Nov 20, 2005 2 min read

PITTSBURGH (AP) – Jeff Carter and Michael Handzus scored in the first 21/2 minutes of the third period and the Philadelphia Flyers made a late lead hold up this time, beating Pittsburgh 6-3 on Saturday night in a feisty rematch of the Penguins’ overtime victory four nights before. Simon Gagne got his NHL-leading 19th and 20th goals of the season as Philadelphia improved to a league-best 10-1-1 on the road after dropping its previous three games, including successive home overtime losses to the Penguins on Wednesday and Atlanta on Friday.

Gagne also assisted on Mike Knuble’s empty-net goal with 18 seconds remaining.

After the Penguins rallied three times from one-goal deficits, Carter put in his own rebound early in the third period after goalie Jocelyn Thibault stopped his initial shot, only to lose sight of a puck that sat on the ice along the goal line. Carter swatted it in for his seventh goal.

Handzus followed 41 seconds later with his fifth goal, picking up a loose puck and skating in to beat Thibault with a wrist shot. The Flyers and goalie Antero Niittymaki made the lead hold up, a night after Philadelphia squandered the same 5-3 lead late in the third by allowing Atlanta to score twice in the final 1:50 of what became a 6-5 overtime loss with Robert Esche in net.

The Flyers, playing their third game in four nights, led 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 only to have the Penguins answer each time.

Gagne’s second goal deflected off former teammate Mark Recchi’s stick on a 3-on-1 short-handed breakaway at 16:24 of the second. The Penguins got a tying power play goal 9 seconds later on rookie Erik Christensen’s shot from the top of the right circle off a Ziggy Palffy pass that deflected off defenseman Joni Pitkanen’s stick, but Pittsburgh mounted little offense after that against Niittymaki.