ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- After squandering a lead with less than a second to go in the third period, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim needed just one chance in overtime to redeem themselves.
Rob Niedermayer redirected Steve Rucchin's pass 70 seconds into overtime to lift the Mighty Ducks to a 4-3 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers.
Losers of their first five games of the season after coming within one win of the Stanley Cup championship in 2002-03, the Mighty Ducks rode the goaltending of backup Martin Gerber to their first victory Tuesday. The elation carried over to this one, as Anaheim stormed out of the gates to take a 2-0 lead in the first 5:43.
Philadelphia knotted the contest before the first period ended, but Petr Sykora scored on a two-man advantage midway through the second to put the Ducks in front, 3-2.
With time winding down in the third, Tony Amonte threw the puck toward a crowded crease. With his back to the play, Anaheim defenseman Kurt Sauer had the puck carom off his skate and into the net with 0.6 seconds remaining, sending the game to overtime.
The Flyers kept the play in the Ducks zone for nearly the entire first minute of the extra session but could not get one past Jean-Sebastien Giguere. The Ducks finally gained control and headed up ice, and Rucchin outraced a Philadelphia defenseman to a loose puck headed toward the right corner.
Named team captain following the departure of Paul Kariya via free agency, Rucchin backhanded a pass to Niedermayer, who fought off the check of defenseman Eric Weinrich in front and guided the puck past Robert Esche for his third goal.
"That's the kind of excitement that the NHL wants in overtime," Niedermayer joked.
"Very deflating, especially after the barrage we had," Philadelphia center Jeremy Roenick said. "The kid (Giguere) made some unbelievable saves in the first minute and they came right down and scored on us. Not that it was anybody's fault, it was a good play by them."
Despite doing the work to set up the goal, Rucchin gave all the credit to Niedermayer.
"It was a big play by him," he said. "He's one of the guys we count on to turn things around."
Giguere made 32 saves en route to his first win in five decisions. Esche stopped 25 shots but remained winless in two starts.
Mark Recchi reached the 700-assist plateau by setting up two of Philadelphia's goals.
"It's disappointing when you battle so hard to come back and you think you deserve a better fate, but they scored a nice goal," Recchi said.
Just 1-2-2 in their last five visits to Anaheim, the Flyers looked to be on their way to another defeat early in this one. After Stanislav Chistov hit the goalpost 96 seconds into the game, Sergei Fedorov buried a pass from defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh from alone in the slot at 2:41 for his first goal as a Duck.
"I was pretty happy," Fedorov said. "I actually never thought it would be that exciting. It was a good play by Ozo, I just had a wide-open net."
Philadelphia defenseman Jim Vandermeer muffed a cross-ice pass inside his own blue line, sending former Flyer Vaclav Prospal in alone on Esche, who was beaten to the stick side at 5:43, giving Anaheim a 2-0 cushion.
But after being blanked by Los Angeles on Tuesday, the Flyers got on the board midway through the period.
Michal Handzus fanned on a shot from the right side but regained control of the puck and slid it to Eric Chouinard in front. Chouinard's initial shot hit Giguere's stick, which was lying in the crease. But the former first-round pick got to the loose puck and pushed it over the goal line for his first goal.
While on a 4-on-3 power play later in the period, Ozolinsh rang a shot off the post. Just under three minutes later, Jeremy Roenick deflected Amonte's wrist shot under Giguere's glove, evening the game at 2-2.
"It was a great hockey game," Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock said. "For us playing back-to-back and being on the road this time, I thought we really competed hard until the very end. I'm really proud of our team."
Todd Fedoruk and Roenick received penalties 45 seconds apart halfway into the second, giving the Ducks a 5-on-3 power-play. They took advantage, as Ozolinsh, Rucchin and Sykora completed a tic-tac-toe passing play with Sykora banging in the puck at the right post with 9:59 to go.
"We're starting to move the puck on the power play," Anaheim coach Mike Babcock said. "We're handling the puck much better and playing as a team."
