Gagne's early third-period goal helps Flyers earn draw

OTTAWA (AP) -- Jeremy Roenick and the Philadelphia Flyers fought their way back twice to claim a hard-earned point.


Simon Gagne scored early in the third period, and the Flyers salvaged a 2-2 tie Monday night with the surging Ottawa Senators in the second game of a home-and-home series.

Ottawa, which won 3-1 Saturday night in Philadelphia, is undefeated (3-0-1) in its last four games and 15-2-4 since a 7-1 loss Nov. 9 in Boston.

"They've been playing extremely well,'' Roenick said. "It was really important that we battled back and stayed on them.

"It was a great hockey game -- everything you want in a National Hockey League game. It was physical, it was hard-hitting, there was a lot of after-the-whistle stuff, and some great two-way plays. It was a fun game.''

The Flyers, 4-1-1 in their last six games, tied it on Gagne's sixth goal. Roenick, making his return from a two-game suspension, stole the puck from Daniel Alfredsson at center ice and fed a streaking Gagne, who fired a shot over Patrick Lalime's left shoulder at 5:16.

"He just tried to make one too many moves and I just cut him off,'' Roenick said. "That doesn't happen with Alfredsson too much, he pretty much gets by 90 percent of the guys he goes through, and I was just fortunate -- it was a lucky bounce.''

Philadelphia goalie Robert Esche stopped 26 of 28 shots. He made a key pad save on Peter Schaefer with less than 7 minutes remaining in regulation to preserve the tie.

"The team played well. They worked hard and that's something that I've always fueled off,'' Esche said. "Whenever you see guys working hard, you've got to bear down more.'' Todd White and Shaun Van Allen scored for Ottawa. Michal Handzus had the other Philadelphia goal.

Lalime made 28 saves -- including a good one on Gagne with seconds left in overtime -- after stopping 27 shots Saturday.

"It was a good one, that's for sure,'' Lalime said. "I've got my job to do, but we still played a good game. We played strong in the third and didn't give them much, and that was when the game was on the line.''

White scored a power-play goal at 4:10 on the first of four Ottawa man-advantage opportunities in the first period.

With Donald Brashear off on the first of his two roughing penalties in the period, White made a give-and-go pass from the right side to defenseman Zdeno Chara on the left point. White received the return pass as he drove to the net and beat Esche for a 1-0 lead.

Lalime made a diving save late in the first to rob Justin Williams, who had taken a pass from Keith Primeau on a 2-on-1. Lalime also stopped Marty Murray's short-handed breakaway eight minutes into the second before finally yielding Handzus' tying goal at 12:11 during a delayed penalty against Ottawa.

"He made some unbelievable saves that from the bench looked like sure goals,'' Alfredsson said.

Van Allen restored Ottawa's one-goal lead 2:28 later, during a Flyers power play when he jumped on Karel Rachunek's rebound and shot the puck into an open left side of the net.

Game notes
Philadelphia used its timeout with 3.8 seconds remaining in overtime. Ottawa won the faceoff in its zone to close out the game. ... Gagne's goal came just moments after Flyers defenseman Kim Johnsson's shot struck the left post where it meets the crossbar. A video review confirmed the puck didn't enter the net. ... The Senators are 15-2-3 this season when they score first. ... Ottawa has scored two short-handed goals this season. Philadelphia has allowed two.