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Goal by Carter gives Flyers another win over Devils

Oct 26, 2008 - 1:29 AM PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- Jeff Carter scored at 3:44 of overtime as the Philadelphia Flyers posted their first winning streak of the season with a 3-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday.

Defenseman Ossi Vaananen brought the puck into the offensive zone and took a shot from the right faceoff circle. From his knees, Carter re-directed the puck past goaltender Martin Brodeur from the right side of the net for the winning tally.

For Carter, it was his sixth goal of the season and extended his goal-scoring streak to four games.

"I knew Ossi had it back there, and I just turned and tried to get in front of him," Carter said. "I kind of slipped out, and my stick just happened to time it perfectly and got a piece of it."

Carter's goal came in an extra session that was delayed after a smoke bomb was thrown onto the ice by a fan.

"I thought that was kind of weird. It's the first time I've seen that," Flyers right wing Mike Knuble said. "In minor league hockey, they would have fireworks explosions before games, and the ice would water, but I don't know if that was a distraction for them at all. You kind of just have to play through it, and we scored right after that."

"It smelled like New Year's," Vaananen said.

Whatever it was, it led to a win, and the Flyers certainly will take it.

The victory was Philadelphia's second win in less than 24 hours, with both coming against its Atlantic Division nemesis. The Flyers started the season 0-3-3 before posting a 6-3 victory at New Jersey on Friday night.

"I thought it was a real solid effort from start to finish," Flyers coach John Stevens said. "To be able to keep the goals against down is obviously a big focus for us right now, and to win a close game like that against the Devils, who pride themselves in winning close games, that was a real feather in our cap."

Knuble and Scott Hartnell also scored for the Flyers, who never trailed.

"They have had our number the last couple of years," Hartnell said. "It's nice to get two wins on them, four points, and it's a well-needed four points at this point in the season with the start that we had."

Zach Parise and Brian Gionta tallied and Brodeur stopped 30 shots for the Devils, who have lost two straight following a three-game winning streak.

"They came down and they played it to the net and it hit a stick and went over Marty," Devils coach Brent Sutter said. "It's an unfortunate goal for Marty, but we played hard and played a good hockey game. We responded well to last night, and that's what you want to see."

Knuble opened the scoring at 9:42 of the first period, burying the rebound of his own wraparound shot for his second goal of the season - and in as many games.

Parise tied the contest 27 seconds into the middle session, when he stood in the slot and tipped a shot from the point by defenseman Colin White past netminder Martin Biron.

Hartnell scored on the power play just over nine minutes later, restoring Philadelphia's lead.

Defenseman Braydon Coburn took a slap shot from the blue line that Carter got his stick on, but Brodeur made the initial save. The puck deflected across the crease to Hartnell, who put it in the vacant net to make it 2-1.

The Devils recorded a power-play goal of their own with 1:43 left in the second to forge another deadlock. Gionta recorded his first tally of the season, lifting a backhander that beat Biron to the blocker side.

Biron made 29 saves for the Flyers, who moved up the start time of Saturday's contest so it would not conflict with Game Three of the World Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays.

"When he seems like he is square to the puck, nothing goes through him," Stevens said of Biron. "He is starting to get his confidence, and I thought that carried right into today's game. This win is a big boost for our club, and I think it will be a big boost for our confidence as well."