National Hockey League
Flyers rally, edge Jets in OT
National Hockey League

Flyers rally, edge Jets in OT

Published Feb. 21, 2012 12:00 a.m. ET

Ondrej Pavelec did his best to keep Winnipeg in the game on Tuesday.

The Jets' goalie turned aside a season-high 50 shots against the Philadelphia Flyers, but it ended with a 5-4 overtime loss for Winnipeg.

Jaromir Jagr scored 4:16 into the extra period with a low shot, while teammate Wayne Simmonds had sent the game into overtime with 10 seconds left in regulation.

"(Pavelec) was excellent," said Jets captain Andrew Ladd, who scored a pair of goals 64 seconds apart in the second period.

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"He gave us a chance to win. I feel bad for him because, obviously, we spoiled a great performance on his part and I'm sure he's frustrated."

Ilya Bryzgalov faced 26 shots in the victory (33-19-7). Claude Giroux had a goal and two assists, while Scott Hartnell scored a goal and added an assist. Maxime Talbot also scored for the Flyers.

Winnipeg was 3 for 3 on the power play and Philadelphia was 1 for 3.

Evander Kane had a goal and Dustin Byfuglien recorded a goal and an assist for Winnipeg (29-26-6), which had a three-game winning streak stopped.

Tim Stapleton added three assists for the Jets and Bryan Little added two.

Winnipeg coach Claude Noel called Pavelec the "best player on the ice" and said they might not have gotten a point if it wasn't for him.

"Pavelec was unbelievable," Noel said. "Say what you want, goalies like that, you can win championships with goalies like that, with goaltending like that."

Kane had put the Jets up 4-3 during a power play at 4:57 of the third period on a long, high shot that Bryzgalov couldn't grab with his glove.

But just as the crowd started roaring at a victory, Simmonds snatched it away when he got a great feed to the front of the net from winger James van Riemsdyk, who was wheeling his way behind the net.

The Flyers outshot the Jets 6-1 in overtime, with Jagr getting the chance for the game-winner on a timely pass from Daniel Briere.

As Briere was being tangled up with some Jets near the side of the net, he spotted Jagr moving to the front of the net untouched and quickly sent him the puck.

"You have to make the other team tired, you know, because every line can score," Jagr said of his team.

"...It doesn't matter how many they score against us because we know we can score a lot of goals."

Kane was feeling bad that Pavelec's performance didn't net more than a point.

"He's been playing like that the whole year," Kane said. "It's pretty spectacular, but I don't think we're too surprised by it.

"There's a lot of pucks that go toward the net that not a whole lot of goalies would be able to stop, but ... he's able to do that."

Flyers coach Peter Laviolette liked his team's attack.

"I'm really proud that the guys kept coming and pumping," he said. "It was one of those gutsy efforts that you look back on and (it) might have been one of our best, toughest, wins of the year. You know, we keep fighting and keep pushing to get the two points."

Notes: Jets forward Antti Miettinen played his 500th game. He was claimed off waivers by Winnipeg, his third NHL club, in December ... Jets forward Blake Wheeler assisted on Ladd's first to extend his points streak to four games (one goal, eight assists) ... Tuesday marked the third of an eight-game homestand for the Jets, who host Tampa Bay on Thursday. The Flyers travel to Edmonton on Thursday for the second of their four-game road trip.

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