Ryan Whitney

Shane Endicott's shorthanded goal with 3 minutes, 37 seconds remaining gave the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins a 3-2 win over the Phantoms last night in an AHL game at the Wachovia Spectrum. The Phantoms had rallied to tie the score after beginning the third period with a 2-0 deficit. Freddy Meyer and Ben Stafford scored 2:18 apart early in the period to spur the Phantoms' comeback. Penguins center Erik Christensen was sent off for tripping at 14:47, and the Phantoms pressured the Penguins, but Colby Armstrong and Ryan Whitney were able to clear the zone and find Endicott.

The Flyers are not the only team in the Atlantic Division to undergo changes in the offseason. New York Rangers: Added centers Chris Drury (Buffalo) and Scott Gomez (New Jersey) to an offense that already had Jaromir Jagr and Brendan Shanahan. Lost Michael Nylander to Washington and traded Matt Cullen to Carolina. Pittsburgh: The Penguins did not have many moves to make since they are loaded, with league MVP Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal on offense, Ryan Whitney and Sergei Gonchar on defense and Marc-Andre Fleury in net. The biggest moves were signing Crosby to a 5-year, $43 million extension and the additions of Petr Sykora and Darryl Sydor.

The Phantoms' season came to an end last night as the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins captured the AHL's East Division finals with a 3-1 victory in Game 6. Tomas Surovy had a goal and an assist and Andy Chiodo stopped 20 of 21 shots as the Penguins won the series, four games to two. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton will face the Hartford Wolf Pack in the Eastern Conference finals. Mark Murphy scored the lone goal and Antero Niittymaki registered 19 saves for the Phantoms, who had won the East Division regular-season title.

- Tomas Surovy had a goal and an assist to lead the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins past the Phantoms, 3-1, last night, eliminating the Phantoms from the AHL playoffs. The Penguins won the East Division final series in six games and open the Eastern Conference finals against the Hartford Wolf Pack on Tuesday. The Penguins jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a pair of second-period goals. Surovy redirected Ryan Whitney's pass over the shoulder of goalie Antero Niittymaki at 3:34. Patrick Boileau took a pass from Surovy and scored on a slap shot from the top of the left faceoff circle in a four-on-four situation at 11:33.

Andy Chiodo stopped all 18 shots he faced last night as the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins took a two-games-to-one lead in the AHL's East Division Finals with a 3-0 victory over the Phantoms. Chiodo, who was taken out of Game 1 after surrendering four goals in 21 minutes, made eight saves in the second period and five in the first and third last night for his second postseason shutout. Antero Niittymaki stopped 24 of 27 shots for the Phantoms, who will return to Wilkes-Barre tomorrow night for Game 4 of the best-of-seven series.

The Pittsburgh Penguins might not miss Marian Hossa after all. Jordan Staal had a hat trick in the third period and set up Ruslan Fedotenko's winning goal with 1:11 in overtime, lifting the visiting Penguins to a 7-6 comeback win over the Detroit Red Wings last night. "We have a lot of talent on this team and we have good heart," Staal said. Hossa chose to sign a 1-year deal worth about $7.5 million with the Stanley Cup champions and turned down nearly $50 million over seven seasons to stay with the runner-up Penguins, saying he had a better chance to win a title in Detroit.

In a matter of minutes, the New Jersey Devils went from leaving with no points to earning two. Brian Gionta scored the game-winner with 2:36 to play in overtime after Patrik Elias had tied the game with 20 seconds left in regulation to beat the Penguins, 3-2, yesterday in Pittsburgh. "I'm sure a lot of people were counting us out with 2 minutes left," defenseman Colin White said. "We had been in this situation before and always seem to come up a little bit short. The timing could not have been better to get two points.

NEARLY 20,000 people were shoehorned into the Wachovia Center for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals last night, but not all of them were Flyers fans. Sure, most were, but there were a few conspicuous exceptions. Including a pair with strong ties to a couple of the Penguins. Parental bonds, actually. The fathers of center Sidney Crosby and defenseman Ryan Whitney attended the game. And while Troy Crosby often follows the Penguins on the road during the regular season, that isn't the case with Whitney's dad, who was attending his first game in Philadelphia.

Growing up in Philadelphia's Roxborough section, Eric Tangradi idolized Keith Primeau and tried to pattern his game after that of the former Flyers captain because, he said, "He's big with good hands and vision for the game. " On Sunday night, the Pittsburgh Penguins decided to take a sneak peek at the 6-foot-4, 221-pound left winger they regard as their top forward prospect. Tangradi received a late-night phone call Saturday after taking a bus back to Wilkes-Barre after the American Hockey League's Baby Penguins played at Binghamton.

Ryan Whitney scored two second-period goals to lead visiting Pittsburgh past the Washington Capitals, 4-3, last night, putting the Penguins in the playoffs for the first time since 2001. "It's a great accomplishment. We're proud of clinching the playoffs, but we want more," Pittsburgh coach Michel Therrien said. Whitney scored the second and fourth Penguins goals, but it was Sidney Crosby's second-period goal past a stickless Olaf Kolzig that was the most memorable. Crosby, the NHL's leading scorer with 113 points, took the puck behind the net and tipped it past the sprawling Kolzig to give Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead at 6:21 of the second period.

Growing up in Philadelphia's Roxborough section, Eric Tangradi idolized Keith Primeau and tried to pattern his game after that of the former Flyers captain because, he said, "He's big with good hands and vision for the game. " On Sunday night, the Pittsburgh Penguins decided to take a sneak peek at the 6-foot-4, 221-pound left winger they regard as their top forward prospect. Tangradi received a late-night phone call Saturday after taking a bus back to Wilkes-Barre after the American Hockey League's Baby Penguins played at Binghamton.

When the New York Rangers lost at Boston 2 Sundays ago, their playoff hopes were all but lost. The deficit was big, the games were few, and a road trip loomed. But the bumbling Rangers got hot. They routed the New York Islanders at home and raced to a 4-0-1 start on the six-game trip that made believers again that a fifth straight trip to the playoffs was possible. A loss at Buffalo on Tuesday night dashed the spirits again. New York, however, shook that off 1 day later and began its final three-game push with a 5-1 victory over the lowly Toronto Maple Leafs last night.

VANCOUVER - Team USA scored six goals in the first 13 minutes against Finland yesterday and they did it by overcoming a severe handicap. There are six guys named Ryan on this team, and another with the last name of Ryan and another guy named Brian. They forecheck in waves of Ryan, their best defense pairing are Ryan and Brian. The goalie is a Ryan. You can see the potential for communication getting a little hairy out there. "You have to make up nicknames," Ryan Malone was saying after Team USA advanced to the gold-medal game by mugging the Finns, 6-1. "Otherwise when they say Ryan, everyone looks.

CALGARY, Alberta - Matt Carle made plans to take a vacation for the Olympic break. He said yesterday, though, that he would be willing to put them aside for a shot to play for the United States in Vancouver in 2 weeks. "That call to play in the Olympics would trump any plans that I had for the break," Carle, an Anchorage, Alaska, native, said before the Flyers' matchup last night with the Flames at the Pengrowth Saddledome. When Brian Burke announced the U.S. Olympic hockey roster on Jan. 1 at Fenway Park, many thought Carle could be in the running to replace injured Devils defenseman Paul Martin.

This was Tim Thomas' turn to take control of the Eastern Conference semifinals. After watching Carolina goalie Cam Ward dominate three consecutive games and push Boston to the brink of elimination, Thomas stopped 19 shots for his first NHL playoff shutout and helped the Bruins keep their season going with a 4-0 victory over the visiting Hurricanes in Game 5 last night. "Timmy deserved the kind of night he had tonight," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "He's been peppered with a lot of shots in the games before that.

The Pittsburgh Penguins might not miss Marian Hossa after all. Jordan Staal had a hat trick in the third period and set up Ruslan Fedotenko's winning goal with 1:11 in overtime, lifting the visiting Penguins to a 7-6 comeback win over the Detroit Red Wings last night. "We have a lot of talent on this team and we have good heart," Staal said. Hossa chose to sign a 1-year deal worth about $7.5 million with the Stanley Cup champions and turned down nearly $50 million over seven seasons to stay with the runner-up Penguins, saying he had a better chance to win a title in Detroit.

The walk from the Penguins' dressing room to the postgame podium was a long one for Sidney Crosby. The floor was wet with water drained from the Zamboni and Crosby was wearing rubber sandals. But the unsure footing was the least of his problems. First, Penguins owner Mario Lemieux offered his congratulations. Then another Pens executive held out his hand. There were a few fringe fans and other well-wishers. As he got within range of the interview room, Crosby was stopped by coach Michel Therrien, who had just finished talking to reporters.

NEARLY 20,000 people were shoehorned into the Wachovia Center for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals last night, but not all of them were Flyers fans. Sure, most were, but there were a few conspicuous exceptions. Including a pair with strong ties to a couple of the Penguins. Parental bonds, actually. The fathers of center Sidney Crosby and defenseman Ryan Whitney attended the game. And while Troy Crosby often follows the Penguins on the road during the regular season, that isn't the case with Whitney's dad, who was attending his first game in Philadelphia.

It's too early in the Eastern Conference finals to jump to conclusions, but it's probably safe to suggest that deep inside their big hearts, the Flyers are pining for Carey Price. Price, as Flyers fans remember fondly, is the 20-year-old Montreal goalie undone by the Flyers' crash-the-net tactics in the semifinals. When Price was pulled after the second period of Game 3, the Flyers knew they were deep inside his head, and it was just a matter of time until they wrapped up the series.

In the first two rounds of the playoffs, the Flyers spun the pistol chambers in their game of Russian roulette and came through unwounded. They kept Washington's Alex Ovechkin, the Hart Trophy favorite, from dominating and moved to the second round in seven games. Next up was Montreal's most potent scorer, Alexei Kovalev, who ended up best remembered for his controversial goal in the series opener. Was it or was it not a high stick? Kovalev must have spent the rest of the series digging for the answer because little was heard from him afterward.