Hurricanes Halt Flyers' Six-Game Win Streak

by Bob Herpen
The Phanatic Magazine

Sergei Samsonov’s goal with 1:07 remaining in overtime lifted the Carolina Hurricanes to a 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers at the Wachovia Center.

Samsonov followed a dump-in on the left wing from linemate Matt Cullen, collected the puck near the circle, cut in front of Flyers defenseman Matt Carle and stuck a forehander past goaltender Martin Biron.

"You try to get as much speed as you can to avoid the pokecheck," Samsonov said of his winning goal. "Once I got to the net, I had more room than I thought, so I just tried to squeeze one by."

For the former Calder Trophy winner, it was only his second goal of the season, one which halted Philadelphia’s season-best six-game win streak.

Patrick Dwyer netted his first career goal and Tuomo Ruutu also tallied for Carolina, which snapped a three-game losing streak. Cam Ward made 24 stops to register his eighth win of the season.

Jeff Carter scored his league-best 16^th goal in defeat for Philly, which still has registered a point in its last nine games (7-0-2). Joffrey Lupul also lit the lamp while Biron stopped 28 shots in suffering his first non-shootout defeat since November 8.

Carter’s power-play goal momentarily reversed momentum late in the second period and knotted the game, 2-2.

With Ruutu in the box for interference, Carle set up at the right point and dished low to Lupul at the edge of the left circle. His pass to the slot found Carter for a nifty backhander to put the winger temporarily one ahead of Buffalo’s Thomas Vanek for the league lead.

Each side wasted a power-play chance in the scoreless third period.

Both clubs appeared to have a holiday hangover, playing relatively passionless, systematic hockey until the Flyers got the first break of the contest late in the opening 20 minutes.

Lupul picked up his eighth goal of the season – a power-play marker – with a bit of luck. Carter dished to Lupul, who was 20 feet from the net along the goal line and his attempted pass across to Scott Hartnell hit the stick of Hurricanes defenseman Jonio Pitkanen and deflected high over Ward.

The home club had several golden opportunities to seize control of the game early in the second period, but Ward was brilliant to stop breakaways by Scottie Upshall and Carter.

On Carter’s rush, he had three-quarters of the ice alone on a short-handed break, but after several stick fakes pushed a weak backhander on goal which Ward brushed aside.

In addition, the orange and black – sporting their new retro third jerseys – had a goal taken away from them early in the period.

Mike Richards finished off a 4-on-2 break for a goal which would have put the club in control 2-0 at 5:32, but the play was apparently whistled dead some time before due to a bench minor penalty.

Carolina then snapped back with a pair of goals 1:08 apart to take a 2-1 advantage.

First, Dwyer earned his first career goal by setting up a screen in front of Biron and tipping in Pitkanen’s wrister from the slot at 15:00. Then, Ruutu’s off-balance prayer from the bottom of the right circle sailed through traffic, off the left post and into the net.

"We had some great opportunities that we didn't capitalize on," Flyers head coach John Stevens said. "We let them hang around and because of that, they end up winning the hockey game."