Flyers Lose to Florida

Brett McLean scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period, backup Craig Anderson made 40 saves, and the Florida Panthers snapped a three-game losing streak with a 4-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night.

Cory Stillman, Radek Dvorak and David Booth also scored for the Panthers, who started the night below the postseason cutoff in the Eastern Conference.

Anderson got the start over Tomas Vokoun, who surrendered three goals on 20 shots in Florida's 5-3 loss at Buffalo on Wednesday when the Panthers gave up a two-goal lead in the third period.

Jeff Carter scored his team-leading 41st goal and Scott Hartnell added a goal for the Flyers, who had won three in a row. Philadelphia leads fifth-place Carolina by one point for home-ice advantage in the first round of the East playoffs.

Anderson hadn't played since March 1 at Washington, but he was sharp throughout for the Panthers, who averaged an NHL-worst 34.6 shots against per game.

McLean put Florida ahead 3-2 at 2:38 of the third. Flyers defenseman Andrew Alberts turned the puck over in his zone and McLean took advantage of a wide-open rebound in front of goalie Martin Biron.

Biron stopped 24 shots and lost for only the fourth time in last 12 games.

Booth put the game away with an empty-net, power-play goal with 32.5 seconds remaining.

With only 3.8 seconds left in the second period, the Flyers tied it at 2 when Hartnell received Carter's pass from behind the net and scored.

The sold-out crowd erupted for Hartnell's 28th goal, largely because the fan favorite was the centerpiece of a promotion. The first 5,000 young fans received a Hartnell wig as a tribute to the curly-topped forward, who hasn't had a haircut in more than 17 months.

Philadelphia kept the pressure on throughout much of the second period and got even at 1 on Carter's goal. Carter picked up the puck at the red line, streaked in and fired a wrist shot past Anderson.

Just 23 seconds later, Keith Ballard's shot ricocheted off Biron's pad. Dvorak fired in the rebound for a 2-1 Panthers advantage at 5:30.

Florida took a 1-0 on the power play when Stillman deflected Jay Bouwmeester's shot from the point over Biron's shoulder at 11:25 of the first period. It was Stillman's 15th goal this season.

Before Florida took the lead, the game was rather chippy.

Only 3 seconds into the game, Philadelphia's Dan Carcillo and Florida's Gregory Campbell had a fight. There were 10 penalties were called in the first period.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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