• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Gagne's goals net Flyers fifth straight win

Oct 21, 2007 - 3:50 AM PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- The Philadelphia Flyers are clicking on all cylinders.

Simon Gagne scored his second goal of the game 48 seconds into overtime and Martin Biron stopped 42 shots to lift the Flyers to a 3-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday.

Gagne, who also scored the game's first goal, accepted a feed from defenseman Derian Hatcher and beat goaltender John Grahame to give the Flyers their fifth straight win. Hatcher's pass bounced off Gagne's skate and the right goalpost before Gagne's shot deflected off Grahame's glove and into the net.

"I don't know if it was the rebound, but the puck went slowly when I hit it with my blade," Gagne said. "For a couple of seconds, I thought about it, but I knew I hit it with my stick, too, and it hit the goalie."

Grahame agreed with Gagne's account of the goal.

"That's exactly what happened," Grahame said. "I slid across and I don't know if it hit me or he whacked it in a second time."

While not aesthetically pleasing, Gagne's fourth goal of the season allowed the Atlantic Division-leading Flyers to open with four straight home wins for the first time in 12 years. By comparison, Philadelphia did not win its fourth home game last season until February 10.

"We want to be a tough team to play against at home," Gagne said. "We were an easy team to beat at home last year. We want to send message that it's going to be tough for teams to come in here and get those two points."

Biron was more impressed with his team's ability to rally.

"We want to be a hard-working team," Biron said. "We want to be able to show teams that we can come back. It's tough to come back. To be able to do it is something that we're excited about."

With the Flyers trailing, 2-1, in the third period, Mike Richards blasted a slap shot past Grahame from the top of the right faceoff circle to even the game just 92 seconds into the session. For Richards, it was his fifth goal of the season and fourth in as many games.

"We went to set up on Gagne's side," Richards said. "I just tried to move and get open and just be an option."

A pair of former Flyers were instrumental in giving the Hurricanes a 2-1 advantage with 2:08 remaining in the second period.

Carolina captain Rod Brind'Amour carried the puck into the offensive zone and left a drop pass for Cory Stillman. Stillman blasted a slap shot that Justin Williams deflected between Biron's legs to snap a 1-1 tie.

Williams was a first-round selection by the Flyers in the 2000 draft, while Brind'Amour played parts of nine seasons in Philadelphia.

The Flyers opened the scoring just over five minutes into the contest.

Defenseman Braydon Coburn controlled the puck at the blue line before advancing along the boards and wristing a shot toward the net. Daniel Briere, who had the attention of both a defender and Grahame, deftly deflected the puck to Gagne at the opposite side of the net.

Gagne tapped it in for his third goal of the season.

"I was trying to look to get goals for the team," Gagne said. "Tonight, I was trying to do a little more. I wasn't thinking about scoring goals, but I was thinking about working hard and going to the net."

Eric Staal responded 46 seconds later to level the game at 1-1.

Staal's goal was his team-leading sixth of the season and Carolina's 11th with the man advantage this season. The tally also ended Biron's scoreless streak at 143 minutes, 20 seconds after consecutive shutouts of the Atlanta Thrashers and New Jersey Devils.

"It was a good game," Staal said. "We had the last two minutes on the power play (in regulation) and we didn't get it. We just couldn't get it done in the overtime."

Grahame made 27 saves in a losing effort.

"You always want to get as many points as possible," Grahame said. "We can always do better, but let's look at the bright side. We've got a bunch of home games coming up and we'll pick up where we left off."