Carter, Gagne power Flyers past Devils

Sep 22, 2006 - 1:49 AM
PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- The Philadelphia Flyers' power play
was in the middle of the pack last season. They obviously are
taking steps toward improving in 2006-07.

Jeff Carter and Simon Gagne scored power-play goals and Antero
Niittymaki made 20 saves as the Flyers posted a 2-1 preseason
victory over the New Jersey Devils.

Ranked 16th in the NHL with an 18 percent success rate with the
man advantage last season, the Flyers scored twice on five
attempts over the first two periods to grab a 2-0 lead against
their Atlantic Division rivals.

Carter, who netted 23 goals as a rookie last campaign, opened
the scoring at 4:05 of the first period, beating two-time Vezina
Trophy winner Martin Brodeur off a feed from fellow 2003
first-round pick Mike Richards.

The lead doubled with 3:50 to go in the middle session, when
Carter set up Gagne for a power-play tally. Gagne, who scored a
career-high 47 goals in 2005-06, signed a five-year, $26.25
million contract earlier this month.

Niittymaki stopped 11 shots in the first period and nine in the
second before handing the goaltending duties to Martin Houle,
who yielded David Clarkson's goal with 3:01 remaining in the
third.

Defensemen Lars Jonsson and Joni Pitkanen each recorded an
assist for Philadelphia, which played without new captain Peter
Forsberg and netminder Robert Esche.

Brodeur made 15 saves and Frank Doyle stopped 19 shots for the
Devils, who rested Patrik Elias and Sergei Brylin.