Flyers weather the storm and beat out Hurricanes 4-2

There was a point in today’s game where I said to myself, “Here we go again.”

Peter Laviolette then called a time out and, minutes after, I took those words back. It’s incredible how much motiviation and energy this guy can provide to this team. It wasn’t all Laviolette, though. Minutes after the Flyer time out, Ian Laperriere took matters into his own hands and dropped the gloves with Carolina’s Tom Kostopoulos. Kostopoulos had no chance against Laperriere from the start.

“We were soft and it was 1-1. … and I felt like it was the right time to do something.” Laperriere told CSNPhilly’s Tim Panaccio.

The Flyers were on the power play, and not even two minutes after Lappy’s fight, Chris Pronger scored on a beautiful, perfectly placed wrist shot from the point that rang off the inside of the post. Prior to Pronger’s goal, in the first period, Dan Carcillo stole the puck from a lifeless Joni Pitkanen and took to the net to completely freak Manny Legace out of his jock strap. Legace, still suffering from a pink eye infection, was removed from the game and replaced by Cam Ward.

Jeff Carter played another noticeably strong game today. He scored one of his two goals on a quick wrist shot that just snuck through Cam Ward’s five hole. The second goal came by virtue of the empty net, but don’t let that fool you, Carter worked for that puck. I’m still not the biggest advocate of Carter’s shooting techniques, but he’s been a workhorse lately, and it’s clear that it is paying off big time. It couldn’t have come at a better time.

Ray Emery started in goal this afternoon for the Flyers and allowed just two goals on thirty-five shots. Emery misplayed the puck behind the net on Carolina’s second goal. The puck bounced right off of his stick to the tape of Sergei Samsonov who threw it right through the slot to a wide open Rod Brind’Amour. This gave Carolina some life that they shouldn’t have had, but Emery seemed up to the task. Late in the game, he made two huge saves against Brind’Amour and Staal that could have easily sent the game to overtime.

The Flyers looked good today, but taking six or seven minutes off to start a period could be the crucial point in any game you play. The Flyers need to continue to work, and continue to play strong and intelligent hockey from here out. They’ve made the best out of this six game home stand so far. Hopefully it continues tomorrow when Cindy and the Penguins come to town.

By the way:

During today’s first intermission, Peter Luukko made the following statement in regards to Dan Carcillo who’s scored two goals in his last three games.

“[John] Tortorella’s got it all wrong,” said Flyers president Peter Luukko between periods. “[Marian] Gaborik shouldn’t be messing with our skilled player.”