Carter's second goal gives Flyers home-opening win
There was a joyous pregame celebration at the Wells Fargo Center Monday night as the Flyers - and a loud sellout crowd - watched the unfurling of the Eastern Conference championship banner.
About 21/2 hours later, they were still celebrating.
Jeff Carter's second goal of the game propelled the Flyers to a 4-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche. He scored on a bad-angle shot near the goal line on the left, close to the same spot where Patrick Kane scored to give Chicago the Stanley Cup in June.
Carter's goal, which bounced off the inside of goalie Craig Anderson's skate, snapped a 2-2 tie with 2 minutes, 38 seconds left, and Darroll Powe secured the win with an empty-net score as the Flyers improved to 25-12-6 in home openers.
"Just throw it at the net and good things happen," said Carter, who scored on a breakaway to give the Flyers (2-0-1) a 2-0 lead early in the first period.
Mike Richards, who had several left wingers on his line during the night, collected two assists and was plus-3, and Claude Giroux scored his second shorthanded goal of the young season.
In the opening minute of the third period, Colorado winger Milan Hejduk tied the score at 2 as his left-circle shot bounced off Sergei Bobrovsky (2-0) and trickled past him.
It was one of the few mistakes made by the Russian rookie, who turned away 25 shots.
Starting at home "was a little bit more difficult because there's more expectations here," Bobrovsky said through a translator.
"He's certainly making a name for himself," said defenseman Chris Pronger, who played his first game after being sidelined by a knee injury. Pronger, who said it would take a while before he would find his rhythm, was plus-2 in 20:26.
Having Pronger in the lineup "makes it easier to play, but all the guys are very good. I want to thank everybody," said Bobrovsky, who has a .935 save percentage and 2.00 goals-against average. "It's an honor to play with everyone."
The Flyers' power play was 0 for 4 and is 1 for 13 this season, but their penalty-killing unit continued to excel. The Flyers killed all three Avalanche power plays and have killed 16 of 18 in three games.
After committing 15 penalties in St. Louis Saturday, the Flyers received an earful from coach Peter Laviolette.
Oddly, though, the Flyers were at their best Monday after they went to the penalty box.
Colorado had two first-period power plays, but it was the Flyers who took advantage.
Giroux scored on a shorthanded breakaway, and Carter scored on a breakaway after he stole the puck with one second left on a Colorado power play. Both players scored on backhanders they roofed into the net, enabling the Flyers to carry a 2-0 lead into the second period.
Giroux, who is emerging as one of the league's best stickhandlers, had not scored a shorthanded goal in the first 126 games of his career.
Now he has two in the season's first three games.
Taking a pass from Richards, Giroux beat Anderson after a breathtaking, backhand-forehand-backhand move with 7:47 left in the opening period.
"We tried to be aggressive, and it was all Richie," Giroux said. "I was able to put it in, but when you're aggressive, I think you're going to have chances to score."
Later in the period, with Richards in the penalty box for slashing, Carter intercepted a drop pass from David Jones to Ryan Wilson at the Flyers' defensive blue line. He skated in alone and lifted the puck over Anderson with 2:27 to go in the period. Technically, it was not a shorthanded goal as it was scored four seconds after Richards' penalty expired.
Colorado, which opened the season with a 4-3, overtime win over the defending Cup champion Blackhawks, converted a turnover into a goal to slice the deficit to 2-1 midway through the second period.
John-Michael Liles intercepted a Scott Hartnell pass and fed Brandon Yip, whose turnaround shot from in front beat Bobrovsky.
Bobrovsky, who was solid in the Flyers' 3-2, opening-night win Thursday in Pittsburgh, made perhaps his best stop just before the second-period buzzer sounded, turning aside defenseman Scott Hannan's shot from the right circle.
Contact staff writer Sam Carchidi at 215-854-5181 or scarchidi@phillynews.com.
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