Raleigh, NC (Sports Network) – Jeff Carter registered his second career hat trick and impressive rookie Sergei Bobrovsky made 35 saves, as the Philadelphia Flyers pounded the Carolina Hurricanes, 8-1, at the RBC Center.
Danny Briere collected two goals and one assist for the Flyers, who had a six- game winning streak snapped with an overtime loss Sunday in Washington.
Philadelphia has posted eight straight wins over the Hurricanes and improved to 14-0-3 against Carolina since a 2-1 regulation loss on December 19, 2006.
Chad LaRose lit the lamp for the Hurricanes, who had scored 21 goals while winning three of their last four games, including a 7-1 rout of Edmonton on Tuesday.
Carolina goaltender Cam Ward was pulled in the second period after allowing four goals on just 13 shots. Justin Peters made nine saves in relief.
Briere gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead 7:54 into the contest. Ville Leino shielded the puck from a defender as he circled the Carolina net and dished across the low slot to Briere, who beat Ward with a backhander. The tally came moments after Scott Hartnell had a goal, which was set up by another nifty feed from Leino, wiped out because of a kicking motion.
With Carolina forward Erik Cole serving an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, Carter swept in the rebound of Chris Pronger's blast from the point to make it 2-0 with 1:18 remaining in the first period.
Carter redirected Andrej Meszaros' shot past a distressed Ward to extend the lead to 3-0 at 1:54 of the middle stanza. He then chased Ward to the bench when he finished off a 2-on-1 rush with a wrister for his second power-play goal at 5:58 of the period.
The rout continued in the third as the visitors tacked on four more goals.
Philadelphia captain Mike Richards netted a shorthanded marker at 7:27 before LaRose spoiled Bobrovsky's shutout bid at 8:44. Hartnell countered 18 seconds later, then Briere scored off a Dan Carcillo dish at 10:55 and Nikolay Zherdev beat Peters on a breakaway to finish the scoring with 1:50 remaining.
Game Notes
Thursday marked the 25th anniversary of the death of former Flyers goaltender Pelle Lindbergh, who passed away at the age of 26 from injuries sustained in a car accident...Briere recorded his 300th career assist...Flyers forward Claude Giroux picked up two assists...Philadelphia second-year forward James van Riemsdyk missed his third straight game as a healthy scratch...The Flyers have won seven straight in Carolina...Cole and Tuomo Ruutu both finished with a minus-4 for the Hurricanes...Carolina forward Jiri Tlusty played his 100th career game.
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