Hurricanes 3, Flyers 1

"He stole this game for us"

Those were the words of Carolina Hurricanes head coach, Bill Peters when asked about Cam Ward's performance after his team defeated the Philadelphia Flyers, 3-1 on Tuesday night at the PNC Arena.

"(He had his) best game when we needed him.  He stole this game for us.  Big saves, 2-on-1's, breakaways, and all kinds of stuff going on", said the coach.

The Flyers had dominated puck possession most of the game and outshot the Hurricanes in each and every period.  But after a shaky first goal that went through his five-hole, Ward was stellar the rest of the game.  He made 36 saves on the 37 shots he faced.

"I had to laugh after that first goal, I was snowed and had ice in my face", said Ward when asked about that first goal.  But he came on strong the rest of the way as the visitors poured on the pressure.

It was just one of those games though that the home team had some good luck.  Fortunately for them, they took full advantage of it.

Down 1-0 at the end of the first period, Joakim Nordstrom picked up a loose puck 8:09 into the second after Philadelphia goalie, Michal Neuvirth played the puck behind his net.  Nordstrom fired the puck into the empty net to tie the game for his eighth goal of the season.  He now has four goals in the last five games.

The Canes took advantage of another good break when Brett Pesce fired a puck off the end boards that bounced weirdly out to Jordan Staal, who turned and zipped his shot past Neuvirth to make it 2-1.

The Flyers had taken over much of the game and outshot the Canes, 13-8 in the first period, 15-7 in the second, and 9-3 in the third.

Eric Staal scored his first goal in 15 games late in the third period when a Jay McClement shot/pass bounced high in the air behind the Flyers' goalie.  Staal waited patiently for the puck to drop below the crossbar to knock it in out of the air for his 10th of the season.

The Canes were outshot 37-18 for the game but beat the Flyers for the first time this season after losing the three previous games in overtime.  It was also the first time the Canes won this season when trailing after the first period.  They were previously 0-14-0.

Next up for the team will be the Maple Leafs in Toronto on Thursday night.

Game Notes:

• Of the team's 18 shots, Nordstrom led the way with three. 
  
• The team was credited with 22 takeaways led by Jaccob Slavin with four.
• Ron Hainsey and Slavin led the way with over 23 minutes of ice time each.  Justin Faulk played a bit over 16 minutes in his first game back from injury.
• The Canes had nine hits and were led by Chris Terry with three.