Posting Up: Briere Pipes in Game Winner for Flyers in Overtime

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The post to Carolina goaltender Cam Ward’s right rang out
not once, but twice in denial of the Flyers’ advances, its shrill “ping”
erasing a pair of golden opportunities in the first period. Ward’s luck would not
carry the day however.

Danny Briere’s snipe found cold steel yet again in overtime,
only the Flyers finally got the benefit of the bounce. The puck hit the
netminder from behind off of the rebound, then finally crossed the goal line to
give Philadelphia the 4-3 victory over the Hurricanes – and the two points.

Briere rushed up the left boards carrying an outlet pass
from Nick Grossmann, but Hurricanes Jay Harrison was back to cut off his path
to the net. No problem for Danny, who hit the brakes and made his way to the
slot. Briere’s agility proved too much for Harrison, who was perhaps screened
ever so slightly by teammate Jussi Jokinen joining the play. Whatever the case,
Briere got off the clean snap shot, and the puck’s journey ended in Carolina’s
net.

It’s a good thing, too. Nobody was looking forward to the
prospect of another shootout to settle up.

While the finish was certainly exciting, the Flyers had to
play one of their most complete games of the season to fend off the Canes. The
offense put 32 shots on Ward, getting goals from Brayden Schenn (2), Matt Read
(5 – team high), and Jakub Voracek (3) in regulation. Despite allowing three
goals, they also gave a nice, physical defensive effort, scoring twice as many
hits (32 to 16) and almost twice as many blocked shots (20 to 11), with Luke
Schenn leading the charge (8 and 6).

The Hurricanes opened up the scoring just 17 seconds into
the tilt. Sean Couturier lost a faceoff in the Flyers’ zone, and Joe Corvo
immediately sent a blast on Ilya Bryzgalov. Bryz seemed fooled by the puck’s trajectory,
kicking a rebound right in front of his net. Jiri Tlusty skated in unattended
and found twine with relative ease.

The Flyers answered later in the period with Brayden Schenn’s
sweet redirection of Kimmo Timonen’s launch to knot the score at one a piece.
You’ve got to see this one.

Then they took the lead coming out of the first intermission,
capitalizing on a big mistake by the Hurricanes. Eric Staal came away with
possession of the puck following a battle in his zone, but tried to make a
quick dish up the ice before he was out of trouble. Mike Knuble was in perfect
position, deflecting the disc back to center ice, setting up this walk in the
park for Read. Too easy.

A questionable call midway through the frame resulted in
some 4-on-4 hockey, setting up a frantic back-and-forth. Impressive youngster
Jeff Skinner came away with a bouncing puck in the Flyers’ zone and fired a
quick shot on Bryzgalov. He recovered his own rebound, and with two fewer men
on the ice, found plenty of room to skate. Skinner got back in front, wheeled
around and fired the puck over the netminder’s shoulder on the short side to
make it a 2-2 game.

Aside from breakaways, Bryz has been very consistent, but we
have seen him get beat over his left shoulder like that before.

Voracek returned fire a mere 15 seconds later though.
Brayden Schenn simply skated the biscuit into the Carolina zone, then fed it to
the middle for a hungry Voracek, who slammed it home. We’ve seen Voracek make
plays with his speed before, and that was certainly the case here, but the
Hurricanes’ vulnerability defensively was on full display as well. They’ve got
to get a better effort than this.

Carolina was able to force overtime via a dirty goal in the
third. The Flyers were simply unable to clear the puck, and the Hurricanes just
kept on ripping shots from the point. One of them was bound to go eventually,
and it did when Corvo’s hammer from the blue line hit Kurtis Foster up front –
part of a massive tangle of bodies in front of the net – and fluttered past a
blind goalie. Bryz had no chance.

Otherwise Bryzgalov played well yet again, making some great
saves in the process. There was a healthy contribution from the offense, and
the Flyers were flat out the more physical team on the ice in this one. They
deserved the win.

That puts Philadelphia’s record at 5-6-1 with 11 points for
the season. 7 of those points have come in their last four games. You can feel
the momentum growing.

Notes

Hurricanes center Tim Wallace was given a game misconduct and ejected for a boarding penalty on Tye McGinn early in the first period. McGinn slipped a little, and Wallace ended up hitting him up high, sending the rookie's skull into the glass. McGinn would stay on the ice for awhile, but returned to the game quickly and show no ill effects.

We'll see if any discipline is coming for Wallace. The collision was unquestionably a penalty, but there did not appear to be a malicious intent. Again, McGinn slipped, so Wallace likely did not expect his target to be in such a prone position.

The Flyers only wound up with about two-and-a-half minutes of 5-on-4 time out of the possible five. Braydon Coburn received a minor when he tried to come to his teammate's aid, and Mike Knuble picked up an interference toward the end of the advantage.

Philladelphia's power play conversion rate is down to 18.4% for the season.

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