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Ward, Bruins rally past Flyers

Mar 16, 2008 - 2:55 AM By Mike Petraglia PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BOSTON (Ticker) - The Boston Bruins may be out of their funk.

Defenseman Aaron Ward's fifth goal of the season at 2:17 of overtime gave the Bruins an electrifying 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday.

Ward's tally, a blast from the left point that beat Flyers netminder Martin Biron, came minutes after Andrew Ference had tied the game with just 27 seconds left in regulation.

The Bruins entered the contest 1-4-2 in their last seven games.

"Couldn't ask for a bigger goal at a crucial time," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. " That goal with 26 seconds left was like a due reward. I felt like this game was ours."

It was the first goal of the season for Ference.

"It's a law of averages," Ference said. "You take a thousand shots, eventually one is going to bounce in the right way. Wideman did a good job of getting (a shot) through and then it's just a matter of whacking it as hard as you can."

All-Star goaltender Tim Thomas made 24 saves for the Bruins, including a stop in overtime on Jeff Carter, who raced in a breakaway.

"I saw the breakaway developing," Thomas said. "I had time to think about it, set up and thought to myself, if you stop one here, it's easier than a shootout where you have to stop three. So I just approached it like that and tried to played it just like I would a shootout."

Just seconds after Thomas' game-saving stop, the Bruins won it with Ward's second overtime goal this season against the Flyers.

"That's what it's all about," Julien said. "You hope your goaltender can make a save like that at a big time. Tonight, Timmy, makes a big, we turn it around and find a way to win a game."

"Obviously, you'd like Philly, who's in the same situation as we are, not get a point out of this game but if you had to design it and you're going to go into overtime after being down 2-1 and you're going to win, you take it," Ward said. "A win is a win."

Daniel Briere and Mike Richards scored for the Flyers, who got 33 saves from Biron.

"In the last minute of a game, you're up by one, you hope you get the bounce and it's going to hit a stick or shin pad and go out of the zone," Biron said. "It has gone against us more than a couple times this year."

It was the second heartbreaking loss this week for the Flyers, who blew a 3-0 lead on the road at Toronto.

Boston (37-27-8) remained in control of seventh place in the Eastern Conference standings with 82 points, two ahead of the Flyers (35-27-10).

Philadelphia saw its lead over ninth-place Buffalo (34-28-11) shrink to one point after the Sabres skated to a 6-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs of Saturday.

"Deserving a better fate is not a column in the standings and that's where we have to push it a little harder," Biron said.

With both teams fighting for their playoff lives, it was the Bruins who threatened early and often, including Glen Murray ringing a shot off the crossbar. Dennis Wideman came out of the penalty box in the first period and nearly gave the Bruins the lead when his wrist shot bounced off Biron, behind the goalie and just to the right of the right post.

Just seconds after coming out on a line change, Chuck Kobasew finally made the hard work pay off for the Bruins.

Kobasew skated down the middle of the slot and collected a rebound from a left circle slap shot by Marco Sturm. Kobasew fired the puck over Biron's right shoulder at 12:21 of the first for his 21st goal of the season, a new career high.

Hurting the cause even more for Philadelphia was the loss of another skater to injury. Defenseman Derian Hatcher took a slap shot from Ference off the right ankle eight minutes into the game and did not return.

But after killing off a pair of Boston power plays in the second, the Flyers finally turned momentum in their favor.

Joffrey Lupul's shot from the top of the right circle bounced off Thomas' blocker and straight up in the air. Richards skated to the front of the net and batted the puck out of the air and over Thomas' right shoulder. The goal was upheld after review and tied the game, 1-1, at 9:14 of the second.

Briere, playing with an injured right shoulder, extended his scoring streak to seven games and gave the Flyers the lead in the process when he redirected a perfect pass from Vaclav Prospal past Thomas just three minutes later.

"It's just frustration at the way we're letting points go," Briere said. "We played a great game and we deserved a better fate but we've just got to find a way to get it done when it matters most."

Briere has four goals and three assists over the seven games.