James van Riemsdyk late late goal flies Philadelphia Flyers to 5-4 victory over Chicago Blackhawks - NHL Recap
The Philadelphia Flyers won out a tough encounter against the Chicago Blackhawks 5-4 at the Wells Fargo Centre in Philadelphia with the winning goal coming just 32 seconds from the end of the regular time.
The game was a back and forth affair with goals galore as both teams entertained a packed crowd. The Flyers got the winner right at the death with James van Riemsdyk scoring a brilliant goal. The win keeps takes the Flyers to a 23-11-4 record and second
in the Atlantic Division. The Chicago Bears fought well but lost out in the end taking them to a 22-11-4 record but still top of the Central Division.
James van Riemsdyk who was stepping in for Jaromir Jagr had one of his best games with his second and most crucial goal and Coach Peter Laviolette heaped praise on the left winger.
"JVR was good," Coach Peter Laviolette said. "It was his best game. I think the fact that he was skating to be physical, he was banging bodies. I think this is a game he can use to get excited about, go into the next game and build off it."
The Blackhawks goal tender Ray Emery saved 41 shots on his goal while his Flyers counterpart Ilya Bryzgalov also had a torrid night in goal making 30 saves.
"Razor did his job stopping the first chances," Blackhawk Jonathan Toews said about Emery. "We just have to do better with the second chances."
Chicago Blackhawks took the lead in the first period at 3:01. Jimmy Hayes took advantage of Zac Rinaldo’s botched clearance slapping a shot past Bryzgalov to give the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead. The Flyers were slow to respond but its better late than never and
the Flyers go their equaliser in the final minute of the first period with Jakub Voracek doing the honours.
It did not take long for the Blackhawks to regain their one goal lead. At 7:37 in the second period Andrew Shaw took a pass from Jonathan Toews to bring the score to 2-1 but the Flyers this time responded immediately. At 7:54 Scott Hartnell brought the Flyers
level with a well taken shot that beat Blackhawks goal tender Emery.
The Flyers by then were improving with time and peppered Emery’s goal, breaking through at 11:51 in the second period through Harry Zolnierczyk and a few seconds later were up by two goals with James van Riemsdyk scoring his first of the game.
With the score at 4-2 it looked as if the Flyers will keep the Blackhawks out to take the win but it did not turn out that way. The Blackhawks launched a late comeback bringing the score to 4-3 at 14:15 with Brent Seabrook getting on the score sheet. 25
seconds later Patrick Kane got the equaliser to bring the score to 4-4.
The Flyers however, were not ready to play overtime and James van Riemsdyk stepped up to complete a brilliant move right at the death of regular time with a power play goal to give the Flyers a wonderful victory.
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