Flyers pick up crucial win over Wings

A shutout loss to Montreal on Friday had put the Flyers on the brink of surrendering the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff seed, but on Sunday, Flyers left winger Dan Carcillo returned from a two-game suspension and scored at the best possible time - immediately.

Carcillo beat Detroit goaltender Chris Osgood with a wrist shot just 17 seconds into the game at the Wachovia Center, and winger Arron Asham's second-period score became the deciding goal in a 4-3 victory over the Red Wings.

"We all know how important this game was," said Carcillo, one of four goal scorers along with Asham, defenseman Kimmo Timonen and right winger Claude Giroux.

"It's good to know that we . . . [can] pick [it] up instead of staying the same," said Flyers right winger Ian Laperriere, who assisted on Carcillo's and Timonen's goals.

The Flyers (39-34-6) remained in eighth place in the NHL's Eastern Conference's playoff with 84 points, the came number as seventh-place Boston and two ahead of the New York Rangers, both of whom were idle Sunday.

The Bruins are ahead of Philadelphia because they have played one fewer game. The Flyers can clinch a playoff berth by winning two of their three remaining contests, including a win in regulation over New York.

The Flyers travel to last-place Toronto on Tuesday and then visit New York on Friday before hosting the Rangers in Sunday's season finale.

"We'll talk about the future when we get to the future," said Flyers goaltender Brian Boucher, who made 31 saves and settled down after allowing first-period goals to Red Wings forwards Dan Cleary and Darren Helm off rebounds. "But this is a big win for us today to keep this going in the right direction."

The Flyers caught a break by running into a rusty goaltender two days after being shut out by a red-hot one.

Canadiens goalie Jaroslav Halak made 35 saves in a 1-0 win over the Flyers on Friday, but on Sunday the Red Wings started Osgood, who had not started since Jan. 27 while backing up rookie-of-the-year candidate Jimmy Howard.

"The first period felt awful," said Osgood, who allowed Carcillo's early wrist shot to trickle through his glove and surrendered another early goal to Timonen. "They were playing desperate. They have to win."

Cleary and Helm helped the Red Wings erase the 2-0 Flyers lead. Giroux then slapped a shot from point-blank range past Osgood off a turnover 53 seconds into the second period for a 3-2 lead.

Asham finished a tic-tac-toe for the game winner with 2 minutes, 24 seconds remaining in the second period off assists from winger Ville Leino and Timonen.

After allowing Red Wings center Pavel Datsyuk's goal through a screen less than three minutes into the final period to cut it to 4-3, Boucher and the Flyers' defense held on.

Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said his team was out to replicate its aggressive offensive performance against Montreal, even though the Flyers could not solve Halak.

"Everybody left last game knowing that if we play that way, we're going to win hockey games," Laviolette said. "I don't think that was ever in question. . . . But then you actually have to go out and play that way, and the points have to come your way, and the win has to come your way. And it did today. So you get the reward for the effort, and last game, again, I just don't think we got the reward."