Weathering the Storm: Flyers Edge 'Canes, 4-2
(from CSNPhilly.com)
By Tim Panaccio
CSNPhilly.com
January 23, 2010 - The second period had degenerated into total boredom.
Flyers coach Peter Laviolette had already called his only timeout without positive results.
Which meant it was "Lappy Time."
The Flyers' toothless champion of the underworld dropped his gloves, and gave Carolina's Tom Kostopoulos a thrashing.
"Yeah, it was obvious I guess, it's part of my job, you know?" Laperriere said of his fight at 13:26. "We were soft and it was 1-1...and I felt like it was the right time to do something."
Not even a minute later, the Flyers got a power play goal from Chris Pronger, then the first of two goals from Jeff Carter to spur a 4-2 victory.
"Lappy got all the guys going," said linemate Dan Carcillo. "We played well in the first 13 minutes in the first period, and then kind of hit a little bit of a lull. Then Lappy picked us back up with his second fight, which he usually does. He got the offense rolling."
Though not the Flyers' real enforcer, Laperriere, a middleweight, leads the club with 16 fights.
"We try to be a hard team to play for 60 minutes," he said. "We didn't do that. But these are the kind of games we found a way to lose a few weeks ago. But right now, we're finding ways to win it. It's a big difference."
Though the Flyers didn't turn in an "A" game performance against the worst club in the National Hockey League, they still picked up their third win in succession during a six-game home stand.
Ray Emery (33 saves) was sharp inside the net, but not terribly sharp outside it.
Emery made a key mistake in the third period, going behind the net on a dump-in during a Hurricane power play. He tried to play the puck off the wall and instead, Sergei Samsonov took it off him, then fed Rod Brind'Amour in the slot.
Brind'Amour might be having his worst year ever, but he didn't miss an open net.
"I felt bad there, I kind of gave them some life fanning on a puck," Emery said.
He redeemed himself with two saves in the final minute on Brandon Sutter and Matt Cullen, then denied Brind'Amour in the final 23 ticks at the right post with the ‘Canes attacking 6-on-4. It was still 3-2 at that point.
"I just kind of slid across; I didn't know if there was someone there," Emery said. "I just saw the pass come across."
Although the game was starved for offense at times, Jeff Carter joined Mike Richards in the 20-goal category. Carter's two goals gave him 21 overall, and five goals in four games.
"When we're scoring goals, it makes things a lot easier for the team," Carter said. "It's no secret at the start of the year, we weren't scoring. We weren't winning many games. Definitely a lot more fun out there and makes things easier."
So does having the fourth line chip in with a goal. Carcillo scored his second goal in three games at 3:05 of the opening period.
Moving up the right side, Carcillo stripped former Flyer Joni Pitkanen, quickly angled in on goalie Manny Legace, gave a double move, then lifted the puck over him for his sixth goal.
Carcillo has more goals – two – than Simon Gagne and Danny Briere combined this week.
"Do I? That's a first," Carcillo said. "I didn't know. I'm having a good week, I guess. Lappy and Bettsy [Blair Betts] worked hard on the goal [pressure]. I got a good jump on it and surprised [Pitkanen]. Early in the game, he might have been sleeping a bit."
Less than four minutes later, Legace left the game, again suffering from pink-eye, which is why he missed practice time this week. Cam Ward replaced him.
In the period's final minute, Jussi Jokinen got a puck in the left circle and found Eric Staal alone at the net to tie the game, 1-1.
Neither Kimmo Timonen nor Chris Pronger were within an area code of Staal as Pronger challenged Ray Whitney up high while Timonen vacated the crease, leaving the slot wide open for Staal.
Then came the poor start to the second period when Laviolette called his timeout.
"We had tired players on the ice, but I didn't like the way we played up to that point," Laviolette said. "Lappy, again, being the guy he is, jumped in there, tried to get some fire under us because we were pretty flat to start that period. For me, that was a turning point for us to get going."
Like the Frankenstein monster – "It's alive!" – the Flyers finally showed some offense at 14:11. Carter, bearing down on those offensive draws, won a power play faceoff off the wall, to Pronger. He skated in a few steps, looking for traffic as Carter screened-out Ward.
"I was just waiting for traffic to get in front of him," Pronger said. "You try to buy as much time as you can. Sometimes it works out. Other times, you hit a stick or body and it sucks. Most of the time when you are shooting from out there, the only way to beat a goalie is through traffic."
Soon after, Arron Asham swiped the puck from Sutter and fed Carter in the high slot where his accuracy off the wrister is unquestioned. That made it 3-1 with a tense third period to come.
"Yeah, it starts with that guy right there," Pronger said, pointing to Emery. "[Him] making the big stops when you need it."
And getting the big fight when the Flyers need it, as well.
E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net