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Knuble, Biron lead Flyers past Hurricanes

Nov 29, 2007 - 4:44 AM RALEIGH, North Carolina (Ticker) -- The Philadelphia Flyers continued their mastery of the Carolina Hurricanes.

Mike Knuble had a goal and two assists and Martin Biron made 40 saves as the Flyers defeated the Hurricanes, 3-1, on Wednesday.

Defensemen Derian Hatcher and Kimmo Timonen also scored and Mike Richards added two assists for Philadelphia, which topped Carolina for the third time in as many meetings this season.

"We've been able to match their skating, and they're a team that can outskate a lot of teams," Knuble said. "If we do get in a game where there's a lot of skating, we can really match up on teams - and hopefully, then it's a case of outworking them, too."

After assisting on two second-period goals, Knuble scored during a power play just 33 seconds into the third session to give the Flyers a 3-0 lead.

Richards alertly fed Knuble, who skated from the left faceoff circle to the slot before beating goaltender Cam Ward under the crossbar for his eighth goal of the season.

Playing in his first contest since being sidelined with a right knee injury on October 27, Hatcher's first goal of the campaign opened the scoring at 5:49 of the second.

Stationed in front of the net, the veteran blue-liner took three pokes at the puck before finally getting it past Ward near the right goalpost to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead.

"I knew it was there, and I just kept whacking at it," Hatcher said. "That sums it up."

Timonen doubled Philadelphia's advantage with 4:44 remaining in the session.

Ward made the initial stop of Richards' shot, but the rebound slowly trickled behind the netminder. Alertly, Knuble corralled the puck but shot it wide of the net.

Timonen, who had exited the penalty box and joined the play, controlled the rebound and deposited the puck into the vacant net for his third tally.

Cory Stillman ended Biron's bid for his 21st career shutout by scoring 9 1/2 minutes into the third period. The goal was Stillman's 12th of the season and eighth with the man advantage.

"They've played well against us and in our building," Stillman said. "We've given them opportunities and they've scored. They've scored timely goals. The big one was the one to start the third period (33) seconds in. If we could have killed that (penalty) off, maybe you would have seen a shift in the momentum of the game."

Biron also played a big role on Wednesday, stopping 17 first-period shots by Carolina.

"The first period was a big key tonight," Biron said. "We seem to build off those good starts and it gives us confidence for 60 minutes - instead of falling behind and being a little tentative, which is what happened in some games."

Carolina captain Rod Brind'Amour credited Biron's play as well.

"(Biron) was on," the former Flyer said. "He kept them in the game early, and then they banged home a couple of rebound goals and that was the game."

The Flyers played without Scott Hartnell, who served the first contest of his two-game suspension after his hit on Boston Bruins defenseman Andrew Alberts on Monday. Hartnell also will sit out Saturday's home contest against Dallas.

Ward finished with 31 saves for Carolina, which is 7-8-0 in its last 15 games.

"I was surprised that it was that good," Brind'Amour said of his team's recent stretch. "We're not winning games we want to win. We expect to win every night. Anytime you lose, it's tough. We're not scoring enough goals. "