Friday, February 18, 2011
Posted: 10:32 p.m.Updated: 11:40 p.m.
By Tim Panaccio
CSNPhilly.com
BOX SCORE
RALEIGH, N.C.The stakes were high.
Here was Carolina, desperate to retain its precarious grip on the No. 8seed, just two points ahead of Buffalo, while playing the Flyers and Devils this weekend in what amounts to must points.
Then you had Rod BrindAmours emotional pre-game jersey retirement ceremony.
Needless to say, the Hurricanes were jacked. Just enough to carve out a 3-2 victory at RBC Center, ending their 18-games (0-15-3) losing skid to the Flyers in regulation play.
NHL
They came out and were pretty fired up with them retiring BrindAmours jersey and they certainly had a lot of jump, said defenseman Sean ODonnell. The whole game they had jump.
It was like them playing us and playing Jersey tomorrow, Im sure theyre looking at they had to sweep this weekend to really solidify their spot. They played hard for 60 minutes thats for sure.
It was almost a heroic comeback effort as the Flyers were without Mike Richards (flu-like symptoms) and then lost Blair Betts (cutleft finger) for the entire third period.
Carolina exploded for two early goals, then the Flyers got a shorthanded goal from Betts and finally tied it late in the third on a rebound goal from Braydon Coburn.
In between, Betts and Kimmo Timonen were marvelous in killing off a two-man disadvantage for a full two minutes in the second period.
High emotions that game, Coburn said. Pretty chippy. It felt very playoff like atmosphere in here, especially, with the crowd. Everything that was going on. Those are the game we have to get used to. Tight-checking games that come right down to the wire.
A good effort to get back into this game but obviously, not what we wanted to do to give up a goal late.
Coburns goal lifted the Flyers spirits, but the Canes came right back at 16:57 to win it when Erik Cole scored off a two-on-one rush.
The first five to seven minutes, I thought they were physical right off the bat, said coach Peter Laviolette. After it was 2-0, we took a breadth, started to get into the game, banging bodies ourselves.
I thought it became more of an even hockey game. I like the way we played in the second period. The third period we were able to tie it up and it was a toughbreak of that last goal.
Richards, who was fine at the morning skate and took warm-ups, was a late scratch.So late, that Jody Shelley had to literally run from the press box to replace him and never got on the ice until after the game began.
That was tough, we had to go back and get the lineup sheet, it happened that quick, Laviolette said. We were juggling. Maybe that had something to do with the first, five minutes. Im not making any excuses. We need to be better.
As a result, Laviolette changed his top three lines. The most notable change being Andreas Nodl skating with Danny Briere and Ville Leino, who was back after missing Thursdays game in Florida with a slight groin strain and sore hip.
The Canes scored twice in less than seven minutes, forcing Laviolette to burn his timeout at 6:37.
There wasnothing Sergei Bobrovsky could do on the Canes first goal as the puck was triple-deflected with Chad LaRrose getting credit at 4:12.
Two minutes later, Jeff Skinner came down the left wing and fired from the circle on Bobrovsky, who left the five-hole open too far.
Early on, they grabbed the energy of the building, Laviolette said.
It could have been 3-0 minutes later when the Canes had consecutive shots from every part of the zone from Cole, Tim Gleason, Jamie McBain and Joni Pitkanen. BOB was bobbing all over the crease like a buoy in rough seas.
Betts had not scored a goal in 44 games coming to Carolina. Last one was Nov. 4 against his former club, the Rangers. He got a shorthanded one to open the second period. His shot caught Joe Corvos stick and changed angles on goalie Cam Ward.
Betts suffered a nasty cut on his left ring finger during the two-man kill and never came back.
I blocked a shot and it was kind of a pressure cuta pretty good cut on my finger, he said. Im not really sure what the prognosis is.
The Flyers had two power plays after Betts goal. Ward came up with what appeared to be a huge save with eight minutes left in the period, lying on his side and reaching up to glove Matt Carles backhander.
Turns out, replay angle showed that Carles shot was going to go clear across the crease and not in the net if Ward didnt grab it out of the air.
With three minutes left in the period, ODonnell went off for roughing and Shelley for boarding. In what was a spectacular display of individual work, Timonen killed off 1:55 of it.
I thought that was a real momentum shift for us, Coburn said.
Just not enough to make a final difference in the victory column.
E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net