The Flyers lose in the shootout 4-3 to the Hurricanes in Philly.
There was an accident on i-95 just north of the Wachovia center earlier in the day closing down the Interstate. It was still closed at game time. This had no affect on the players, but the seats looked a little empty at the start of the game. Mike Knuble had a goal called off 23 seconds into the game, after review it determined he hit the puck with a high stick which was the right call.
There was a lot of energy in the first period. The Flyers played as well as they could without scoring. They allowed no shots on the two penalty kills of that period and out shot the Hurricanes 8-2 overall.
Second period continued the fast pace and hard hits. Jeff Carter scores on a partial breakaway with a nifty top shelf backhand shot for his 11th of the season at 12:37. The Hurricanes were able to get some pressure on Antero Niittymaki getting 11 shots on goal, the Flyers had 12.
Third period started with the Hurricanes coming out strong. The Flyers were able to survive the initial onslaught and picked up a goal from defenseman Kim Johnsson who snuck in from the point at 3:19 to score. The two goal lead didn’t last long as Matt Cullen of the Hurricanes scored on a high wrist shot at 3:40. Niittymaki may have been screen on the play. Freddy Meyer scored on a wrist shot from the point at 13:45. The two goal lead lasted about 2 minutes as Oleg Tverdovsky scored on a slap shot from the slot. Eric Cole of the Hurricanes tied the game 3-3 with a breakaway goal with 3:58 remaining.
OT Lots of end to end action, but no goals scored.

“We played very hard today and we played very well, but what we didn’t do was protect the puck when the game was on the line and that is disappointing.” – Coach Ken Hitchcock.
Flyers lost the third period, which cost them the game.

Shootout- I really hate the shootout. I never liked the idea of the shootout. Personally I think they should just keep playing. The Flyers being 2-4 in the shootout hasn’t helped my opinion of it. And of course, they loss this one.

For the Hurricanes Ray Whitney, Matt Cullen and Rod Brind’Amour scored.
For the Flyers Mike Richards and Michal Handzus scored. Gagne and Carter missed their shots.

Forsberg suffered a minor left groin strain late in the second period and did not play the third period. He will miss at least one game with his injury. He missed two weeks with a right groin injury earlier in the year.

Gerber had 2 big breakaways saves on Gagne, along with the stop on him in the shootout. Gerber deserved a star.
It is becoming painfully obvious that Niittymaki’s big weakness is the breakaway and shootout. Not a bad game from him, but not really a great one either.

Three stars for the game were Rod Brind’Amour, Freddy Meyer and Matt Cullen

It amazes me how many commentators from around the league have some sort of connection to the Philadelphia Flyers. Tripp Tracy color commentator for the Hurricanes is no exception. Tracy was drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers back in 1993, but never made it to the NHL as a player.

Chris Therien played in his 746 game as a Flyer tying him for fourth all time with Joe Watson.