GAME THREAD: GAME THREAD: NHL: PHILADELPHIA (1-0) at EDMONTON (1-0)

NHL: PHILADELPHIA at EDMONTON

<div class="pre">------------------------------------
Philadelphia 0 3 0 --3
Edmonton 0 3 2 --5
------------------------------------

FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: None. Penalties: B Eager, Phi (interference), 10:02.

SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, Edmonton, Steve Staios 1 (Shawn Horcoff,
Ales Hemsky), 3:47. 2, Philadelphia, Jeff Carter 1 (Joffrey Lupul,
Braydon Coburn), 8:39. 3, Edmonton, Dustin Penner 1 (Ales Hemsky,
Shawn Horcoff), 11:32. 4, Philadelphia, Daniel Briere 3 (Simon Gagne,
Mike Knuble), 13:05. 5, Philadelphia, Simon Gagne 1 (power play)
(Daniel Briere, Kimmo Timonen), 18:11. 6, Edmonton, Geoff Sanderson 1
(Marty Reasoner, Kyle Brodziak), 19:55. Penalties: D Tarnstrom, Edm
(hooking), 6:17; J Pitkanen, Edm (delay of game), 17:57; S Horcoff,
Edm (double minor roughing), 19:20; S Kapanen, Phi (double minor
roughing), 19:20.

THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: 7, Edmonton, Joni Pitkanen 1 (Sam Gagner,
Andrew Cogliano), 1:10. 8, Edmonton, Geoff Sanderson 2 (empty net)
(Kyle Brodziak), 19:38. Penalties: J Lupul, Phi (slashing), 3:30; G
Sanderson, Edm (hooking), 13:30; D Tarnstrom, Edm (hooking), 16:23.

Shots on goal:
---------------------------------------
Philadelphia 4 15 6 --25
Edmonton 16 8 10 --34
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Power-play Conversions: Philadelphia - 1 of 4, Edmonton - 0 of 2.
Goalies : Philadelphia, Martin Biron (33 shots, 29 saves; record:
1-1-0). Edmonton, Mathieu Garon (25 shots, 22 saves; record: 1-0-0).
A: 16,839. Referees: Paul Devorski, Stephane Auger. Linesmen: Mark
Wheeler, Vaughan Rody.</div>

 

NHL: PHILADELPHIA at EDMONTON

<div class="pre">-----------------------------------------
PHILADELPHIA 0 3 0 --3
EDMONTON 0 3 2 --5
-----------------------------------------

FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: None. Penalties: B Eager, Phi (interference), 10:02.

SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, Edmonton, Steve Staios 1 (Shawn Horcoff,
Ales Hemsky), 3:47. 2, Philadelphia, Jeff Carter 1 (Joffrey Lupul,
Braydon Coburn), 8:39. 3, Edmonton, Dustin Penner 1 (Ales Hemsky,
Shawn Horcoff), 11:32. 4, Philadelphia, Daniel Briere 3 (Simon Gagne,
Mike Knuble), 13:05. 5, Philadelphia, Simon Gagne 1 (power play)
(Daniel Briere, Kimmo Timonen), 18:11. 6, Edmonton, Geoff Sanderson 1
(Marty Reasoner, Kyle Brodziak), 19:55. Penalties: D Tarnstrom, Edm
(hooking), 6:17; J Pitkanen, Edm (delay of game), 17:57; S Horcoff,
Edm (double minor roughing), 19:20; S Kapanen, Phi (double minor
roughing), 19:20.

THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: 7, Edmonton, Joni Pitkanen 1 (Sam Gagner,
Andrew Cogliano), 1:10. 8, Edmonton, Geoff Sanderson 2 (empty net)
(Kyle Brodziak), 19:38. Penalties: J Lupul, Phi (slashing), 3:30; G
Sanderson, Edm (hooking), 13:30; D Tarnstrom, Edm (hooking), 16:23.

Shots on goal:
----------------------------------------
PHILADELPHIA 4 15 6 --25
EDMONTON 16 8 10 --34
----------------------------------------

Power-play Conversions: PHI - 1 of 4, EDM - 0 of 2. Goalies :
Philadelphia, Martin Biron (33 shots, 29 saves; record: 1-1-0).
Edmonton, Mathieu Garon (25 shots, 22 saves; record: 1-0-0). A:
16,839. Referees: Paul Devorski, Stephane Auger. Linesmen: Mark
Wheeler, Vaughan Rody.

INDIVIDUAL PLAYER STATISTICS

PHILADELPHIA EDMONTON
G A +/- Shots G A +/- Shots
J Dowd 0 0 even 0 S Horcoff 0 2 +2 2
S Gagne 1 1 -3 2 R Nilsson 0 0 -1 1
J Lupul 0 1 -1 1 A Cogliano 0 1 even 2
J Carter 1 0 even 4 R Torres 0 0 -1 2
M Richards 0 0 -1 3 J Stoll 0 0 -1 3
S Hartnell 0 0 even 2 M Reasoner 0 1 +2 2
D Hatcher 0 0 -2 0 M Greene 0 0 even 0
J Smith 0 0 -2 0 D Tarnstrom 0 0 even 0
M Knuble 0 1 -3 4 S Staios 1 0 +3 2
S Kapanen 0 0 even 0 J Pitkanen 1 0 +3 4
L Kukkonen 0 0 +1 0 D Penner 1 0 +2 1
R Cote 0 0 even 0 S Souray 0 0 even 5
K Timonen 0 1 -2 1 K Brodziak 0 2 +2 2
D Briere 1 1 -3 2 T Gilbert 0 0 even 1
B Coburn 0 1 -1 2 M Pouliot 0 0 even 0
D Tolpeko 0 0 even 1 G Sanderson 2 0 +2 4
B Eager 0 0 even 2 A Hemsky 0 2 +1 2
R Jones 0 0 +1 1 S Gagner 0 1 +1 1
J Boulerice HEALTHY E Moreau ANKLE INJURY
N Guenin HEALTHY D Grebeshkov HEALTHY</div>

 

NHL: PHILADELPHIA at EDMONTON

<div class="pre">** CONFIRMED **
NHL
PHILADELPHIA 3
EDMONTON 5</div>

 

EDMONTON, Alberta (Ticker) -- Geoff Sanderson and defensemanJoni Pitkanen were members of the Philadelphia Flyers lastseason. The duo did not provide a warm welcome Saturday.

Sanderson scored a pair of goals and Pitkanen was credited withthe winner as the Edmonton Oilers skated to a 5-3 triumph overthe Flyers.


Members of a Flyers club that finished with a league-worst 56points last season, Sanderson and Pitkanen were shipped to theOilers over the summer in the deal that landed defenseman JasonSmith and Joffrey Lupul in Philadelphia.


While Lupul picked up an assist for the Flyers in this one,Sanderson and Pitkanen were extremely productive, teaming toscore the Oilers' final three goals and erase a 3-2 deficit.

"It was a great feeling," Pitkanen said. "It was a good goaland it was a good game. ... I'm happy to be with the Oilers andjust to win the game."


Sanderson knotted the contest at 3-3 with just five secondsremaining in the second period, receiving a pass from the rightcorner by Marty Reasoner and beating goaltender Martin Bironfrom the doorstep.


"They both played well," Flyers coach John Stevens said of hisformer players. "Joni gets up the ice, he made a lot of gooddecisions. Sandy used his speed to his advantage and banged ina goal late that got them going. They obviously had confidencein him."


The assist by Reasoner was the 100th of his career.

Just 70 seconds into the third session, Pitkanen - who wasdrafted fourth overall by Philadelphia in 2002 - put Edmontonahead to stay.


From the left faceoff circle, the 24-year-old Finn unleashed ashot that Biron stopped. The puck bounced into the air andcaromed in off Flyers right wing Mike Knuble, who had rushedback to cover the front of the net.


"I think (Knuble) was trying to get it out and it rolled off hisstick and escaped," Biron said. "It went off his blade. Itwas a bad bounce. We had everything going against us."

"I guess we got a break there, but that was the end result of alot of hard work that went into the game in the third period,"Edmonton's Dustin Penner said. "We carried the play for most ofthe game."


Sanderson sealed the win with an empty-netter.


Defenseman Steve Staios and Penner also scored for the Oilers,who outshot the Flyers by a 16-4 margin in a scoreless firstperiod.


"When you play goal, you expect sometimes for the shots to becoming at you," Biron said. "It's part of the game. Someperiods you get a couple of shots and you have to be sharp forthose two or three shots. Sometimes you get 15 shots."

The session went without a goal primarily due to the play ofBiron, who made a phenomenal save on Andrew Cogliano with 11minutes remaining. While laying on his stomach, Biron liftedhis left leg to deny Cogliano, who had a wide-open net at whichto shoot.


Jeff Carter, Daniel Briere and Simon Gagne tallied forPhiladelphia, which concludes its season-opening three-game roadtrip at Vancouver on Wednesday.


Staios gave Edmonton the lead at 3:47 of the second period,beating Biron with a slap shot from the blue line. But Carterforged a tie less than five minutes later, whacking the puck outof mid-air and past Mathieu Garon after the netminder stoppedLupul's wrister from the right circle.


Signed to a five-year, $21.25 million offer sheet that Anaheimrefused to match over the summer, Penner put the Oilers back infront at 11:32. After Shawn Horcoff won a faceoff in the leftcircle, Ales Hemsky grabbed the puck and passed to Penner, whofired it past Biron from the slot for a 2-1 edge.


Briere, Philadelphia's big offseason acquisition, netted histhird goal of the season just 93 seconds later with a fantasticindividual effort. After grabbing the puck in the neutral zone,Briere carried across the blue line, split a pair of defendersand flipped a shot past Garon to knot the game at 2-2.

Gagne put the Flyers ahead with 1:49 left in the session,receiving a feed from Briere and beating Garon to the stick sidefrom the inner edge of the left circle for his first goal ofthe season.


Hemsky and Horcoff each had two assists for Edmonton, whilefirst-round pick Sam Gagner set up a tally for the second timein as many NHL games.


"We're feeding off the young guys and we're going to keepbuilding throughout the year," Penner said. "I think it's onlygoing to get better for this group."