The Morning After: Carter owns Brind'Amour for OT winner

The Flyers beat the Carolina Hurricanes in overtime tonight by a score of 2-1. Jeff Carter scored the game-winner on a beautiful shot immediately following a faceoff win over Rod Brind'Amour. The Flyers are now 9-1-3 in their last 14 games and are also 7-0-3 in their last 10 games against Carolina, dating back to December of 2006.

B&P’s Take: It wasn't the prettiest of wins, and I thought the Flyers really struggled at times in this game, but they were still able to pull out the victory, and that's what good teams do. It's an improvement from Thursday night, a game that they should've pulled out as well, but didn't. This team misses Matt Carle on the blueline, but Ossi Vaananen really played well tonight, making Carle's absense a little less prominent.

Sadly, the final play of this game is making me realize a hard truth. One of my favorite players of all-time (and I'm sure a lot of other Flyer fans feel the same way) may been nearing the end of his career. Rod Brind'Amour is minus-22 on the season and he was completely owned by Carter on that final faceoff. He's been in the league for 20 years now, and at age 38, it looks as if his days as a player could be coming to an end. Love ya either way, Brindy.

B&P’s Three Stars

1. Jeff Carter


2. Antero Niittymaki


3. Michael Leighton

Turning Point of the Game: It's one thing to beat Rod Brind'Amour at a faceoff in the offensive zone. It's another thing to do it in overtime. And it's yet another thing to step around him, settle the puck, and blast a shot from the dot passed the opposing goalie to win the game. That's exactly what Jeff Carter did tonight.

In the Doghouse: The Flyers haven't scored a five-on-five goal since Mike Richards scored in the first period of the Toronto game. That was LAST SATURDAY. It's been a week. It's great that we're better shorthanded than most teams are on the power play and all, but if you can't score at even strength, then you can't win hockey games consistently.

The RBC Center ice goes on the list too. My God, does it suck. I know I'm like a 12 hour drive away from Raleigh and everything, but the puck is bouncing like it's Wimbledon out there. Jeff Carter had a great chance to score in OT off a rebound from a Joffrey Lupul shot, but the puck bounced around and he couldn't get any wood on it.

Down on the Farm: The Phantoms defeated the Binghamton Senators at the Spectrum tonight by a score of 5-2. Philadelphia scored three in the first period en route to the win. Patrick Maroon had a helluva game, notching a hat trick and two assists. All three of his goals were on the power play, including the final one which was an empty netter. Scott Munroe made 22 saves for the Phantoms.