This Time, Flyers Win

Mark Recchi scored his second goal with 6:06 remaining in the third overtime period, giving the Philadelphia Flyers a 3-2 victory Wednesday night over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Ed Belfour made 72 saves before Recchi’s wrist shot from the faceoff circle hit the goalie’s stick and barely trickled over the goal line as the Flyers evened the first-round, best-of-seven Eastern Conference playoff series at 2-2. Game 5 is Saturday night in Philadelphia.

Travis Green and Mats Sundin scored for the Maple Leafs, who were without leading scorer Alexander Mogilny.

Clipped under the jaw by a stick two nights earlier, Mogilny was advised by team doctors to sit out. He’ll be re-examined today.

The Flyers outshot the Leafs, 75-38, setting a Philadelphia playoff record for most shots on goal.

Toronto, which beat Philadelphia, 4-3, in double overtime on Monday night, played its third-longest game in franchise history and longest since 1943. It was the second-longest game in Flyer history.

Philadelphia won despite going 0 for 8 on the power play, falling to 2 of 21 in the series.

Michael Handzus almost won it for the Flyers in the first overtime, but his shot rolled over Belfour’s pads and through the goal crease.

Philadelphia goalie Roman Chechmanek made 36 saves. He robbed Darcy Tucker in the second overtime with a kick save.

Belfour stopped John LeClair from scoring late in the second overtime with a spectacular blocker save.

Ottawa 3, New York Islanders 1 -- The Senators took charge almost as soon as they took the ice at Uniondale, N.Y., and made sure they took control of their playoff series against the Islanders.

Mike Fisher scored only 28 seconds in and Anton Volchenkov had a goal less than four minutes later as the Senators took an early lead and made it stand up.

They lead the first-round Eastern Conference series, 3-1.

Marian Hossa had a goal and an assist for Ottawa, which will try to wrap up the series at home tonight.

“We got those two quick goals, and that made it just a great game for us,” said Ottawa goalie Patrick Lalime, who faced only 22 shots. “I wasn’t too busy.”

Tampa Bay 3, Washington 1 -- For the second consecutive game, Martin St. Louis provided the spark for the Lightning, scoring two goals at Washington that evened the first round Eastern Conference series at 2-2.

Game 5 is Friday in Tampa Bay, which might or might not be good for the Lightning. The home team has lost every game of the series -- in fact, no home team has even had a lead.

St. Louis 4, Vancouver 1 -- The Blues, the best comeback team in the NHL, did it again, giving them a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference playoff series.

Dallas Drake and Chris Pronger scored in the second period at St. Louis after spotting the Canucks a goal. Martin Rucinsky scored twice during a span of 1:37 late in the third period.

St. Louis was a league-leading 22-15-3-6 when giving up the first goal in the regular season. The Blues can close out the series Friday night in Vancouver.

Colorado 3, Minnesota 1 -- Joe Sakic took the edge off another loud crowd at St. Paul, Minn., with two goals in the first eight minutes and Patrick Roy almost had his second shutout in a row.

Martin Gaborik scored a power-play goal with 2:40 left in the third period for the Wild.

The Avalanche, which finished the regular season by winning 25 of its final 37 games, leads the Western Conference series, 3-1.