PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Atlanta's Nelson Emerson was interested more in talking about his goalie than his own picture-perfect goal.

Emerson scored late in the third period as the Atlanta Thrashers rallied from a three-goal deficit for a 4-4 tie with the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night.

	Atlanta goalie Norm Maracle had trouble keeping his eye on the puck Thursday and was pulled in favor of rookie Scott Fankhouser.

Atlanta goalie Scott Fankhouser, making his first NHL appearance, came up big in overtime. He stopped five shots, including a breakaway by Eric Desjardins and a pair of close attempts by Eric Lindros. Fankhouser made 36 saves.

"We got great goaltending from Scottie," Emerson said. Fankhouser allowed two goals after being inserted in the game early in the first period.

"Here's a kid who was in the minors and now he's in the NHL playing against Philadelphia. Hey, isn't that exciting? That's great, and I'm giving my credit to him."

The tie extended the Flyers' home unbeaten streak to 13 games, longest in the NHL this season.

Emerson scored on the back end of a tic-tac-toe play with Jason Botterill and Kelly Buchberger at 6:54 of the third period to bring Atlanta from a three-goal deficit.

"That's why us old guys play in this league," Emerson said. "We love to see these young guys succeed."

Darryl Shannon, Yannick Tremblay and Kelly Buchberger also scored for the Thrashers, who are 0-7-2 in their last nine. Atlanta stopped a team-record seven-game losing streak with a 3-3 tie at Florida on Wednesday.

Rod Brind'Amour and Mikael Renberg each had a goal and an assist, and Mikael Andersson and Mark Recchi also scored for the Flyers.

"We were too nonchalant out there," Brind'Amour said. "Their goalie had some big saves and stepped up when he was needed, but we let them back in the game when we should have buried them."

The Flyers took a 2-0 lead on their first four shots and chased Atlanta starting goalie Norm Maracle after only 3:40.

Andersson scored his second goal of the year with a wrist shot from inside the right circle at 1:54. When Renberg scored on a deflection 1:46 later, Maracle was replaced by Fankhouser, who was called up from Orlando of the International Hockey League on Dec. 17.

Atlanta coach Curt Fraser said that he considered starting Fankhouser, "but it turned out the hockey gods smiled on us, and we put him in early and he showed his stuff.

"He's excited to be here. He's a great young man."

Recchi tipped in a goal from left of the crease off a cross-ice pass from Renberg to make it 3-0 at 3:43 of the second period.

After Shannon scored on a scramble in front of the net at 5:13 to put Atlanta on the board, Brind'Amour redirected a shot from Daymond Langkow 1:29 later on a power play to put the Flyers ahead 4-1.

Tremblay and Buchberger scored within 56 seconds midway through the period to pull the Thrashers to 4-3. Tremblay's slap shot from high in the slot bounced off the pad of Philadelphia goalie Brian Boucher and Buchberger tipped in a rebound at 10:39 of the period.

"It wasn't a great effort by us," Philadelphia coach Roger Neilson said. "It was a good start, but we didn't play a very smart game. We dominated the first five or six minutes and most of the first period, so it came too easy."

The game was delayed for eight minutes with 3:13 left in the third period when Buchberger slammed Philadelphia's John LeClair into the side boards near the Flyers goal, smashing a pane of glass.