Flyers Offer Listless Effort in Loss to Hurricanes

Report From Philadelphia Flyers

* Carolina snapped a streak of seven games without a regulation loss for the Flyers.

* Claude Giroux extended his home point streak to six straight games with an assist tonight… He now has eight points (4g-4a) in that six-game span.

* Vincent Lecavalier had two fights in a single game for the first time in his career.

* Sean Couturier extended his scoring streak to five games, posting six points (2g-4a), while Mark Streit extended his to three games (6a).

GAME RECAP

PHILADELPHIA — Cam Ward made 27 saves to help the Carolina Hurricanes defeat the Philadelphia Flyers 3-1 at the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday.

Jordan Staal had a goal and an assist, and Brett Bellemore and Ryan Murphy scored for the Hurricanes (30-40-11).

Sean Couturier scored for the Flyers. Goalie Ray Emery made 24 saves.

The Flyers’ No. 1-ranked home power play went 0-for-2 with three shots on goal against the Hurricanes’ No. 1-ranked road penalty kill.

The Flyers lost their 11th straight game (0-6-5) against teams that entered the game out of a position in the Stanley Cup Playoffs; their last win against a non-playoff team was Feb. 15 against the Buffalo Sabres.

Jordan Staal beat Philadelphia’s Sean Couturier on a faceoff in the Carolina end, and Bellemore started the play going the other way. With Jordan Staal carrying the puck into the Philadelphia end, he dropped it for Eric Staal at the blue line, Bellemore drove to the net and got position on Philadelphia defenseman Nicklas Grossmann in front of the net to tip Eric Staal’s low shot from the left point past Emery.

Moments later, Bellemore made a lunging kick save to prevent a goal. Couturier and Philadelphia forward Matt Read had a 2-on-1, and after Ward stopped Couturier’s shot from the right side, Bellemore spun and got his left leg on Read’s attempt on an empty Carolina net with 3:18 left in the period.

Murphy’s fourth goal of the season gave the Hurricanes a 2-0 lead in the second period. With Philadelphia defensemanMichael Del Zotto serving a four-minute high-sticking penalty, defenseman John-Michael Liles got the puck at the top of the Philadelphia zone and slid it to his left to Murphy, who’s slap shot from the top of the left circle beat Emery inside the far post.

Philadelphia cut the deficit to 2-1 with 3:41 remaining on Couturier’s 15th goal of the season. With Emery out for an extra attacker, defenseman Mark Streit‘s shot from the point went off Couturier’s hip in front and past Ward.

The Flyers (33-13-18) had one more chance when captain Claude Giroux set up forward Michael Raffl for a one-timer from the slot but Ward made a save in traffic with 1:39 remaining.

Jordan Staal finished the scoring with an empty-net goal with 38.4 seconds remaining.