Flyers Work Overtime to Get Back Into Series

The Philadelphia Flyers’ desperation overcame Jaromir Jagr’s domination.

Jagr rallied the Penguins from a two-goal deficit before the Flyers came back on the road to do what they couldn’t do at home, winning, 4-3, on Andy Delmore’s overtime goal Tuesday night.

Delmore, a rookie defenseman, scored his first two playoff goals, the second at 11:01 of overtime to overcome a brilliant game by Jagr, who had two goals and an assist.

The road team won for the third consecutive game in the Eastern Conference semifinal series.

The No. 7-seeded Penguins take a 2-1 lead into Game 4 Thursday night.

“If had we lost this game, the series would have been all but over,” said the Flyers’ Keith Jones, who had a goal and two assists.

The No. 1-seeded Flyers outshot the Penguins, 11-1, in the overtime and 44-18 overall, with Delmore wristing a shot from the slot past Ron Tugnutt off passes by Jones and Jody Hull.

“I let Jody Hull know how open I was. He made a drop pass to Keith Jones and he made a shovel pass to me,” Delmore said. “I was lucky enough to shift from by backhand to my forehand and make the shot.”

Said Jones: “Delmore was yelling for the puck loud enough that the people up top could hear him. He scored a fantastic goal.”

Jagr scored his fourth and fifth goals of the series and had a hand in every Penguin goal as Pittsburgh rallied from deficits of 2-0 and 3-2 before the Flyers ended an eight-game playoff overtime losing streak.

The Flyers hadn’t won a playoff overtime game since Eric Lindros’ goal beat the New Jersey Devils on June 7, 1995.

The Flyers, who never led in either game at Philadelphia, opened a 2-0 lead in a frenetically played first period, lost it as Jagr’s line scored twice in the second period, then regained it on John LeClair’s goal at 7:27 of the third.

The Flyers are one of the NHL’s best teams with a lead. But that means nothing when Jagr is on the ice--and that probably seemed to the Flyers like virtually every shift.

“He [Jagr] was unbelievable,” Penguin forward Matthew Barnaby said. “That’s one of the best games I’ve ever seen anyone play.”