RALEIGH, N.C. -- It wasnt without its tense moments, but the Flyers managed to take down the Carolina Hurricanes to end their swing through the south with a winning record.
With help from the teams red-hot duo of Claude Giroux and Jaromir Jagr, the Flyers skated past the Canes, 5-3, to finish their three-game road trip with a 2-0-1 recordand bring their road record this season to 6-1-1, best in the NHL.
It was, in its truest sense, a complete-team effort.
Were finding identity here, Max Talbot said. This road trip was definitely something that got us there. Were starting to feel better about ourselves and feel better about the players that were playing with. Its a good thing going on.
Back-to-back games are never easy. But on a list of opponents the Flyers would prefer to face the night after a tough game like they saw in Florida, the Hurricanes would be near the top of the list. The Flyers are 16-1-2 in their last 19 meetings with Carolina, and have only lost in Raleigh once in their last nine games here. Nonetheless, two games in 24 hours is tough for any team to handle.
Im really happy with the way our guys played, coach Peter Laviolette said. They worked their tails off for 120 minutes and they did what they had to do on the road to win. Because of that, we move up in the standings and thats what its all about at this point in the year.
Just 1:19 after the first puck dropped, Giroux charged up the middle, and Jagr hit him with a pass that he accepted just after splitting two Canes defensemen. Skating in on a breakaway, Giroux roofed the puck up and over goaltender Cam Ward to give the Flyers the early lead.
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The Flyers added to their tally midway through the first when, behind the Canes net, Jakub Voracek dug the puck out and sent it to Talbot, who was crashing in on Ward. Talbot, who underwent a dental procedure this morning because of the slash to his face in Florida, sent it home past Ward to give the Flyers a 2-0 advantage.
Were rolling four lines, everyones contributing and goalies have been sharp and our Ds been sharp, Giroux said. We have a team where we need everybody in the lineup and everybodys just stepping up. Were having a lot of fun too.
But as the final seconds of the first ticked downand while the Flyers were on their first power play of the eveningJames van Riemsdyk allowed Hurricanes right wing Patrick Dwyer to push past him, and Dwyer, accepting a perfectly timed pass from Eric Staal, managed to beat Sergei Bobrovsky with just .9 seconds left. It was the first shorthanded goal the Flyers have allowed this season.
And the goal, understandably, fired up the mostly dispassionate crowdand the team, as well. The first few minutes of the second period were spent in the Flyers zone, with plenty of pressure being applied to Bobrovsky.
I think you guys saw it in the second half of the game, Jagr said. We started losing our legs a little bit, and they started putting more pressure on us. But luckily, we finished the game strong.
There were a few dangerous moments early in the second, but only until Giroux scored his second of the night, whipping the puck up and over Wards left shoulder from the left circle. The Flyers added onto it moments later, on the power play. The puck bounced in off of Wayne Simmonds, and Giroux, awoken from his mini-slump (he was without points in his last two games and finished minus-1 in each) picked up the assist.
That was it for Ward. With 13:02 left to play in the second period, he left the game and was replaced with former Flyer Brian Boucher.
Once Boucher took over, the Flyers seemed to stumble a bit. The Hurricanes cut the Flyers lead to 4-2 in the second when Tuomo Ruutu caught Bobrovsky going post-to-post, and the score held through the second intermission, despite a flurry of pressure from the Canes in the closing minutes of the second.
The Flyers, however, managed to hold on to the lead through it all.
I think its just a matter of settling down on the bench, said Chris Pronger, who had three assists Monday night. Youve still got a lead, you still have to do those little things right. And the other team is gaining some momentum but theyre also pressing. And theyre going to make mistakes and youve got to capitalize on them, and we were able to do that tonight and get that back.
But the Hurricanes inched closer still when, early in the third, Kimmo Timonen took down Dwyer and the winger was awarded a penalty shoton which he capitalized. The penalty shot, which occurred while the Flyers were on the power play, was the second shorthanded penalty shot in the Flyers last two games.
Speaking of shorthanded penalty shotsMatt Read, who had one in Sundays win in Florida, scored for the Flyers with just under four minutes to play, to all but seal Carolinas fate. Read finished the play awkwardly, slamming his leg into the boards. He was in good spirits after the game, but limped a bit.
It wasnt a perfect win, but the Flyers got the job done.
If you want to be a successful team in the NHL, youve got to be closers, Voracek said. If youre up 4-3 or 5-3 on the road, youve got to keep things simple and put the pucks deep and dont make many mistakes. And I think we did a good job.
E-mail Sarah Baicker at sbaicker@comcastsportsnet.com