The Metropolitician Drops His Gloves, Carter Rings Up Another, But Flyers Lose

The streak had to end sometime. I was hoping it might get to the 8 or 10 win mark, but we'll have to settle for 6. Not bad considering what the Flyers looked like before shredding through every opponent for 2 weeks.

It was a weird and chippy game, one that saw both Jeff Carter and Marty Biron get nicked up, another Carter goal, a pair of good fights, and Sergei Samsonov alive and well. Joffrey Lupul opened the scoring for the Flyers, and Carter took over the NHL goal scoring lead with his 16th, but aside from a beautiful tally by Mike Richards that was negated by a too-many-men call, the Flyers couldn't put away the Hurricanes in regulation. The game went to OT, where Samsonov corralled a puck off of the boards past Matt Carle and deked out Biron for the 3-2 winner.

There was no doubt that there were six men on the ice for Richie's goal, because all six of them were celebrating together afterward. Way to sell it, guys. No one's going to notice the huddled mass of orange (possibly cursed) jerseys being one over the legal limit.

Already down one center in Danny Briere, the last thing we want to hear is mention of a possible shoulder injury to Jeff Carter. He's brushing it off as nothing, but some reports say he may miss tonight's game along with Biron, who took an Eric Staal shot through a gap in his padding. Biron may likely have been rested against Toronto tonight anyway; with Antero Niittymaki playing very well, there's no need for either to play on back-to-back days.

One streak that did stay alive was the penalty killing efficiency. Over the last 10 games, the Flyers have killed off 50 of 52 penalties, including their last 15.

Though the Flyers are still minus Riley Cote, who could be back tonight, they still dropped the gloves twice against the Canes on Friday. First, Josh Gratton and Wade Brookbank rematched their draw from Wednesday, and then Glen Metropolit squared off with Patrick Eaves.

Sweeter than a cherry pie with Redi Whip topping. Usually I'm annoyed when I can't find the JJ call on YouTube, but in this case, it's priceless to hear the Hurricanes' announcer. After Eaves gets his ass kicked, with Metro kneeling over him like a bully dangling a loogie, this guy says, "Good for Eaves. Boy, good for Eaves." Homerism will never die in the NHL. 

Cam Ward earned his W, stopping a few late rushes and breakaways singlehandedly. Marty came up one short at the other end, fooled by the once great Samsonov. At least we got the sympathy point (without a shootout embarrassment!), moving our guys ahead of the Devils, albeit with one more game played.

The Flyers will get a chance to shake it off quickly, as they're in Toronto for a 7PM start against the struggling Maple Leafs tonight.

Comments

[K in South Jersey]

Gagne's 9 game point streak also ended yesterday...

Guess they'll just have to start a new winning streak tonight

[Karen]

Best part was after the 2 Flyer goals, both Lupul and Carter did the turkey wing flapping thing that the Dallas Defense was doing on Thanksgiving day.

[Mr. Butthole]

Hockey rules