GAME THREAD: GAME THREAD: NHL: PHILADELPHIA (11-8) at CAROLINA (12-9)

By Joe Johnson
PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer


RALEIGH, North Carolina (Ticker) - Three days off were exactlywhat the Philadelphia Flyers needed as they beat the CarolinaHurricanes, 6-3, on Wednesday night to break a two-game losingstreak.


Daniel Briere recorded a hat trick in the third period for theFlyers, who have beaten the Hurricanes in both meetings thisseason.


Mike Knuble and Kimmo Timonen each scored second-period goalsfor the Flyers, who rallied from a goal down in the first periodto take a 2-1 lead. The Flyers have been able to clamp down onopponents this season when holding a lead after two periods,building a 10-0 mark under those circumstances.


Briere padded the Flyers' lead 21 seconds in to the third periodwith Philadelphia's second power-play goal. Briere poked in ashot at the right post when Ward was not able to get back acrossthe crease.


Carolina's Eric Staal broke a four-game goal drought when heburied a slapshot from the right point. Cory Stillman provided anice screen in front of Philadelphia goaltender Martin Biron,who did not appear to see Staal's sizzling shot that cutPhiladelphia's lead to 3-2.


Briere made it 4-2 with his second goal of the session and MattCullen brought Carolina back to within a goal when he tipped ina shot from Cory Stillman at 5:56 of the period. Cullen also hada pair of assists to record a three-point night.


<div class="pre">Carolina squandered a 5-on-3 with under 10 minutes left in the</div>game when Joffrey Lupul and Mike Richards took penalties forPhiladelphia. The Hurricanes managed only three shots on thepower play.


Briere's final goal came with just over five minutes left whenhe beat a defenseless Ward to make it 5-3. Scott Hartnell addedan empty-net goal with 31 seconds to play to cap the scoring.

Justin Williams took four of the Hurricanes' eight penalties,including three in the second period.


Carolina captain Rod Brind'Amour scored a power-play goal at14:05 of the first period for the game's first goal to give theHurricanes a 1-0 lead. Brind'Amour put back his own rebound byBiron, who made the first save but was unable to control thepuck.


Knuble tied the game at 1-1 when he redirected a hard reboundoff Ward's stick back into the goal. Randy Jones started theplay with a hard shot from the left wing.


Timonen gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead when he converted the firstto two power-play goals for Philadelphia.

 

NHL: PHILADELPHIA at CAROLINA

<div class="pre">------------------------------------
Philadelphia 0 2 4 --6
Carolina 1 0 2 --3
------------------------------------

FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, Carolina, Rod Brind'Amour 11 (power play)
(Ray Whitney, Matt Cullen), 14:05. Penalties: J Williams, Car
(holding stick), 10:26; M Biron, Phi (roughing served by S Upshall),
13:28; C Larose, Car (tripping), 15:18; J Lupul, Phi (slashing),
15:25.

SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 2, Philadelphia, Mike Knuble 6 (Randy Jones,
Rory Fitzpatrick), 14:43. 3, Philadelphia, Kimmo Timonen 2 (power
play) (Daniel Briere), 16:28. Penalties: D Tolpeko, Phi (slashing),
1:56; F Kaberle, Car (hooking), 4:15; S Hartnell, Phi (roughing served
by D Tolpeko), 10:42; C Adams, Car (roughing), 10:42; J Williams, Car
(double minor goalie interference, unsportsmanlike cond), 16:10; M
Richards, Phi (holding), 17:19; J Williams, Car (hooking), 19:43.

THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: 4, Philadelphia, Daniel Briere 8 (power play)
(Mike Knuble), 0:21. 5, Carolina, Eric Staal 13 (power play) (Matt
Cullen, Jeff Hamilton), 2:34. 6, Philadelphia, Daniel Briere 9
(Braydon Coburn, Scott Hartnell), 3:04. 8, Carolina, Matt Cullen 5
(power play) (Cory Stillman, Justin Williams), 5:56. 9, Philadelphia,
Daniel Briere 10 (power play) (Kimmo Timonen, Mike Knuble), 14:39. 10,
Philadelphia, Scott Hartnell 2 (empty net) (Unassisted), 19:29.
Penalties: S Upshall, Phi (interference), 1:22; B Coburn, Phi
(tripping), 4:04; J Lupul, Phi (roughing), 10:48; M Richards, Phi
(high sticking), 11:31; F Kaberle, Car (hooking), 13:55.

Shots on goal:
---------------------------------------
Philadelphia 3 11 7 --21
Carolina 10 10 15 --35
---------------------------------------

Missed penalty shots: Mike Richards, Phi, 5:35 third.
Power-play Conversions: Philadelphia - 3 of 7, Carolina - 3 of 8.
Goalies : Philadelphia, Martin Biron (35 shots, 32 saves; record:
11-6-1). Carolina, Cam Ward (20 shots, 15 saves; record: 10-5-2). A:
16,351. Referees: Dean Morton, Don Van Massenhoven. Linesmen: Derek
Nansen, Ryan Galloway.</div>

 

NHL: PHILADELPHIA at CAROLINA

<div class="pre">-----------------------------------------
PHILADELPHIA 0 2 4 --6
CAROLINA 1 0 2 --3
-----------------------------------------

FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, Carolina, Rod Brind'Amour 11 (power play)
(Ray Whitney, Matt Cullen), 14:05. Penalties: J Williams, Car
(holding stick), 10:26; M Biron, Phi (roughing served by S Upshall),
13:28; C Larose, Car (tripping), 15:18; J Lupul, Phi (slashing),
15:25.

SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 2, Philadelphia, Mike Knuble 6 (Randy Jones,
Rory Fitzpatrick), 14:43. 3, Philadelphia, Kimmo Timonen 2 (power
play) (Daniel Briere), 16:28. Penalties: D Tolpeko, Phi (slashing),
1:56; F Kaberle, Car (hooking), 4:15; S Hartnell, Phi (roughing served
by D Tolpeko), 10:42; C Adams, Car (roughing), 10:42; J Williams, Car
(double minor goalie interference, unsportsmanlike cond), 16:10; M
Richards, Phi (holding), 17:19; J Williams, Car (hooking), 19:43.

THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: 4, Philadelphia, Daniel Briere 8 (power play)
(Mike Knuble), 0:21. 5, Carolina, Eric Staal 13 (power play) (Matt
Cullen, Jeff Hamilton), 2:34. 6, Philadelphia, Daniel Briere 9
(Braydon Coburn, Scott Hartnell), 3:04. 8, Carolina, Matt Cullen 5
(power play) (Cory Stillman, Justin Williams), 5:56. 9, Philadelphia,
Daniel Briere 10 (power play) (Kimmo Timonen, Mike Knuble), 14:39. 10,
Philadelphia, Scott Hartnell 2 (empty net) (Unassisted), 19:29.
Penalties: S Upshall, Phi (interference), 1:22; B Coburn, Phi
(tripping), 4:04; J Lupul, Phi (roughing), 10:48; M Richards, Phi
(high sticking), 11:31; F Kaberle, Car (hooking), 13:55.

Shots on goal:
----------------------------------------
PHILADELPHIA 3 11 7 --21
CAROLINA 10 10 15 --35
----------------------------------------

Missed penalty shots: Mike Richards, Phi, 5:35 third.
Power-play Conversions: PHI - 3 of 7, CAR - 3 of 8. Goalies :
Philadelphia, Martin Biron (35 shots, 32 saves; record: 11-6-1).
Carolina, Cam Ward (20 shots, 15 saves; record: 10-5-2). A: 16,351.
Referees: Dean Morton, Don Van Massenhoven. Linesmen: Derek Nansen,
Ryan Galloway.

INDIVIDUAL PLAYER STATISTICS

PHILADELPHIA CAROLINA
G A +/- Shots G A +/- Shots
J Dowd 0 0 even 0 J Williams 0 1 -2 4
J Lupul 0 0 +1 0 E Staal 1 0 -1 4
J Carter 0 0 +1 0 R Whitney 0 1 -3 3
M Richards 0 0 +1 3 A Ladd 0 0 -1 1
S Hartnell 1 1 +2 4 R Brind'Amour 1 0 -2 5
R Umberger 0 0 +1 2 T Letowski 0 0 even 0
J Smith 0 0 +1 1 G Wesley 0 0 even 1
M Knuble 1 2 +1 2 M Commodore 0 0 even 1
S Kapanen 0 0 even 0 C Adams 0 0 even 0
L Kukkonen 0 0 +1 0 T Gleason 0 0 -1 0
K Timonen 1 1 even 2 D Tanabe 0 0 even 0
D Briere 3 1 +2 4 F Kaberle 0 0 -2 1
B Coburn 0 1 +1 2 J Hamilton 0 1 -1 2
D Tolpeko 0 0 even 0 C LaRose 0 0 even 1
B Eager 0 0 even 0 B Hedican 0 0 -1 3
R Jones 0 1 +2 1 C Stillman 0 1 even 4
R Fitzpatrick 0 1 +1 0 N Wallin 0 0 -1 2
S Upshall 0 0 even 0 M Cullen 1 2 -1 3
R Cote HEALTHY R Bayda HEALTHY
J Boulerice SUSPENDED NHL D Seidenberg HEALTHY</div>

 

By Joe Johnson
PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer


RALEIGH, North Carolina (Ticker) - Three days off were exactlywhat the Philadelphia Flyers needed as they beat the CarolinaHurricanes, 6-3, on Wednesday night to break a two-game losingstreak.


Daniel Briere recorded a hat trick in the third period for theFlyers, who have beaten the Hurricanes in both meetings thisseason. It was Briere's third career hat trick and first withthe Flyers since signing as a free agent from the Buffalo Sabresin the offseason.


"I just had to find a way to get in there and find loose pucks,"Briere said.


Mike Knuble and Kimmo Timonen each scored second-period goalsfor the Flyers, who rallied from a goal down in the first periodto take a 2-1 lead. The Flyers have been able to clamp down onopponents this season when holding a lead after two periods,building a 10-0 mark under those circumstances.


But in a madcap third period which saw Philadelphia build a pairof two-goal leads only to have Carolina scratch back into it,the Flyers were happy to escape with a win.


The teams combined for six goals, five power plays, including a5-on-3 for Carolina which couldn't convert on either end of it,and a missed penalty shot by Philadelphia's Mike Richards whenthe Flyers were short-handed.


"It was a wild third period," said Philadelphia goalkeeperMartin Biron, who saved 31 of 34 shots. "The last home game wasnot our best but we came back tonight and played extremelywell."


Philadelphia suffered a disappointing 6-2 loss at home to NewJersey in its last game.


"We weren't very happy with the loss against Jersey," Brieresaid. "It was a tough loss at home and to get embarrassed likethat. There was a lot on the line tonight. We wanted to proveour start wasn't a fluke and we can play with the best teams. Weconsider the Hurricanes to be one of the best teams in theleague."


Briere padded the Flyers' lead 21 seconds in to the third periodwith Philadelphia's second power-play goal. Briere poked in ashot at the right post when Cam Ward was not able to get backacross the crease.


Carolina's Eric Staal broke a four-game goal drought when heburied a slap shot from the right point. Cory Stillman provideda nice screen in front of Philadelphia goaltender Martin Biron,who did not appear to see Staal's sizzling shot that cutPhiladelphia's lead to 3-2.


Briere made it 4-2 with his second goal of the session and MattCullen brought Carolina back to within a goal when he tipped ina shot from Stillman at 5:56 of the period to make it 4-3.Cullen also had a pair of assists to record a three-point night.

Carolina squandered a 5-on-3 with under 10 minutes left in thegame when Joffrey Lupul and Mike Richards took penalties forPhiladelphia. The Hurricanes managed only three shots on thepower play.


"We'd like to have that one back," said Cullen. "That was apretty crucial point, and certainly we'd love to get one there,but it's something that you can't control all the time. It's notgoing to go in every time. It's more a matter of, we can't begiving up that many goals. We created some pretty decentchances, but the bottom line is that we've got to keep the puckout of our net."


Biron said he was relieved to survive that Carolina flurry.

"It was 4-3 and they had a 5-on-3, that was a big part of thegame for us to kill that one off," Biron said. "They had scoredthree power-play goals, so to be able to come through with a bigkill and then get a power-play goal after that to make it 5-3.

Briere's final goal came with just over five minutes left whenhe beat a defenseless Ward to make it 5-3. Scott Hartnell addedan empty-net goal with 31 seconds to play to cap the scoring.

"He was terrific," Flyers coach John Stevens said of Briere."The puck came to him a couple of times and he just seemed tohave all kinds of jump. That, to me, was the best he's lookedall year."


Justin Williams took four of the Hurricanes' eight penalties,including three in the second period.


"I thought personally I got the short end of the stick on acouple of the penalties," Williams said. "One of them, I didn'teven actually do anything, they got the wrong guy, the third one... regardless, I'm not going to say anything about it."

Carolina captain Rod Brind'Amour scored a power-play goal at14:05 of the first period for the game's first goal to give theHurricanes a 1-0 lead. Brind'Amour put back his own rebound byBiron, who made the first save but was unable to control thepuck.


Knuble tied the game at 1-1 when he redirected a hard reboundoff Ward's stick back into the goal. Randy Jones started theplay with a hard shot from the left wing.


Timonen gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead when he converted the firstto three power-play goals for Philadelphia.

 

NHL: PHILADELPHIA at CAROLINA

<div class="pre">------------------------------------
Philadelphia 0 2 4 --6
Carolina 1 0 2 --3
------------------------------------

FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, Carolina, Rod Brind'Amour 11 (power play)
(Ray Whitney, Matt Cullen), 14:05. Penalties: J Williams, Car
(holding stick), 10:26; M Biron, Phi (roughing served by S Upshall),
13:28; C Larose, Car (tripping), 15:18; J Lupul, Phi (slashing),
15:25.

SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 2, Philadelphia, Mike Knuble 6 (Randy Jones,
Rory Fitzpatrick), 14:43. 3, Philadelphia, Kimmo Timonen 2 (power
play) (Daniel Briere), 16:28. Penalties: D Tolpeko, Phi (slashing),
1:56; F Kaberle, Car (hooking), 4:15; S Hartnell, Phi (roughing served
by D Tolpeko), 10:42; C Adams, Car (roughing), 10:42; J Williams, Car
(double minor goalie interference, unsportsmanlike cond), 16:10; M
Richards, Phi (holding), 17:19; J Williams, Car (hooking), 19:43.

THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: 4, Philadelphia, Daniel Briere 8 (power play)
(Mike Knuble), 0:21. 5, Carolina, Eric Staal 13 (power play) (Matt
Cullen, Jeff Hamilton), 2:34. 6, Philadelphia, Daniel Briere 9
(Braydon Coburn, Scott Hartnell), 3:04. 8, Carolina, Matt Cullen 5
(power play) (Cory Stillman, Justin Williams), 5:56. 9, Philadelphia,
Daniel Briere 10 (power play) (Kimmo Timonen, Mike Knuble), 14:39. 10,
Philadelphia, Scott Hartnell 2 (empty net) (Unassisted), 19:29.
Penalties: S Upshall, Phi (interference), 1:22; B Coburn, Phi
(tripping), 4:04; J Lupul, Phi (roughing), 10:48; M Richards, Phi
(high sticking), 11:31; F Kaberle, Car (hooking), 13:55.

Shots on goal:
---------------------------------------
Philadelphia 3 11 7 --21
Carolina 10 10 15 --35
---------------------------------------

Missed penalty shots: Mike Richards, Phi, 5:35 third.
Power-play Conversions: Philadelphia - 3 of 7, Carolina - 3 of 8.
Goalies : Philadelphia, Martin Biron (35 shots, 32 saves; record:
11-6-1). Carolina, Cam Ward (20 shots, 15 saves; record: 10-5-2). A:
16,351. Referees: Dean Morton, Don Van Massenhoven. Linesmen: Derek
Nansen, Ryan Galloway.</div>

 

NHL: PHILADELPHIA at CAROLINA

<div class="pre">-----------------------------------------
PHILADELPHIA 0 2 4 --6
CAROLINA 1 0 2 --3
-----------------------------------------

FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, Carolina, Rod Brind'Amour 11 (power play)
(Ray Whitney, Matt Cullen), 14:05. Penalties: J Williams, Car
(holding stick), 10:26; M Biron, Phi (roughing served by S Upshall),
13:28; C Larose, Car (tripping), 15:18; J Lupul, Phi (slashing),
15:25.

SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 2, Philadelphia, Mike Knuble 6 (Randy Jones,
Rory Fitzpatrick), 14:43. 3, Philadelphia, Kimmo Timonen 2 (power
play) (Daniel Briere), 16:28. Penalties: D Tolpeko, Phi (slashing),
1:56; F Kaberle, Car (hooking), 4:15; S Hartnell, Phi (roughing served
by D Tolpeko), 10:42; C Adams, Car (roughing), 10:42; J Williams, Car
(double minor goalie interference, unsportsmanlike cond), 16:10; M
Richards, Phi (holding), 17:19; J Williams, Car (hooking), 19:43.

THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: 4, Philadelphia, Daniel Briere 8 (power play)
(Mike Knuble), 0:21. 5, Carolina, Eric Staal 13 (power play) (Matt
Cullen, Jeff Hamilton), 2:34. 6, Philadelphia, Daniel Briere 9
(Braydon Coburn, Scott Hartnell), 3:04. 8, Carolina, Matt Cullen 5
(power play) (Cory Stillman, Justin Williams), 5:56. 9, Philadelphia,
Daniel Briere 10 (power play) (Kimmo Timonen, Mike Knuble), 14:39. 10,
Philadelphia, Scott Hartnell 2 (empty net) (Unassisted), 19:29.
Penalties: S Upshall, Phi (interference), 1:22; B Coburn, Phi
(tripping), 4:04; J Lupul, Phi (roughing), 10:48; M Richards, Phi
(high sticking), 11:31; F Kaberle, Car (hooking), 13:55.

Shots on goal:
----------------------------------------
PHILADELPHIA 3 11 7 --21
CAROLINA 10 10 15 --35
----------------------------------------

Missed penalty shots: Mike Richards, Phi, 5:35 third.
Power-play Conversions: PHI - 3 of 7, CAR - 3 of 8. Goalies :
Philadelphia, Martin Biron (35 shots, 32 saves; record: 11-6-1).
Carolina, Cam Ward (20 shots, 15 saves; record: 10-5-2). A: 16,351.
Referees: Dean Morton, Don Van Massenhoven. Linesmen: Derek Nansen,
Ryan Galloway.

INDIVIDUAL PLAYER STATISTICS

PHILADELPHIA CAROLINA
G A +/- Shots G A +/- Shots
J Dowd 0 0 even 0 J Williams 0 1 -2 4
J Lupul 0 0 +1 0 E Staal 1 0 even 4
J Carter 0 0 +1 0 R Whitney 0 1 -3 3
M Richards 0 0 +1 3 A Ladd 0 0 -1 1
S Hartnell 1 1 +2 4 R Brind'Amour 1 0 -2 5
R Umberger 0 0 +1 2 T Letowski 0 0 even 0
J Smith 0 0 +1 1 G Wesley 0 0 even 1
M Knuble 1 2 +1 2 M Commodore 0 0 even 1
S Kapanen 0 0 even 0 C Adams 0 0 even 0
L Kukkonen 0 0 +1 0 T Gleason 0 0 -1 0
K Timonen 1 1 even 2 D Tanabe 0 0 even 0
D Briere 3 1 +2 4 F Kaberle 0 0 -2 1
B Coburn 0 1 +1 2 J Hamilton 0 1 -1 2
D Tolpeko 0 0 even 0 C LaRose 0 0 -1 1
B Eager 0 0 even 0 B Hedican 0 0 -1 3
R Jones 0 1 +2 1 C Stillman 0 1 even 4
R Fitzpatrick 0 1 +1 0 N Wallin 0 0 -1 2
S Upshall 0 0 even 0 M Cullen 1 2 -1 3
R Cote HEALTHY R Bayda HEALTHY
J Boulerice SUSPENDED NHL D Seidenberg HEALTHY</div>

 

NHL: PHILADELPHIA at CAROLINA

<div class="pre">NHL PHILADELPHIA AT CAROLINA
NOTE: RESENDING BOX TO CORRECT PLUS/MINUS FOR LAROSE AND
STAAL.</div>