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Richards, Briere lead charge as Flyers trounce Canucks

Oct 11, 2007 - 6:21 AM By Daniel Fung PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Ticker) -- The Philadelphia Flyers don't get to the Pacific Northwest that often. The Vancouver Canucks aren't anxious to host them again anytime soon.

Mike Richards scored two goals and set up two others and Daniel Briere had a tally and two assists as the Flyers chased star goaltender Roberto Luongo en route to an 8-2 triumph over the Canucks on Wednesday.

Five other players recorded multi-point games for Philadelphia, which was playing in Vancouver for the first time since December 31, 2001. The rout extended the Flyers' road unbeaten streak against the Canucks to 13 games (9-0-0 with four ties).

"It's kind of an impressive streak, but then again, we went six years without playing them here," Flyers coach John Stevens said. "I think (Simon Gagne) may have been the only guy here the last time we played here, so you're talking about two different teams."

Drafted 24th overall in 2003, Richards scored his first goal of the season late in the second period and capped Philadelphia's offensive onslaught with 5:41 remaining in the third.

With Vancouver on a 5-on-3 power play, Richards gained control of the puck and raced down on a breakaway. After deking Curtis Sanford, Richards slid a backhander between the goaltender's pads to cap his second career two-goal performance.

"I just wanted to put pressure on the D and (the puck) ended up right on my stick," Richards said. "I just went down and made a little move (and scored)."

The tally also gave Richards four points for the first time in his career.

The Flyers jumped to a 2-0 lead as Jeff Carter and R.J. Umberger scored just 13 seconds apart midway through the first period. Carter deposited a juicy rebound off a shot by defenseman Randy Jones behind Luongo at 8:48, and Umberger tapped in a beautiful feed by Richards at 9:01.

"We came out strong," Richards said. "I think the couple of days off helped us re-energize a bit. We just kept it simple off the get-go. They turned some pucks over and we made them pay."

The quick tallies fell six seconds shy of the record for the two fastest goals in team history.

Umberger's goal was his first in as many games this season. The former first-round pick of the Canucks had been sidelined with a broken finger.

"I think I had a little bit of extra incentive tonight," Umberger said. "First game back, and getting a goal was a momentum-builder. To do it in Vancouver, it was pretty good."

Vancouver halved the deficit just 72 seconds after Umberger's tally. With Philadelphia defenseman Kimmo Timonen in the penalty box for hooking, Ryan Shannon easily converted a backhand pass through the crease by Daniel Sedin for his second power-play goal in as many contests.

Philadelphia restored its two-goal lead less than three minutes later as Briere made a pass from the left faceoff circle to Gagne, who tapped in the puck from near the right goalpost for a man-advantage tally at 13:11. The goal gave Gagne 397 career points, moving him past Eric Desjardins for 17th place on the Flyers' all-time list.

Briere got into the act with 3:43 remaining in the first, scoring his fourth goal of the season by lifting a backhander past a fallen Luongo after having his pass on a 2-on-1 rush blocked by defenseman Kevin Bieksa. Briere, who has collected at least two points in each of his first three games with Philadelphia, extended his goal-scoring streak to three contests.

"We came out just the way we wanted," Briere said. "We got some breaks, obviously, and for them, it was just one of those nights where nothing was working. When you get to score a 3-against-5 goal, it pretty much shows the kind of night it was for them."

The runner-up for both the Hart and Vezina Trophies last season, Luongo stopped just nine of the 13 shots he faced in the first period and was replaced by Sanford at the start of the second.

"A very bad team effort, all 20 guys," a frustrated Luongo said. "It was just a bad effort all around, that's all."

It did not take long for the Flyers to welcome Sanford into the game, as Joffrey Lupul beat the former St. Louis Blues netminder with a wrist shot from the right circle just 1:24 into the session.

After defenseman Lukas Krajicek netted a power-play goal exactly two minutes later, Mike Knuble and Richards tallied later in the session to push Philadelphia's advantage to 7-2. Gagne picked up an assist on Knuble's man-advantage goal, giving him at least two points in each game this season.