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Michalek, Murray help Sharks keep Flyers grounded

Feb 22, 2008 - 5:11 AM PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- Milan Michalek and defenseman Doug Murray scored 42 seconds apart early in the third period as the San Jose Sharks handed the Philadelphia Flyers their ninth consecutive loss with a 3-1 victory on Thursday.

Jonathan Cheechoo also tallied and All-Star Joe Thornton recorded two assists for San Jose, which won for the first time in six contests (1-4-1).

The victory also was Ron Wilson's 501st as an NHL coach, moving him past the legendary Toe Blake and tying him with Pat Burns for ninth place on the all-time list.

"It's a little bit of a relief," Wilson said of his team's victory. "I think that it will relax us a little bit and we can move forward. We've got a lot of work ahead of us."

Mike Knuble netted the lone goal for Philadelphia, which fell to 0-8-1 in its last nine games. The Flyers last lost nine in a row from January 4-27, 2007.

"You see every great team and athlete go through peaks and valleys," Knuble said. "The one characteristic about them is, they pull themselves out. It's not going to come from the coaches or some magic trade. We got ourselves into this position, and we are going to be the ones to get us out."

With this one tied at 1-1 just 3:35 into the third period, Michalek took advantage of a turnover and beat goaltender Martin Biron for his 20th goal of the season. By doing so, the Czech extended his points streak to seven games, a run in which he has registered three goals and six assists.

Murray compounded Philadelphia's problems by sending a seemingly harmless wrist shot from a sharp angle past Biron for the first goal of his 115-game career.

"It feels good, but the most important thing was the win," Murray said. "It was a good goal for us. We're more comfortable playing with a two-goal lead. It was about time."

"It was about time that we got a fluky one," Wilson added. "We've been telling our defense to throw pucks at the net. They have been chipping in lately on the offense recently, and that is a good thing for us."

Cheechoo opened the scoring with 4:02 remaining in the first period.

Thornton skated up the right wing before dishing to Cheechoo, who wristed the puck over the blocker of Biron for his 17th goal of the season and 12th in his last 17 games.

Knuble leveled the contest with 5.8 seconds remaining in the second period.

With Philadelphia on a 3-on-1 rush, All-Star goaltender Evgeni Nabokov was able to deny Stefan Ruzicka's shot. But Knuble grabbed the rebound and batted it into the net for his 22nd tally of the season.

"You never want to give up a lead with five seconds to go," Nabokov said. "We needed to push the pace and do the things that would help us win. The guys played well in the third."

That was all the Flyers could muster against Nabokov, who made 26 saves to post his first victory in five games (1-3-1).

"We had a few breakdowns, but Nabokov made some big saves," Wilson said. "The last two games, we've kept teams to 20 shots or less. Defensively, we've been playing fine."