We don't have the luxury of time to work on that, we have to correct it tomorrow."

It was the most shots the Flyers recorded since they had 40 in a 3-2 loss at Pittsburgh on November 13.

The biggest troubles for the Bruins came in the second period, when the Flyers peppered Thomas with 21 shots, and scored a power play and shorthanded goal.

"Totally ridiculous and unacceptable," Lewis said. "Knowing the situation of the game of who we're playing against and we come out in the second period and play like that?" R.J. Umberger's man-advantage tally pulled the Flyers into a 2-2 tie at the 4:53 mark of the second. Mike Richards converted a 2-on-1 at 11:33, giving the Flyers the lead.

All-Star defenseman Zdeno Chara poked a loose puck past Biron at 12:36 of the middle session to pull the Bruins even.

But Biron was outstanding in the third period, when he denied a pair of Boston breakaways. He stopped Petr Tenkrat with 14:55 remaining, then frustrated Marc Savard less than two minutes later.

"We turned some pucks over and hung him out to dry," Flyers coach John Stevens said. "I thought he showed a lot of composure and he was a big factor for us to get going."

It actually was a slow start for Biron, who allowed a pair of goals to Mark Mowers in the first 8:09 of the contest as the Bruins took a 2-0 lead.

"The start wasn't the way that I wanted it to be," Biron said. "You're starting on a new team and a new adventure, you kind of get the adrenaline going a little bit. I was moving a little too much at first but as soon as we got the first goal everything settled down and we played the game that we had to play. I was able to settle down and see the pucks and feel a lot more comfortable. It worked out good."

Joni Pitkanen got the Flyers on the board at 10:39 of the opening period.

Boston did manage a point, moving within seven of Montreal for the Eastern Conference's final playoff spot.