TAMPA, Fla. — Defenseman Kimmo Timonen scored in the seventh round of the shootout and the Flyers defeated the Lightning 4-3 on Tuesday night in a matchup of the top two teams in the Eastern Conference.
“Sometimes you have to put D-men out there to do something else,” Timonen said. “I’ve got one move and that’s my move. I wanted to come at full speed and wait for him to make the first move.”
Philadelphia, which won the shootout 2-1, got goals in regulation from James Van Riemsdyk, Scott Hartnell and Darroll Powe — on a short-handed penalty shot. The conference-leading Flyers are 18-6-3 on the road.
Dominic Moore, Vincent Lecavalier and Teddy Purcell scored for the Lightning, which took 3-of-4 in the season series with Philadelphia. Tampa Bay, which trails the Flyers by five points, is 5-3 during a 12-game homestand.
“The games, themselves, they were back and forth,” Lightning defenseman Randy Jones said. “A lot of chances on both ends.”
Three of the games were decided by one goal.
“We had some games that could have gone either way,” Flyers goalie Brian Boucher said. “For confidence purposes, it’s nice to get a win against them. Had we lost to them, would it have mattered? I don’t know, but it’s nice to get a win.”
Tampa Bay pulled even at 3 on goals by Lecavalier, with the man advantage, and Purcell just 53 seconds apart against Boucher midway through the second. Lecavalier has five goals in his last four games after scoring just one over a 16-game stretch.
“I think Vinny’s found a real good place to be at,” Lightning coach Guy Boucher said.
After Hartnell had a power-play goal at 7:33 of the second, Powe gave Philadelphia a 3-1 lead 1:15 later on a short-handed penalty shot that went over Dwayne Roloson’s right shoulder.
