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Sanderson, Pitkanen haunt former team

Oct 7, 2007 - 5:19 AM EDMONTON, Alberta (Ticker) -- Geoff Sanderson and defenseman Joni Pitkanen were members of the Philadelphia Flyers last season. The duo did not provide a warm welcome Saturday.

Sanderson scored a pair of goals and Pitkanen was credited with the winner as the Edmonton Oilers skated to a 5-3 triumph over the Flyers.

Members of a Flyers club that finished with a league-worst 56 points last season, Sanderson and Pitkanen were shipped to the Oilers over the summer in the deal that landed defenseman Jason Smith and Joffrey Lupul in Philadelphia.

While Lupul picked up an assist for the Flyers in this one, Sanderson and Pitkanen were extremely productive, teaming to score the Oilers' final three goals and erase a 3-2 deficit.

"It was a great feeling," Pitkanen said. "It was a good goal and it was a good game. ... I'm happy to be with the Oilers and just to win the game."

Sanderson knotted the contest at 3-3 with just five seconds remaining in the second period, receiving a pass from the right corner by Marty Reasoner and beating goaltender Martin Biron from the doorstep.

"They both played well," Flyers coach John Stevens said of his former players. "Joni gets up the ice, he made a lot of good decisions. Sandy used his speed to his advantage and banged in a goal late that got them going. They obviously had confidence in him."

The assist by Reasoner was the 100th of his career.

Just 70 seconds into the third session, Pitkanen - who was drafted fourth overall by Philadelphia in 2002 - put Edmonton ahead to stay.

From the left faceoff circle, the 24-year-old Finn unleashed a shot that Biron stopped. The puck bounced into the air and caromed in off Flyers right wing Mike Knuble, who had rushed back to cover the front of the net.

"I think (Knuble) was trying to get it out and it rolled off his stick and escaped," Biron said. "It went off his blade. It was a bad bounce. We had everything going against us."

"I guess we got a break there, but that was the end result of a lot of hard work that went into the game in the third period," Edmonton's Dustin Penner said. "We carried the play for most of the game."

Sanderson sealed the win with an empty-netter.

Defenseman Steve Staios and Penner also scored for the Oilers, who outshot the Flyers by a 16-4 margin in a scoreless first period.

"When you play goal, you expect sometimes for the shots to be coming at you," Biron said. "It's part of the game. Some periods you get a couple of shots and you have to be sharp for those two or three shots. Sometimes you get 15 shots."

The session went without a goal primarily due to the play of Biron, who made a phenomenal save on Andrew Cogliano with 11 minutes remaining. While laying on his stomach, Biron lifted his left leg to deny Cogliano, who had a wide-open net at which to shoot.

Jeff Carter, Daniel Briere and Simon Gagne tallied for Philadelphia, which concludes its season-opening three-game road trip at Vancouver on Wednesday.

Staios gave Edmonton the lead at 3:47 of the second period, beating Biron with a slap shot from the blue line. But Carter forged a tie less than five minutes later, whacking the puck out of mid-air and past Mathieu Garon after the netminder stopped Lupul's wrister from the right circle.

Signed to a five-year, $21.25 million offer sheet that Anaheim refused to match over the summer, Penner put the Oilers back in front at 11:32. After Shawn Horcoff won a faceoff in the left circle, Ales Hemsky grabbed the puck and passed to Penner, who fired it past Biron from the slot for a 2-1 edge.

Briere, Philadelphia's big offseason acquisition, netted his third goal of the season just 93 seconds later with a fantastic individual effort. After grabbing the puck in the neutral zone, Briere carried across the blue line, split a pair of defenders and flipped a shot past Garon to knot the game at 2-2.

Gagne put the Flyers ahead with 1:49 left in the session, receiving a feed from Briere and beating Garon to the stick side from the inner edge of the left circle for his first goal of the season.

Hemsky and Horcoff each had two assists for Edmonton, while first-round pick Sam Gagner set up a tally for the second time in as many NHL games.

"We're feeding off the young guys and we're going to keep building throughout the year," Penner said. "I think it's only going to get better for this group."