Upshall, Biron: Thank you and you're welcome

BOSTON - Martin Biron was still wide-eyed and happy, hours before his first start as a Flyer.

He had been moved out from under Buffalo starter Ryan Miller and looking forward to taking over as the new No. 1 for the Flyers, and he was excited about playing the Bruins at TD Bank-north Garden.

Still, he couldn't remember what his record was against the Bruins in Boston.

"I have no idea," Biron said. "I have to go back and look in the books. It's a team that I know pretty good. We played them a bunch of times in Buffalo over the last couple of years.

"And this is a building I've played in a bunch of times in my career, so it's a good fit. I think whenever you have a first game with a team, you don't really think about who you're playing or where, you're just excited about getting going."

There is a good chance that the next time Biron is asked about his record against the Bruins, he won't have trouble remembering.

After last night's 4-3, overtime win, Biron's all-time record against the Bruins rose to 10-11-2-1. It was exactly the start he was hoping for in his Flyers debut.

The Flyers fell behind early in the first period on defensive mistakes, stormed back in the second, and Biron was solid in the third, stopping several good chances to send the game into overtime.

That was when Scottie Upshall deked Bruins goalie Tim Thomas using Peter Forsberg's Olympic shootout move to win the game with 9.9 seconds left in OT.

Biron made 34 saves on 37 shots and the Flyers poured a season-high 55 shots on Thomas. Jeff Carter had 12 shots, the most in an NHL game since 1997.

"It felt pretty good," Biron said. "The start wasn't the way I wanted it to be, but I think when you start with a new team you kind of get the adrenaline going a little bit.

"I was kind of moving a little too much at first. As soon as we got the first goal, everything settled down and we played the game we wanted to play and everything worked out good.

"It was special to have that comeback and have three straight goals," Biron said. "Especially the way we played in the second; 21 shots, you don't see that too often. In overtime, it was, 'Let's go get it.' There was nothing to hold it back. That's why it was so special."

Joni Pitkanen scored in the first period, and R.J. Umberger and Mike Richards both scored during a second-period barrage on Thomas to help their new goal-tender recover from a poor start.

Mark Mowers, who scored the game's first two goals, beat Biron on an early breakaway. Biron redeemed himself, stopping Petr Tenkrat's shorthanded breakaway attempt in the third period and two other shorthanded tries by P.J. Axelsson and Phil Kessel.

Biron made one last save in the overtime, Sami Kapanen got the puck, gave it to Upshall and he took off.

"I knew there wasn't much time left," Upshall said. "I saw the turnover down in our zone. I've got to use my speed at times like that and I got a great pass from [Kapanen]. I knew a defenseman was on my back and I had to make a quick move. By the time I got to the goalie, I had one move left to bring it back the way I was coming in, and fortunately it went in.

"It was the highlight-reel goal on my career so far."

The Flyers started slowly and Biron handled his first shot as a Flyer, no problem, with a quick, low glove-side save. The second shot went over his shoulder and into the net.

The Flyers' Alexandre Picard turned the puck over at the Boston blue line to Dennis Wideman. Wideman found Mowers streaking through the middle toward the red line and slipped him the puck.

Mowers skated in alone and roofed it, giving Boston a 1-0 lead after 4 minutes, 10 seconds. Shortly after that, Mowers came in again and split the Flyers' defenseman, skating right between Denis Gauthier and Picard, making it 2-0.

Pitkanen got the Flyers into the game seconds after a power play had ended - before the Bruins could get all five defenders into their zone. Mike York gave him a cross-ice pass. Pitkanen caught it on his way to the net and took a wrist shot that beat Thomas and cut the Boston lead to 2-1.

The Flyers came out energized in the second, took 21 shots - a season high for a single period - and scored two goals.

They tied the game early in the second on the power play. Derian Hatcher took a shot at the goal line that Thomas stopped, but he left the rebound for Umberger.

Richards put the Flyers up 3-2 when he completed a give-and-go play and scored shorthanded. But Carter took a slashing call and the Bruins went up five-on-three and made the Flyers pay by tying the game at 3-3 when Zdeno Chara won a scrum out front and jammed the puck past Biron.

"It's little concerning that the [second] shot on Marty was a breakaway," coach John Stevens said. "He was probably wondering what he had gotten himself into there.

"But I thought our team did a really good job of settling things down and doing the job we needed to do." *