PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Philadelphia Flyers winger Simon Gagne, playing with two screws in a broken toe, scored an overtime goal to give his team a 5-4 win over the Boston Bruins and stave off NHL playoffs elimination on Friday.
Gagne had missed four games to have surgery on his toe but managed to redirect Matt Carle's feed to give the Flyers the victory and reduce the deficit in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semi-finals series to 3-1.
Game Five is scheduled for Monday in Boston.
The Flyers had looked poised to win the game in regulation until Mark Recchi scored his second goal of the game for the Bruins with just 31 seconds left to force the extra period.
Philadelphia had built a 3-1 lead on goals by Daniel Briere, Chris Pronger and Claude Giroux midway through the second period, before Michael Ryder narrowed the lead to 3-2 heading into the final period and Milan Lucic then tied it at 3-3 in the third.
Ville Leino, however, gave the Flyers hope of clinching victory in regulation when he tipped a Pronger shot past Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask with just 5:40 left to play though Recchi was able to send the game into overtime five minutes later.
(Reporting by Mike Mouat in Windsor, Ontario; Editing by Greg Stutchbury)
