Roenick’s Plan Turns Out Perfect

When Coach Ken Hitchcock told the Philadelphia Flyers to go for it in overtime, Jeremy Roenick pictured how he’d score the winning goal.

It happened just how he planned.

Roenick beat goaltender Ed Belfour on the short side during a two-on-one break 7:39 into overtime Tuesday night, giving the Flyers a 3-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs and sending Philadelphia into the Eastern Conference finals.

“My eyes went wide,” Roenick said. “It was unbelievable that I got the opportunity, so I knew exactly what I was going to do right from the start.”

Roenick scored his 50th career playoff goal earlier in the game.

“People tell me to shoot, shoot, shoot,” he said. “Every time I get into a position like that I pass. I wasn’t passing tonight.”

The goal gave the Flyers a six-game victory over the Maple Leafs in their best-of-seven series, and came after Toronto rallied from a two-goal deficit in the third period.

Radovan Somik also scored and Robert Esche stopped 34 shots, setting the Flyers up for a matchup with top-seeded Tampa Bay beginning Saturday.

Philadelphia is in the conference finals for the 14th time, tying Montreal for the most appearances since expansion.

The Flyers went 0-4 in the regular season against the Lightning, which swept Montreal and has been off since Thursday.

Mats Sundin, with a goal and assist, and Karel Pilar rallied Toronto by scoring in the final 11 minutes of regulation to force overtime.

Sensing that his team was sagging after being outshot 24-7 in the second and third periods, Hitchcock told his players to start taking chances in overtime.

“We had to go back and get them,” Hitchcock said. “We had to take some risks to get them on their heels.”

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Working Overtime

Jeremy Roenick scored his fourth career overtime goal Tuesday in Philadelphia’s win over Toronto. Most career overtime goals in the playoffs, with team the player was on when goals were scored:

6: Maurice Richard, Montreal

6: Joe Sakic, Colorado

5: Glenn Anderson, Edmonton, Toronto, St. Louis

4: Wayne Gretzky, Edmonton, Kings

4: Dale Hunter, Quebec, Washington

4: Jaromir Jagr, Pittsburgh

4: Kirk Muller, Montreal, Dallas

4: Joe Murphy, Edmonton, Chicago

4: Bob Nystrom, N.Y. Islanders

4: Stephane Richer, Montreal, New Jersey

4: Jeremy Roenick, Chicago, Philadelphia

4: Esa Tikkanen, Edmonton, N.Y. Rangers