Flyers Strike Lightning in 5-2 Win

Danny Briere, Jaromir Jagr, Wayne Simmonds scored in the second period and the Philadelphia Flyers extended their winning streak to five with a 5-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night.
 
The Flyers won for the seventh time in their past eight games to remain atop the Atlantic Division, while Tampa Bay lost for the sixth time in its past seven games.
 
Forward Claude Giroux had two assists to add to his NHL-high point total of 39 (16 goals and 23 assists) and extended his point streak to five games (three goals and seven assists for 10 points).
 
Giroux, however, took an inadvertent knee to the head by Simmonds in the last minute of the second period and did not return for the final period. The Flyers are already without defenseman Chris Pronger with a concussion.
 
Tampa Bay's Vincent Lecavalier scored a power-play goal to pull the Lightning within 3-2 in the opening minute of the third period.
 
But Philadelphia answered a few minutes later when Matt Carle had a power-play goal that made it 4-2.
 
Scott Hartnell had an empty-net goal to cap the scoring. It was the fifth straight game Hartnell scored a goal.
 
Trailing 1-0 after the first period, Briere tied the game on his ninth goal of the season at 2:38 into second period, beating Lightning goalie Mathieu Garon over his right shoulder.
 
Then Jagr added his 10th, beating Garon with a slap shot. The score was Jagr's 656th career goal, tying him for 11th in career goals with Brendan Shanahan.
 
Simmonds topped off the three-goal run with a power-play goal with slightly over five minutes left in the second. Simmonds received considerable help, when he backhanded a shot that ricocheted off the skate of Tampa Bay defenseman Brett Clark and bounced into the net over Garon.
 
Philadelphia outshot the Lightning 16-7 in the second period.
 
Garon made a nifty stick save in the last minute of the second. The Flyers' Sean Couturier jabbed at a rebound when Garon flicked the puck away inches away from crossing the goal line.
 
Tampa Bay controlled much of the opening period. Ryan Shannon gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead on his second goal of the season halfway into the first period.
 
The play was made possible by the hustle of Dominic Moore, who beat the Flyers to the puck off the boards, then threaded a perfect pass through the legs of the Flyers' defense to find Shannon.
 
Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov wasn't able to slide over fast enough, and there was Shannon all alone to poke the puck into a wide-open net.
 
With less than 13 minutes in the game, Flyers' coach Peter Laviolette pulled Bryzgalov in favor of Sergei Bobrovsky. Bryzgalov had made 14 saves.