Pyorala propels wounded Flyers

Winger Mika Pyorala scored the decisive goal in a shoot-out as the Flyers outlasted the St. Louis Blues, 2-1, in a physical game in front of a sellout crowd at the Wachovia Center.

Playing in his first NHL season, Pyorala, 28, has yet to score an official goal.

That didn't make last night's score any less gratifying.

"I can count on one hand how many times," Pyorala said when asked about his shoot-out experience in Europe. "But I can't tell you how relieved I am. It wasn't a monkey on my back anymore, it was a gorilla. It started bothering me a little bit and I was thinking about it, but it's great to get that out of the way."

It was the Flyers' fourth consecutive win, their longest winning streak since December.

But there was a downside. Defenseman Ole-Kristian Tollefsen and left winger James van Riemsdyk, who has been one of the league's top rookies, left the game with injuries.

Tollefsen suffered a mild concussion and will be sidelined indefinitely. Van Riemsdyk's left pinkie was cut, and probably broken, when it was hit by a shot taken by Jeff Carter, general manager Paul Holmgren said.

Van Riemsdyk had the finger stitched. His status was day to day.

In the shoot-out, Claude Giroux and St. Louis' Brad Boyes matched goals and the Blues could have won, but Ray Emery made a save on T.J. Oshie, forcing another round of shots.

Enter Pyorala, who fired a shot over Chris Mason's glove. When Emery stopped David Backes, he made Pyorala's goal the winner.

Although Pyorala doesn't have an official goal in 14 games, he came close several times in Friday's impressive 5-2 win in Buffalo.

"Our guys were kidding him last night; he could have had a hat trick because he had so many good chances," coach John Stevens said. "But we've been doing some breakaway challenges, and he's been pretty good in practice."

With the Flyers shorthanded because of injuries to Simon Gagne, Danny Briere, and van Riemsdyk, Stevens had a short bench and opted for Pyorala.

"And to his credit, he came through," the coach said.

With the game tied at 1-1 and 2 minutes, 42 seconds remaining in overtime, Mason made a brilliant right-pad save to thwart Scott Hartnell on a breakaway. It was the best of his 35 saves.

Emery made 30 saves and lowered his goals-against average to 2.27.

"It was tight checking on both sides," Stevens said. "It's great to see us come back with very little rest and grind it out and win a very physical game."

The Flyers are 9-4-1. They were 5-6-3 at a similar point last season.

After more than 32 scoreless minutes, the Flyers took a 1-0 lead on a power-play goal by Hartnell.

Giroux skated over the blue line and, from just outside the top of the right circle, threaded a perfect pass that Hartnell redirected into the net from the left of the crease. It was Hartnell's fourth goal in the last five games.

The Blues, who have just two goals combined in their last four games, had problems solving Emery until they scored a bizarre goal with 14:17 left in the third period, tying the score at 1-1.

Oshie scored from the left circle about 10 seconds after avoiding a check from Tollefsen near the right backboards. Tollefsen appeared to hit his shoulder on the boards, and fell hard. He was motionless on the ice, but play continued because the Blues had possession.

The Blues worked the puck to Oshie, who hustled across the ice and scored on a spin-around shot.

Breakaways. Briere, who has a strain below his right quadriceps, and defenseman Ryan Parent (groin) remained sidelined. Holmgren said that there was an outside chance Parent could play Thursday, and that Saturday was the target date for Briere, a forward. If Parent can't play Thursday against Ottawa, the Flyers will recall either Oskars Bartulis, Kevin Marshall, or Joey Mormina from the Phantoms, Holmgren said. . . . The Flyers are 5-1 in games played on consecutive nights. They were 23-10-5 in games played on back-to-back nights last season. . . . Entering last night, Defenseman Matt Carle was plus-14, which was tied for the NHL's top rating.

Contact staff writer Sam Carchidi at 215-854-5181 or scarchidi@phillynews.com.