The Carolina Hurricanes topped the Philadelphia Flyers, 3-1, Tuesday night at PNC Arena to pull within two points in the standings of the final wildcard position in the Eastern Conference.
Despite not playing all that well, and being outshot, 37-18, the Hurricanes (28-23-10) dug deep and found a way to beat the Flyers (26-22-11), thanks in large part to great goaltending, on a night when they weren’t necessarily the better team.
“(We) found a way tonight,” Carolina head coach Bill Peters said. “Goaltender gave us a chance; I thought he was very good. The penalty kill was very good. We just gutted it out and found a way to get two points.”
The Canes got off to a bit of a flat start out of the gates as the Flyers dominated on the forecheck at times, leaving Carolina just a step behind.
Carolina picked up its play though and had some great scoring chances of their own. None better than one on the power play when forward Jordan Staal had a wide open net but skyrocketed it over everything.
With only 2:15 remaining in the period, Philadelphia broke the deadlock on what should have been a routine save for Carolina netminder Cam Ward. Flyers forward Scott Laughton fired a puck between the legs of Ward, who lost his balance and perhaps his vision from snow being sprayed into his face.
“With my position, as much as you’d like to take it back, you can’t,” Ward said. “You gotta get ready for that next save. Tonight, I was able to put it behind me and just move on.”
Other than the one goal, Ward was incredible all night long, stopping 36 of 37 shots on net, and easily standing out as the Canes best player.
After a similar slow start to the second period, the Canes capitalized on a Flyers mistake to tie the game at one apiece.
Philadelphia goaltender Michal Neuvirth went behind his own net to play the puck, and attempted a pass to a teammate when Carolina forward Joakim Nordstrom picked it off and fired it into the open net. The goal was Nordstrom’s third in as many games after scoring only five goals in his first 47 games of the season.
The Nordstrom-J. Staal-Nestrasil line, the team’s best as of late, struck again with 1:34 left in the second period to give the Canes their first lead of the game. Jordan Staal, positioned in the slot, found a puck bounce off the boards and into his vicinity, where he turned and shot the puck on net, all in one motion, to beat Neuvirth.
With less than six minutes remaining in the third period, Canes forward Eric Staal scored his first goal since Jan. 12 to give Carolina a two-goal lead that it would not relinquish. A rebound from forward Jay McClement’s shot bounced over the head and eventually behind the back of Neuvirth, where Staal batted the puck in mid-air into the net.
“I would’ve taken anything at this point,” Eric Staal said. “It was obviously a long stretch (without a goal) for me. It was a good play by [McClement]. I just kept my eye on it, waited for it to come down.”
