Suddenly, the Flyers can see first place again

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It was the kind of hockey game that figures to carry over this week as the Flyers play three more times in their march to capture the No. 1 overall seed in the Eastern Conference.

Or at the very least, snare the fourth seed back from the Penguins. Pittsburgh overtook the Flyers on Feb. 21 and have held onto the fourth seed every day since then except one day (Feb. 25).

That was the most exciting game this year, Claude Giroux gushed after Sundays 3-2 overtime win against Pittsburgh that drew the Flyers back to within two points of the Pens.

Obviously, the first and second period, we didn't play the way we could have, but guys got ticked off and wanted to win. The third period we kind of played our game. It's not easy to play like that. You need all 20 guys going, but I think that was the case.

The Flyers captured three of four points from Boston and Pittsburgh to give themselves a genuine chance to overtake the Rangers, who had a 12-point lead on them back on March 1. Now that deficit is just three.

The weekend we played the Bruins, the Stanley Cup champs, and they had an attitude yesterday because they lost a few games and our guys battled back hard, coach Peter Laviolette said.

Penguins are on a roll here and everyone is talking about their team so they come in here, and I cant say enough about our guys and the effort that they finished with.

And they didnt cave. That is a great sign from our team when they dont cave. And that has happened a lot this year.

The Flyers have done very well (3-1) against Pittsburgh this season. That may or may not mean anything if these two clubs meet in the playoffs, but it is encouraging.

Ive answered this playoff question before and if you are sure that we are going to face Pittsburgh than I better go start preparing now, Laviolette said.

Otherwise, Im going to get ready for Florida on Tuesday. I dont know where everything is going. I know this was a big game because they are on a roll. You win eleven games in a row your doing something right.

They are healthy and they play a good brand of hockey. And it is a big game for us. All of our guys stepped up today and finished the game the way we needed to. It showed a lot of character and well take the points.

Kimmo Timonen was asked whether the Flyers sent the Penguins a message this weekend.

Im not taking anything away from them, theyve got a great team, a great lineup, a great goalie and whatever, Timonen said.

Obviously they dont win 11 or 12 games for nothing. Theyre a really good team. But for us, weve played really good hockey for the last couple of weeks and it starts with Ilya Bryzgalov, how hes been playing. Its a good win.

E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net.

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