Carter's hit sparks Flyers' rally past Devils

IT ISN'T often that a New Jersey goal sparks a momentum change for the Philadelphia Flyers. But that's what happened last night.

After dancing around a Mike Richards hit, Anssi Salmela skated toward the middle of the ice with Kimmo Timonen trying to bounce him off the puck. Salmela warded off Timonen, transferred the puck to his forehand and snapped a shot over Michael Leighton's shoulders.

Just 61 seconds into the second period, Salmela had given the Devils a crushing, two-goal lead.

But Salmela, acquired by the Devils last week from Atlanta in the Ilya Kovalchuk trade, didn't stay conscious long enough to see his shot hit the twine.

Salmela was blindsided by Jeff Carter with a vicious shoulder check. On his way down, Salmela spun around and his face bounced off the ice, leaving him unconscious and motionless with a pool of blood on the ice.

The eerie quiet that filled the Wachovia Center as Salmela was wheeled off the ice on a stretcher soon overtook the Devils. Sparked by a James van Riemsdyk wrist shot, the Flyers rallied and scored three unanswered goals to upend the Atlantic Division-leading Devils, 3-2, in thrilling fashion.

"Whenever something like that happens . . . it kind of takes the energy out of everyone," Mike Richards explained. "It's concerning for the player. You never want to see a guy get injured."

The Devils, who didn't retaliate for Carter's hit, were more concerned with Salmela than answering for the Flyers' three goals in the final 21:36.

"We are not the most confident team right now," Devils goalie Martin Brodeur said. "When you have a setback in the game [the Salmela injury], sometimes it's harder to recover than when you're doing well."

With the win, the Flyers avoided a three-game losing streak and improved to 3-1 on the season against New Jersey. They also climbed into a tie for 7th place in the Eastern Conference with 61 points.

The Flyers again face the Devils - who lost last night for the 10th time in 14 games - tomorrow night in Newark, N.J., on the back end of a home-and-home series.

Salmela's agent said after the game that Salmela broke his nose and lost a few teeth but was walking and talking in New Jersey's locker room during the second intermission. He was not taken to the hospital.

"It was a clean hit," Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger said. "He happened to get hit as he was releasing the puck with his head down. It's not anything new. It happens. He just hit him in the right spot, he just landed on his face. [Carter] was just finishing his check."

Zach Parise scored for the Devils exactly 7 minutes into the game on the power play, when his pass banked off Pronger's skate and behind Leighton. Aside from Salmela's shot, Leighton was nearly flawless against 28 other shots.

But van Riemsdyk's wrister through traffic - a totally individual effort - helped turn the tide for the Flyers. Van Riemsdyk caught a pass from Claude Giroux in the neutral zone and blasted a shot through Andy Greene's skates and Brodeur's pads with 1:36 left in the second period.

It was the Flyers' first goal in 82:31 of play and just their second in 144:47, spanning back to Richards' third-period goal in Calgary last Monday.

Just 1:12 after van Riemsdyk's goal cut the deficit in half, Carter knotted the game with a one-timer from Scott Hartnell on a two-on-one rush. Carter's shot was too fast, even for an anticipating Brodeur.

"We started shooting the puck more, we started going to the net more," Richards explained. "As a team, we knew we just needed to get more pucks to the net with second opportunities. We did that. [Brodeur] kept making some big saves but we kept going.

"It's not easy scoring goals. It seems the last couple games have been even tougher."

Richards put in the game-winner with 7:58 remaining in the game after several on net were blocked in succession. Timonen picked up a rebound, skated behind the net and found Richards all alone for the tap-in.

"Timonen made a good play, as he always does," Richards said. "He settled it down and was patient and made a good pass to me."

Timonen almost became the goat when he went to the box for the Flyers' ninth penalty with just 1:52 remaining. But they survived a late flurry of chances, including two shots that whizzed wide off Kovalchuk's stick to keep him goal-less as a Devil.

"We knew this was a big game," Leighton said. "We knew we had to just get one [goal] to start it off. Once we got that, it was like a weight off our shoulders. We've been struggling to score a goal, so anytime you face a guy like [Brodeur] you're a little bit scared. Our goal was to get pucks to the net and drive the net and get in his face. We did that."

Chris Pronger picked up two assists, giving him 40 points on the season. He is just 22 points away from his career-high with 25 games to play . . . Dan Carcillo fought Bryce Salvador to a draw in the first period . . . Arron Asham posted a team-high five shots on goal . . . Pronger, Matt Carle and Lukas Krajicek each blocked three shots . . . The Flyers outhit New Jersey, 28-20 . . . Jeff Carter won eight of 10 faceoffs.

For more news and analysis, read Frank Seravalli's blog, Frequent Flyers, at http://go.philly.com/frequentflyers.