• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Briere does the trick for Flyers in victory over Hurricanes

Nov 22, 2007 - 4:58 AM By Joe Johnson PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Ticker) - Three days off were exactly what the Philadelphia Flyers needed as they beat the Carolina Hurricanes, 6-3, on Wednesday night to break a two-game losing streak.

Daniel Briere recorded a hat trick in the third period for the Flyers, who have beaten the Hurricanes in both meetings this season. It was Briere's third career hat trick and first with the Flyers since signing as a free agent from the Buffalo Sabres in the offseason.

"I just had to find a way to get in there and find loose pucks," Briere said.

Mike Knuble and Kimmo Timonen each scored second-period goals for the Flyers, who rallied from a goal down in the first period to take a 2-1 lead. The Flyers have been able to clamp down on opponents this season when holding a lead after two periods, building a 10-0 mark under those circumstances.

But in a madcap third period which saw Philadelphia build a pair of two-goal leads only to have Carolina scratch back into it, the Flyers were happy to escape with a win.

The teams combined for six goals, five power plays, including a 5-on-3 for Carolina which couldn't convert on either end of it, and a missed penalty shot by Philadelphia's Mike Richards when the Flyers were short-handed.

"It was a wild third period," said Philadelphia goalkeeper Martin Biron, who saved 31 of 34 shots. "The last home game was not our best but we came back tonight and played extremely well."

Philadelphia suffered a disappointing 6-2 loss at home to New Jersey in its last game.

"We weren't very happy with the loss against Jersey," Briere said. "It was a tough loss at home and to get embarrassed like that. There was a lot on the line tonight. We wanted to prove our start wasn't a fluke and we can play with the best teams. We consider the Hurricanes to be one of the best teams in the league."

Briere padded the Flyers' lead 21 seconds in to the third period with Philadelphia's second power-play goal. Briere poked in a shot at the right post when Cam Ward was not able to get back across the crease.

Carolina's Eric Staal broke a four-game goal drought when he buried a slap shot from the right point. Cory Stillman provided a nice screen in front of Philadelphia goaltender Martin Biron, who did not appear to see Staal's sizzling shot that cut Philadelphia's lead to 3-2.

Briere made it 4-2 with his second goal of the session and Matt Cullen brought Carolina back to within a goal when he tipped in a shot from Stillman at 5:56 of the period to make it 4-3. Cullen also had a pair of assists to record a three-point night.

Carolina squandered a 5-on-3 with under 10 minutes left in the game when Joffrey Lupul and Mike Richards took penalties for Philadelphia. The Hurricanes managed only three shots on the power play.

"We'd like to have that one back," said Cullen. "That was a pretty crucial point, and certainly we'd love to get one there, but it's something that you can't control all the time. It's not going to go in every time. It's more a matter of, we can't be giving up that many goals. We created some pretty decent chances, but the bottom line is that we've got to keep the puck out of our net."

Biron said he was relieved to survive that Carolina flurry.

"It was 4-3 and they had a 5-on-3, that was a big part of the game for us to kill that one off," Biron said. "They had scored three power-play goals, so to be able to come through with a big kill and then get a power-play goal after that to make it 5-3.

Briere's final goal came with just over five minutes left when he beat a defenseless Ward to make it 5-3. Scott Hartnell added an empty-net goal with 31 seconds to play to cap the scoring.

"He was terrific," Flyers coach John Stevens said of Briere. "The puck came to him a couple of times and he just seemed to have all kinds of jump. That, to me, was the best he's looked all year."

Justin Williams took four of the Hurricanes' eight penalties, including three in the second period.

"I thought personally I got the short end of the stick on a couple of the penalties," Williams said. "One of them, I didn't even actually do anything, they got the wrong guy, the third one ... regardless, I'm not going to say anything about it."

Carolina captain Rod Brind'Amour scored a power-play goal at 14:05 of the first period for the game's first goal to give the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead. Brind'Amour put back his own rebound by Biron, who made the first save but was unable to control the puck.

Knuble tied the game at 1-1 when he redirected a hard rebound off Ward's stick back into the goal. Randy Jones started the play with a hard shot from the left wing.

Timonen gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead when he converted the first to three power-play goals for Philadelphia.