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Richards helps Flyers nip Devils

Dec 4, 2010 - 9:59 PM Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - Mike Richards scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period as Philadelphia rallied to down New Jersey, 5-3, at the Wells Fargo Center.

Jeff Carter had a goal and two assists while James Van Riemsdyk, Claude Giroux and Danny Briere each chipped in with a goal for the Flyers, who put the brakes on a three-game slide.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 23 shots to earn the win for Philadelphia, which has split the first two games of the six-game season series.

Ilya Kovalchuk, Travis Zajac and Patrik Elias scored for the Devils, who have lost five in a row on the road.

Johan Hedberg turned aside 29 of 33 shots in defeat.

Richards won a left circle draw back to Matt Carle, who dished to Chris Pronger, who then unloaded a slap shot from the point. Richards redirected it past Hedberg to put the Flyers in the lead for good, 3-2, with 16:23 remaining.

"We played hard," Richards said. "I thought we deserved to win the game. Still, we can do some things better, like sustain a lot more pressure in their zone. We capitalized on some of our chances, kept it simple and got some pucks to the net. We got some redirections and got some lucky goals."

Carter carried down the left side and dished in front to Briere, who slid a shot past Hedberg with 11:53 to play, giving the Flyers a 4-2 advantage.

Elias scored on the power play with 44 seconds to go and the Devils had one last thrust denied before Carter scored into an empty net with 1.1 seconds left, sealing the victory.

New Jersey took advantage of an early power play opportunity to score just 3:02 into the game, when Jamie Langenbrunner made a cross-ice pass to Kovalchuk, who rocketed a one-timer past Bobrovsky from the top of the left circle.

Van Riemsdyk jammed a rebound of a Richards shot past Hedberg only 17 seconds later to get the game even.

The visitors regained the lead with 7:05 to go in the period when Zajac wristed the disc past Bobrovsky, off a cross-ice feed from Langenbrunner.

Philadelphia forced another tie 58 seconds into the middle session when Giroux put home a rebound from the top of the crease into a wide open net.

"They were coming pretty hard," Hedberg said of the Flyers, who outshot the Devils 14-4 in the second period. "They turn the puck up quick and as soon as we get it out of the zone, they turn it back in again. I thought we did a good job of keeping them outside, though. We looked like we were pushed back but I didn't feel like going into the third 2-2 that we were."

Game Notes

Richards has seven goals and 14 points in his last 12 games...Briere and Carter both scored their 10th career goals versus New Jersey...Van Riemsdyk has a goal in four of his last seven games and points in six of seven contests...Hedberg is 5-8-1 in 16 career meetings against the Flyers...Devils' defenseman Colin White picked up his 100th career assist on Zajac's goal...New Jersey was 1-for-43 with the man advantage on the road before scoring twice in three opportunities on Saturday.