The Philadelphia Flyers came into Raleigh on Thursday night with the full intention of steamrolling the Carolina Hurricanes right from the drop of the puck. By time the opening period was over, they had out-hit the home team 20-10, they had a 79% to 21% advantage on faceoffs, and they were up 2-0 on the big scoreboard.
It could have been much worse.
One goal was removed because Scott Hartnell kicked the puck in the net and goalie Cam Ward was hearing ringing off the pipes all night, or at least until he was removed from the game midway through the second period with the score, 4-0.
The Flyers camped in Ward's crease at will and no one was able to, or wanted to move them out.
When all was said and done, the Flyers racked up an 8-1 win over the Hurricanes and continued their absolute dominance over the Carolina franchise. The win gives them a 14-0-3 record against the Canes in their last 17 meetings.
There is not much positive to report from the Carolina point of view.
Quick Thoughts and Stats:
- The Ruutu line had a rough night of it in their own end. Ruutu and Cole both finished with a (-4), Skinner was (-3).
- The Canes out-shot the Flyers 36-26, but this was one of those games where the shot totals were meaningless.
- The team battled back in the faceoff circle to win 42% for the night. Matsumoto won 60%, Sutter finished at 21%.
- Chad LaRose had a team high seven hits. The team was credited with a total of 30. After getting 20 in the first period alone, the Flyers finished off with 39.
- Justin Peters had a team high two giveaways. According to the stat sheet, the team finished with a total of eight, which seems low.
- The Hurricanes penalty kill didn't look good as the Flyers seemed to score at will with the man advantage. Philadelphia was 2-2 for the night.
Obviously, the locker room was pretty quiet and abandoned after the game. Thank you to Tom Kostopoulos, Justin Peters, and Eric Staal, who did take time for some brief interviews. A couple of those interviews follow:
Justin Peters
Eric Staal
Paul Maurice