Flyers Hold on Against Thrashers

Well, it's progress. The Flyers finally showed a little energy, and it narrowly carried them to a victory over a mediocre Atlanta Thrashers team, 3-2.

It started off looking like another grim night for the Flyers, as the Thrashers scored 58 seconds into the game on a flukey play. The Flyers were resilient, though, and fought back with three unanswered goals, one in each period. The highlight goal of the game was a nice give and go where Danny Briere set up Vinny Prospal in the third period. The whole play was created by a great defensive play by rookie Ryan Parent.

But the Flyers still almost gave the game away. The Thrashers pulled their goalie and Ilya Kovalchuk scored his 50th goal of the season with 30 seconds left. Kovalchuk then nearly had the game tying goal in the final seconds but Antero Niitymaki robbed him with a great save.

It wasn't a pretty win, but the Flyers will take it. At this point in the season, you take a win any way you can get it. The Flyers needed this game, which basically was a must-win. With the remaining 8 games all against tough division opponents, the Flyers had to come away with 2 points against a weak Thrashers team. If they had lost, they would have allowed the Capitals to tie them for the 8th spot in the East, but the win gives them a little breathing room.

Let's hope this win, even though it wasn't pretty, can give the Flyers some momentum and confidence heading into these crucial divisional games.

Highlights of this exciting game are here.