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Samsonov lifts Hurricanes past Flyers in OT

Nov 28, 2008 - 11:29 PM PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- Sergei Samsonov ended the Philadelphia Flyers' six-game winning streak in overtime.

Samsonov netted the game-winner with 67 seconds left in the extra session as the Carolina Hurricanes snapped a three-game losing skid with a 3-2 triumph over the Flyers on Friday.

"Every game seems to be a battle for us," Samsonov said. "It was nice to win this one especially since we were on the road. We had a little bit of a slump going and hopefully this will put us on the right path."

Rookie Patrick Dwyer and Tuomo Ruutu scored in a 66-second span in the second period and Cam Ward made 24 saves for the Hurricanes, who lost to Philadelphia, 3-1, on Wednesday.

Joffrey Lupul and Jeff Carter each had a goal and assist on the power play for the Flyers, who have recorded a point in nine consecutive games (7-0-2).

"We would have like to continue the winning steak," Lupul said. "You got to look at the whole picture; we played a pretty good game tonight. Their goalie played well. We didn't make the most of a lot our chances."

Samsonov took a pass from Matt Cullen and beat the defenseman down the left wing before making a quick move on goaltender Martin Biron and stuffing the puck in on his stick side. It was Samsonov's second goal of the season.

"Matt Cullen gave a pretty nice pass and he put the puck in the open area," Samsonov said. "I had some speed going through the neutral zone and I cut to the net to see if I can get some room. I had more room than I thought, so I decided to keep moving and see if I could squeeze one by him."

"Samsonov came in with a lot of speed," Biron said. "Being a right-hand shot, he protects the puck pretty good. He was able to get it to his forehand. I thought that he was going to go further to the glove hand, but he made a quick shot. Four-on-four, you're going to have those situations."

The turning point of the contest occurred when Philadelphia capitalized on a bad line change by Carolina and captain Mike Richards beat Ward with a one-time to seemingly extend the lead to 2-0 early in the middle session.

But the Flyers' line change was worse as they were called for two many players on ice and the goal was disallowed.

"I've never had that happen before," Richards said. "Obviously, somebody was there that wasn't supposed to be. You don't expect that to happen and it's an easy call for the referee when you see six guys in the corner. It was a strange turn of events. From going up 2-0 to 1-0 and killing a penalty."

"We would have been very fortunate if they hadn't called it," Flyers coach John Stevens said. "Two defensemen were on for one guy and they were all the way inside the dots. If we got away with that one it would have been a little bit of magic."

Energized by Philadelphia's mistake, the Hurricanes tied the contest on Dwyer's first career goal with five minutes left in the period. Playing in his 10th NHL game, Dwyer had defenseman Joni Pitkanen's shot deflected off his leg and past Biron.

Just over a minute later, Ruutu gave Carolina a 2-1 edge by floating a wrist shot from the left point that beat Biron, who was screen on the play.

"Things were going there way prior to that," Hurricanes coach Peter Laviolette said. "Then we were able to get going a little more and get back with a little puck movement. We got the puck down to their end and finished off some checks. We got going as the period went on, so it was an important non-goal"

"I thought that our third and overtime were pretty solid," Carolina center Eric Staal said. "We were on the attack and we were getting opportunities."

On his next shift, Ruutu would then be called for a critical interference penalty. Carter capitalized on that mistake and scored his NHL-leading 16th goal on the ensuing man advantage to tie the contest with 46 ticks left in the second session.

"It was a great play by the defensemen to read it and get it up the ice," Carter said. "Lupul drove down through the wall and made a great pass and it was just a little chip shot."

Biron finished with 27 saves.