Simon Gagne made a timely return to the lineup, scoring in overtime to give the Philadelphia Flyers a 5-4 win over the Boston Bruins Friday and stave off elimination from the NHL Eastern Conference semifinal series. The Flyers reduced the deficit in the best-of-seven series to 3-1, with Game 5 in Boston Monday. The Bruins can clinch their first conference finals since 1992 with a victory. Former Flyers star Mark Recchi scored twice for Boston, including the tying goal with 31.5 seconds left in regulation. Michael Ryder and Milan Lucic had the Bruins other goals. Chris Pronger, Danny Briere, Claude Giroux and Ville Leino all scored for Philadelphia. Gagne played for the first time since he broke a toe in Game 4 of Philadelphia's opening-round series against New Jersey. Expected to miss this series, he managed an early comeback and heard a rousing ovation when he was introduced in pregame introductions. Gagne got the crowd roaring 3½ hours later on his first goal of the postseason. The Flyers wasted a 3-1 lead and were deflated when Recchi scored the tying goal. Recchi burned his former team when he scored against Brian Boucher off a faceoff in Philadelphia's end. It was his sixth goal of the postseason. Blackhawks 7, Canucks 4: In Vancouver, Chicago captain Jonathan Toews scored three power-play goals and added two assists as the Blackhawks beat Vancouver and grabbed a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference semifinal series. Toews took over the NHL playoff scoring lead with 18 points as Chicago moved within one win of their second straight trip to the Western Conference finals. Germany beats US In Germany, Felix Schutz scored 21 seconds into sudden death overtime to give Germany a 2-1 win over the United States in front of a record ice hockey crowd of 77,803 fans in the opening game of the world championship Friday. Germany goalie Dennis Endras saved 31 of 32 shots to be named player of the game.
