DENVER -- Radko Gudas and Claude Giroux scored 19 seconds apart late in the third period and the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Colorado Avalanche 4-2 on Thursday in a battle of teams fighting for playoff spots.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare also scored for the Flyers, who kept pace with Detroit in the battle for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. The Red Wings nearly blew a four-goal lead against Montreal but held on to win 4-3 and stay even in points with 85.
Steve Mason had 32 saves for the Flyers (36-24-13), who have a game in hand on Detroit.
Ryan White was awarded a goal in the last five seconds when he was taken down from behind while carrying the puck to the empty net.
John Mitchell and Nick Holden scored for Colorado, which fell three points behind Minnesota for the second wild card in the Western Conference.
The Avalanche have a showdown with Minnesota on Saturday afternoon in what might be the biggest regular-season game of the year for them. The Wild routed Calgary 6-2 on Thursday. The Avalanche (38-32-4) have played one less game.
They looked like they were going to trail by one point when Mitchell scored at 6:13 of the third. Philadelphia didn't quit and tied it on Gudas' slap shot at 14:17.
Giroux scored on a rebound to make it 3-2.
Holden had a chance to score when he pinched in and tried to tip a pass from Mikkel Boedker into the open net, but it went wide. Mikhail Grigorenko got the rebound and his shot went off Holden's skate and past Mason on the short side at 3:05 of the second.
It was Holden's fifth of the season.
The Flyers increased the pressure after Holden scored. They got 13 of the next 14 shots on goal and tied it when Bellemare tipped Shayne Gostisbehere's shot at12:36 of the second for his sixth goal of the season.
Philadelphia outshot Colorado 37-19 in the final two periods.
NOTES: Avalanche coach Patrick Roy declined to give updates on C Matt Duchene and C Nathan MacKinnon. Both have been ruled out with knee injuries through Saturday's game, and Roy said after Thursday's morning skate he would address their status Sunday. ... Philadelphia C Chris VandeVelde was back in the lineup. VandeVelde, whose twogame suspension for elbowing Chicago C Jonathan Toews on March 16 ended last weekend, was scratched against Columbus on Tuesday, the first game he was eligible to play since he was reinstated. ... Roy said for now D Zach Redmond and D Andrew Bodnarchuk would rotate in and out of the lineup. Redmond was in against the Flyers. ... Philadelphia LW Scott Laughton was a healthy scratch for just the fourth time this season.
