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ATLANTA (AP) -- It was a pass Mark Recchi could make blindfolded, but it dazzled Simon Gagne nonetheless.
"Right on the blade of the stick, right in front of the net," Gagne said after his breakaway, game-clinching goal gave the Philadelphia Flyers a 5-3 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers on Tuesday night.
|  | | Philadelphia's Keith Primeau, center, drew a crowd after putting the Flyers up 2-0. |
"I appreciate that. He's a great player."
Recchi's NHL-leading 60th assist, fired between the goal line and the bottom of the right circle, allowed Gagne to edge past Yannick Tremblay and punch the puck under the right leg of goalie Damian Rhodes.
The goal was No. 20 for Gagne, a rookie who was nine years old when Recchi broke into the NHL in 1989. Recchi was more concerned that the proud Flyers finally beat the expansion Thrashers after going 0-1-1 in the first two meetings.
"It was a good win for us," Recchi said. "It's got to be. It's about time we beat them."
Craig Berube, Valeri Zelepukin and Andy Delmore each had a goal and an assist to move the Flyers into a tie with Washington for second place in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
The Flyers, who trail Atlantic Division-rival New Jersey by two points, have three games remaining, including a Thursday matchup with the Thrashers. New Jersey and Washington, a 4-0 loser at Ottawa on Tuesday, each have two games to play.
Flyers rookie Brian Boucher improved to 18-10-3 by making 22 saves. Boucher, who faced only 16 shots in a 1-0 loss at Carolina on Sunday, made his third straight start. He entered with an NHL-best 1.78 goals against average on the road.
Rhodes, who made his 11th straight start, stopped 26 shots. Rhodes, who dropped to 5-17-3, has faced 30 or more shots for six straight games.
"It's too bad he missed four months, and we're trying to get him back to the level of play we expect him to be," Atlanta coach Curt Fraser said. "He's going to have to get in these games and find a way to get it done."
The Thrashers, whose 39 points are an NHL low, fell to 1-16-2 at Philips Arena since beating the Flyers 1-0 on Jan. 14. But Atlanta, owner of the league's third-worst power play unit, scored its first two goals with a man advantage.
Keith Primeau put the Flyers up 2-0, by extending his scoring streak to four games at 11:26 of the first. Four minutes later, Atlanta rookie Sergei Vyshedkevich scored his first career goal on a slap shot from the center of the right circle.
Andreas Karlsson, who scored Atlanta's second power-play goal, was in front of the crease 9:15 into the second when he redirected Frantisek Kaberle's slap shot just outside the top of the right circle.
Karlsson's fourth goal cut Philadelphia's lead to 3-2.
"I think they were really firing them from the point," Flyers coach Craig Ramsay said. "We didn't do as good of a job of covering their 'D' as we normally do. That's where they started to haunt us."
Berube made it 3-1 by firing to the stick side of Rhodes 7:42 into the second. With 13:43 remaining, Delmore put Philadelphia up 4-2 with a rebound shot from the right side of the slot.
Philadelphia, which improved to 26-1-4 when leading after one period, went up 1-0, just 1:50 in, when Valeri Zelepukin fought off Petr Buzek and Steve Guolla to take Keith Jones' feed from the left boards.
Dean Sylvester's 16th goal, a rebound shot with 11:27 to go, cut the Atlanta deficit to 4-3.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Philadelphia Clubhouse
Atlanta Clubhouse
GM wants Lindros to apologize to Flyers' medical staff
RECAPS
Ottawa 4
Washington 0
Philadelphia 5
Atlanta 3
Tampa Bay 5
Boston 4
AUDIO/VIDEO
 The Flyers celebrate after Simon Gagne scores off of a Mark Recchi assist.
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