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  Monday, Dec. 27 7:00pm ET
Flyers figure out how to beat Brathwaite
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) -- In a span of less than five minutes Monday night, the Philadelphia Flyers made Calgary goalie Fred Brathwaite look ordinary.

John LeClair scored his 20th and 21st goals of the season and added an assist as Philadelphia scored four times in the third period goals in a 5-1 win over the Flames.

The third-period outburst, including LeClair's 20th and 21st of the season, came in a 4:46 span against Brathwaite, who entered the game as the NHL-leader in both goals-against average (1.91) and save percentage (.932).

"We knew that they were rolling along with the hottest goaltender in the league and were a team we had to be really prepared for," LeClair said. "They have some smaller, crafty, quick forwards so we wanted to come out and take the body on them and slow them down a little bit, that was one advantage we thought we had on them."

Eric Desjardins broke a 1-1 tie at 5:39 of the third when he intercepted an errant clearing attempt by Andrei Nazarov and beat Brathwaite with a low slapshot.

LeClair made it 3-1 just 66 seconds later, Sandy McCarthy scored at 8:48 and LeClair added his second of the game at 10:53.

"We definitely have to be mad at ourselves, we just weren't ready to play," said Flames defenseman Denis Gauthier.

Mark Recchi, with the 350th goal of his career, also scored for Philadelphia, which halted a three-game winless skid.

Marc Savard scored the lone goal for Calgary (15-17-5-1), which had its seven-game home unbeaten streak end.

The Flyers outshot the Flames 31-13.

"For our first game after a break like we had, I thought we hung in there through a first period that was pretty shaky," Flyers captain Eric Lindros said. "We knew it was just a matter of time before we'd have a little bit of luck around the net."

The Flyers scored more goals against Brathwaite in the third period than the goalie had yielded in his previous five games.

After chanting "Freddie, Freddie" in the first period as they have nearly every home game in the previous six weeks, the sellout crowd of 17,145 jeered Brathwaite in the third after he had surrendered the four goals.

"They (fans) obviously weren't happy with what was going on and I can't blame them, neither was I," Flames coach Brian Sutter said.

"Sure some pucks maybe went in that shouldn't have, but Freddie gave us an opportunity to be there in the third period and we just fell apart."

Philadelphia tied the game 1-1 just 12 seconds into the second period when Recchi worked himself open in the low slot and one-timed LeClair's centering pass past Brathwaite on the glove side.

After a fight between Rene Corbet and Luke Richardson in the game's second minute set the tone of a spirited first period, Calgary opened the scoring at 2:27 on its first shot.

Flames defenseman Derek Morris lost control of the puck at the end of a nifty four-way passing play, but Savard collected the loose puck and from a bad angle at the side of the net fired a high shot over a fallen John Vanbiesbrouck.
 


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RECAPS
Philadelphia 5
Calgary 1

Montreal 4
Ottawa 4

Chicago 2
Washington 2

Detroit 3
Atlanta 2

New Jersey 4
Buffalo 1

NY Islanders 3
Boston 0

Florida 6
Tampa Bay 1

Edmonton 4
Anaheim 1

San Jose 3
Dallas 1

Colorado 5
St. Louis 1

AUDIO/VIDEO
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 Mark Recchi scores the quick goal for Philly.
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