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Hurricanes win first of season, send Flyers to third loss

Oct 7, 2013 - 4:44 AM Raleigh, NC (SportsNetwork.com) - Radek Dvorak netted the winner early in the second period and Anton Khudobin made 17 saves, as the Carolina Hurricanes clipped the Philadelphia Flyers, 2-1, on Sunday.

Jay Harrison registered a first-period tally and Jeff Skinner added a pair of assists for the Hurricanes, who picked up their first win of the season.

"Guys came ready to battle tonight, worked hard and played the right way," said Hurricanes head coach Kirk Muller. "The end result was a nice victory."

Khudobin, who bested the Flyers for his first NHL win as a starter while playing for Minnesota in February of 2010, was similarly successful in his Carolina debut.

Luke Schenn scored and Steve Mason was solid in defeat with 32 saves for the Flyers, who have gone 0-3 to start the season for the second consecutive year.

"I would think that it's pretty frustrating," said Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette of his club scoring only three times thus far. "There's not a lot of room out there. We haven't had a lot of attempts. We're too quick in the offensive zone. We're looking, but not coming up with anything. If you're not scoring, everything has to be perfect on the defensive side."

Down by a goal, the visitors only came up with an anemic three shots on net in the final 20 minutes.

Philly failed to click on its final power-play chance of the contest when 'Canes forward Alex Semin was sent off for high sticking with 8:03 remaining, then had the final 38 seconds wiped away due to a questionable boarding call to defenseman Andrej Meszaros.

Mason was sent off for an extra attacker with 1:27 on the clock, but Carolina's pressure in its offensive zone kept the Flyers from mounting much of an attack with six skaters.

"It's the same story, We just need to win. We have to stick with the plan, stick to what we do," lamented Flyers captain Claude Giroux. "Our legs weren't there but we have to fight through it. We're going to turn it around. There's no doubt in my mind."

Harrison managed to sneak a shot through a screen and Mason's pads for a 1-0 Carolina edge at 8:11 of the first period. Though the Hurricanes failed to score again, they carried a 17-5 shot edge after 20 minutes.

The visitors responded with 3:01 played in the second, as Kris Newbury won a left-circle draw and fed back to Schenn, who skated through the circle and flipped a shot over Khudobin's shoulder with a Max Talbot screen.

A miscue from the goal scorer proved to be the winning margin. Schenn's cross- ice pass from behind his own net caromed off Jeff Skinner's skate and found the stick of Dvorak in the left circle, and the veteran roofed it for a 2-1 Carolina edge at 8:20.

Game Notes

The Hurricanes opened their season with a 3-2 overtime loss to Detroit on Friday night ... Philadelphia lost for only the seventh time in Carolina since the Whalers relocated prior to the 1997-98 season, falling to 19-6-1 with four ties since then ... The Flyers also opened the 1989-90 and lockout-shortened 1995 campaign with three consecutive defeats.