Flyers win on Upshall’s OT goal

BOSTON - It was surely an eventful debut for Martin Biron tonight, one that survived an early defensive disaster.

Refusing to become unglued by an early 2-0 deficit, the Flyers stormed back for a 4-3 overtime win over the Boston Bruins at TD Banknorth Garden.

Scottie Upshall's breakaway goal with 9.9 seconds remaining in overtime ended matters and snapped the Flyers' five-game losing streak.

Sami Kapanen's pass sent Upshall to the goal, and he backhanded the puck past Tim Thomas, who faced 55 Flyers shots.

Acquired before Tuesday's trade deadline from Buffalo for a second-round draft pick, Biron played well after a shaky start by the defense.

In the third period, with the score tied, 3-3, Biron kept the Flyers in the game when he stoned Petr Tenkrat on a backhanded shot while the Bruins were shorthanded. Tenkrat stole an errant pass from Alexandre Picard and skated in on goal.

Biron added a sensational save on another shorthanded opportunity later in the period by P.J. Axelsson. The goalie continued his mastery over the Bruins: He is 4-0 this season against Boston.

On yet another shorthanded opportunity, Biron stopped Phil Kessel on a breakaway.

Through the end of regulation, the Flyers had outshot the Bruins, 51-36.

Biron faced his first shot as a Flyer at 3 minutes, 16 seconds of the first period when he stopped a slapshot by defenseman Andrew Ference.

After that Biron received an up-close look at some serious Flyers defensive lapses.

The first came when Picard coughed up the puck to Boston's Dennis Wideman, who sent a pass to a wide-open Mark Mowers.

Mowers easily scored on the breakaway at 4:10 to open the scoring. Since the Flyers entered the game 4-31-5 when the opposition scored first, it wasn't exactly an early confidence builder to see the Bruins take the early lead.

Later in the first period, Mowers took a pass from Jeremy Reich and skated right through defensemen Denis Gauthier and Picard for another breakaway goal.

Adding insult was the fact that in the first period, Mowers doubled his goal total for the season. A right winger, Mowers had scored just twice in his first 60 games, but the Flyers' defense made him look like Wayne Gretzky.

Just as in Tuesday's 6-5 overtime loss to the New York Islanders, the post-trade-deadline Flyers did not pack it in when they faced an early deficit. Against the Islanders, the Flyers came back from three goals down to force the extra period.

Defenseman Joni Pitkanen cut Boston's lead to 2-1 after taking a pass from Mike York and firing a wrist shot past the stick side of Thomas at 10:39 of the first period.

There were no more goals in the first period, but there were plenty of chances.

The Bruins' Patrice Bergeron missed a wide-open net during a power play. Biron then stopped Ference's point-blank shot on the same power play.

With less than three minutes left in the first period, the Flyers came close to tying the score. Simon Gagne found Upshall near the goal only to see Thomas make a spectacular save.

The Flyers continued to take it to the Bruins in the second period and tied the score at 2-2 when R.J. Umberger notched a power-play goal, converting a backhanded pass from Derian Hatcher from close range.

It ended a recent string of power-play futility by the Flyers, who had been 0 for 16 with the man advantage.

Biron came up big when he made a glove save on a backhander by Reich while the Bruins were shorthanded.

Less than a minute after Thomas saved what looked like a sure goal by Stefan Ruzicka, making a save while lying on his back, the Flyers took their first lead of the game.

Kapanen and Mike Richards worked a give-and-go to perfection, with Richards scoring a shorthanded goal at 11:33.

Boston came right back to tie the score on a two-man-advantage power-play goal by defenseman Zdeno Chara at 12:36. The 6-foot-9, 260-pound Chara poked the puck in as a maze of bodies surrounded Biron.