Carter Leads Flyers Over Panthers 3-2
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) -- Jeff Carter scored two goals in the second period and the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Florida Panthers 3-2 Tuesday night.
Scott Hartnell also scored for the Flyers and Brian Boucher made 20 saves. The win was the Flyers' third in eight games but they maintained a one-point lead over Washington in the Eastern Division.
Stephen Weiss and Dmitry Kulikov scored for the Panthers. Tomas Vokoun stopped 28 shots.
Philadelphia tied the game at 2 on Carter's first goal at 4:43 of the second. Florida's Darcy Hordichuk lost control of the puck between the circles in front of the Panther net. Carter grabbed it, turned and fired the puck into the net.
Carter's second goal of the game came later in the period at 15:23 and gave the Flyers a 3-2 lead. The Flyers won a faceoff in their own zone. Danny Briere got the puck in the neutral zone and skated in on Vokoun. He passed to Carter to the right of the crease, and his shot got past a sprawling Vokoun for his 32nd goal of the season.
The Panthers took a 2-1 lead on Kulikov's goal at 18:11 of the first. Sergei Samsonov passed from the right circle back to Kulikov just inside the blue line and his slap shot got past Boucher.
The Flyers took a 1-0 lead at 4:28 of the first. Ville Leino passed the puck from behind the net to Mike Richards at the bottom of the right circle. Vokoun came out to block a potential shot and fell down in front of Richards, who passed the puck to Hartnell in front. His shot got past Weiss, who went into the net to try to block the shot.
The Panthers tied it at 1 on Weiss's goal. Keaton Ellerby brought the puck out from behind the Panthers net with a long pass to Samsonov on the side boards near the red line, who passed the puck out to Weiss near the blue line. Weiss skated in between the circles and his shot got past Boucher's outstretched glove at 7:06.
NOTES: Philadelphia D Chris Pronger had successful surgery to repair a small fracture on his right hand on Tuesday. He is expected to miss three to four weeks. Pronger first injured the hand on Feb.24 against the New York Islanders when he blocked a shot. ... Carter has 15 goals in his last 23 games. ... Weiss has 14 points in his last 13 games against the Flyers.
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