The Philadelphia Flyers Pick Up a Character Win Over the Calgary Flames

The Philadelphia Flyers made a big comeback last night against the Calgary Flames and won 5-4 in a shootout.

Philadelphia found themselves in a big hole down 3-0 more than halfway through the game.  With 4:13 left in the second period Jakub Voracek finally put the Flyers on the board.  Than with 33.9 left in the period Braydon Coburn put in another for the Flyers.

On a 5-on-3 Scott Hartnell got his first of the night 7:35 into the 3rd.  Things didn’t look too good for Philly when Alex Tanguay scored on a penalty shot with less than ten-minutes to play

Philly would just not go away Hartsy got his second of the night when he deflected a Nicklas Grossman shot to tie it at four.  This is Hartnell’s first 30-goal season since 08-09 when he had 30-goals and 30-assists.  Hartsy is two-points away from tying his career high in points, which is 60.

“Hartsy is having a breakout year, and it’s a credit to him playing with some great players in (Claude) Giroux and (Jaromir) Jagr,” said Coburn.  “Going to the net, he makes room for himself and he gets those tough goals.  This time of year, you’ve got to score goals from in front of the net.  You’ve got to have screens because all these goalies are so good.  You’ve got to have guys that are willing to get to the front, and it’s not easy.”

The game went to a shootout and as most fans know Philadelphia has the worst all-time record in shootouts.  Giroux was the final shooter for the Flyers, down 1-0 Claude used his fast hands and kept Philly alive.  Than in round five Matt Read also showed some quick hands and snapped one past Miikka Kiprusoff to give the Flyers a 5-4 win.

“I was just trying to see where he was and look for an open spot,” said Read.  “I was thinking shoot the whole way. His glove wasn’t all the way up, and I just shot it and hoped and it went in.”

This was a huge character win for the Flyers, who avoided falling to sixth in the Eastern Conference with the win.  Philadelphia now has a chance to go three for four on this four-game road trip out west.

Follow Johnny on Twitter @RealMacHatter.