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Flyers beat Blackhawks in Cup rematch

Jan 23, 2011 - 11:26 PM Chicago, IL (Sports Network) - Jeff Carter scored twice and added an assist while Claude Giroux picked up four helpers, as the Philadelphia Flyers earned a 4-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks in a rematch of last year's Stanley Cup Finals.

The Blackhawks won the best-of-seven series in six games back in June. Patrick Kane became the hero in Game 6 when he scored the Cup-clinching goal in overtime, giving the franchise its first Stanley Cup title since 1961.

Nikolay Zherdev and Scott Hartnell also tallied for the Flyers, who recovered from Saturday's 3-1 loss to New Jersey and have won nine of 11. Philadelphia is now five points ahead of idle Pittsburgh atop the Atlantic Division and has an NHL-best 69 points, two more than idle Vancouver.

"We came into a loud building against a very good hockey team, and played a real sound hockey game and walked away with two points," Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette said.

Sergei Bobrovsky was solid between the pipes, turning aside 30-of-31 shots to pick up the victory.

Marian Hossa had the lone goal for Chicago, which had won two straight and was 5-0-1 in its previous six games. Corey Crawford made 30 saves in defeat.

"They scored the all important first goal, they got the lead and had the momentum and we didn't do a very good job of getting it back," Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville said. "I thought we had a good start to the game, were doing a lot of good things, but that was an important goal."

Ahead by a goal after two periods, the Flyers struck twice in the early stages of the third.

Zherdev tallied on a wrap-around at 2:28, then Carter chipped Giroux's pass by Crawford from in close to give Philadelphia a 3-0 lead at 5:21.

Chicago, though, got one back on Hossa's penalty shot goal just 1:28 later.

However, the Blackhawks were unable to get any closer the rest of the way and Hartnell scored into the empty net with 52 seconds remaining.

Each side had a power-play chance in the opening period, but Bobrovsky stopped all 11 shots, while Crawford made nine saves to keep it a scoreless game after 20 minutes.

Philadelphia opened the scoring 49 seconds into the middle stanza when Carter jammed the puck home after a lengthy goal-mouth scramble.

The Flyers tightened things up defensively in the neutral zone, limiting Chicago to only nine low-percentage shots in the second. Meanwhile, Crawford kept the Blackhawks in the game, allowing only the one goal on 19 shots, and Philadelphia held the 1-0 lead heading into the second intermission.

Game Notes

Flyers forward James van Riemsdyk missed the contest with a lower-body injury and is listed as day-to-day...Philadelphia improved to 14-2-0 with a tie in its last 17 non-playoff meetings with the Blackhawks and has six victories and a tie in its last nine trips to the Windy City during the regular season.