Hurricanes hold off Flyers for 3-1 road win

Peter Koutroumpis, Triangle Sports Network
Peter Koutroumpis, Triangle Sports Network
Peter Koutroumpis, Triangle Sports Network

PHILADELPHIA, PA. – The Carolina Hurricanes earned their final road win of the season, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 3-1 at Wells Fargo Center on Thursday.

Brett Bellemore, Ryan Murphy, and Jordan Staal all scored for Carolina while goaltender Cam Ward made 27 saves to earn the win.

“Any time you can get two goals from D-men, you’re doin’ well,” Hurricanes head coach Bill Peters said.

“We want our D-men to be active and it’s nice to get some offensive contribution from them tonight.”

Sean Couturier scored Philadelphia’s lone goal as Ray Emery’s 24-save effort couldn’t deny a second consecutive loss to the Hurricanes in less than a week.

Following back-to-back losses at Buffalo and Detroit to start the week, Carolina (30-40-11) redeemed itself with another win over the Flyers (33-30-18), the fourth in a row of the two team’s five total meetings this season.

Bellemore tallied his second goal of the season on a tip-in after breaking towards the net on the rush to put the Hurricanes ahead 1-0 at the 12:48 mark of the first period.

Though not posting any points, Hurricanes rookie defenseman Keegan Lowe fought veteran Vincent LeCavalier on two different occasions during the first two periods of play to make a notable presence while making his NHL debut.

“He did a good job,” Peters said of the young blueliner.

“He competes. We knew he was a competitive player and he was competitive here tonight. I thought he managed the puck well. I thought he was good defensively. He was solid. He was good in box-out situations. Pretty good, impressive debut, and to get a win in his debut…he did a good job. He should be proud.”

Both teams remained scoreless until 12:51 of the third period when Murphy’s blast from the point on the power play beat Emery to extend Carolina’s lead to 2-0.

The defenseman’s fourth goal of the year became the eventual game-winner, the first of his NHL career.

Couturier’s 15th goal of the season gave Philadelphia hope, trailing 2-1 with 3:41 to play.

Claude Giroux’s shot from the left circle made it past a sliding Ward, but the puck hit the right post and kept Carolina’s lead intact.

As the play continued, Staal finalized the 3-1 win for the Hurricanes, snapping a shot successfully into the Flyers’ net with 39 seconds left.

Carolina will play its final game of the season when it hosts the Red Wings at PNC Arena on Saturday.