Former Flyer Potulny wins it for Oilers in closing seconds

EDMONTON - The Flyers called Monday night's win in Calgary one of their most complete efforts of the season.

They have repeated over and over again all season that they aren't going to win many games without a full 60-minute effort.

Last night, the Flyers traded blows with the NHL's worst team for 59 minutes, 43 seconds. Former Flyer Ryan Potulny's power-play tally with 16.1 seconds left broke a 0-0 tie, and the Flyers' backs, to give Edmonton a stunning, 1-0 win at soldout Rexall Place.

It was Edmonton's second straight win after a 13-game losing streak kept them winless for all of January.

The Flyers were just seconds away from salvaging a point and sending the game to overtime.

"It's tough, especially with the way it ended," captain Mike Richards said. "It was a missed assignment on my part in front of the net."

Darroll Powe was whistled for a high-sticking penalty with just 1:50 remaining after the Flyers blew a chance to score on their own power play with 5:24 left.

Potulny, who was shipped to Edmonton in the summer of 2008 for Danny Syvret, was wide open on the far post when he caught a cross-crease pass from Sam Gagner and put it behind Michael Leighton.

"It was a tough one to lose," Ian Laperriere said. "Penalties are a part of the game. It doesn't matter if it's a good call or a bad call. We should have found a way to kill that one."

Leighton played 59:43 of flawless hockey for the Flyers in his first start since Jan. 14. He picked up his second loss in as many starts, but the Flyers haven't given him a single goal of support in those outings - they were shutout in Toronto in his last one, 4-0. Leighton is now 8-2-1 in his 12 starts with the Flyers this year.

"He's been strong since the first day he came in here," Laperriere said.

The Flyers - who outshot Edmonton, 33-27 - had enough chances. After a slow start in the first period, when they didn't test Edmonton goalie Jeff Deslauriers, the Flyers turned it on for the final two frames.

Claude Giroux had a point-blank chance for the Flyers to win it on their power play in the last 5 minutes. His shot, tipped by Scott Hartnell in front of the net, rang off the post in front of Deslauriers.

In the second period, Richards - alone in the slot - fired a howitzer wide of the net by a good 5 feet after Hartnell did yeoman's digging work along the boards to set up the play.

Richards, who missed the net a total of six times, could do little more than stare at the storied building's ceiling in disbelief. It was that kind of night, the kind of night when the Flyers couldn't capitalize on any of the Oilers' 19 giveaways.

The Flyers, who were 0-for-4 on the power play, struggled to get shots on net with the man-advantage. And then Deslauriers was bailed out multiple times by a goaltender's best friend: the post. Aside from Giroux's shot in the final minutes, Lukas Krajicek and Kimmo Timonen also hit the red bar.

"We had the opportunities to bury it and we couldn't seem to find them," coach Peter Laviolette said. "We could have used more shots on the power plays. Other times, we hit posts.

"We needed to find some goals and we couldn't. We could have scored two or three goals there in the second period and busted it open. We didn't."

The Flyers turned in another strong effort defensively, limiting Edmonton's tepid offense to 27 shots and just a handful of scoring chances, but couldn't keep the zero on the scoreboard for another 16.1 seconds.

"Our defense still played well," Leighton explained. "They blocked a lot of shots in front of me. We definitely outplayed them - we were in their zone most of the time."

With just a few ticks left, the only time that it mattered, the puck was in the Flyers' zone - and in the net.

It wasn't all that surprising that Michael Leighton was named last night's starting goalie in place of Ray Emery.

Emery had started eight straight games since coming back from abdominal surgery on Jan. 17. Playing against the NHL's last-place team seemed like a logical start for Leighton, who had been on the bench since Jan. 14. Before that, Leighton went 8-1-1 in 11 straight starts (one no-decision).

"It was a good spot to put him in," coach Peter Laviolette said. " 'Leights' didn't really deserve to come out when he did. He played well enough to stay in there and keep playing."

The real surprise, though, came when Laviolette decided to dress Brian Boucher and have Emery watch from the stands for a game. Boucher has been a healthy scratch since Jan. 12.

Some feared that because Emery was scratched, he was suffering from another injury. A team source told the Daily News that Emery did indeed "tweak something" in Monday's shutout win in Calgary but that it was "nothing serious." The source said the move to start Leighton was "more precautionary than anything."

Emery was on the ice for more than 30 minutes yesterday during the morning skate.

Laviolette said Emery would probably start Saturday night in Minnesota.

Last night was Edmonton's 186th consecutive sellout, a streak dating back to Nov. 29, 2005 . . . As expected, Chris Pronger was booed every time he touched the puck . . . Ian Laperriere won his first period fight with Zack Stortini . . . Jeff Carter finished with a game-high seven shots on goal. Simon Gagne was right behind him with six . . . Kimmo Timonen blocked five shots . . . Arron Asham was the only Flyer who failed to register a shot on goal.