[Drew]

HURRICANE BREEZE

(RALEIGH, NC - PhiladelphiaFlyers.com) – Behind Martin Biron’s 40 saves and Mike Knuble’s three-point night, the Flyers again defeated the Carolina Hurricanes by a 3-1 score in a Wednesday night matchup at RBC arena in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The victory also moves the Flyers back into sole possession of first place in the Atlantic Division with a record of 14-8-2 for 30 points, two points ahead of the New York Rangers.

"Marty was terrific,” said Head Coach John Stevens. “Especially early he made some big saves and late he made a lot of great saves. He just plays great on the road.”

Mike Knuble figured in all three goals, scoring once and registering two assists on the night for Philadelphia, which has now won the first three games of a four-game season series with the Carolina Hurricanes, outscoring them 12 to 6 in that span.

"As a team, we haven't shot the puck as well as we could," said Knuble. "It's a conscious effort of the team to shoot pucks more at the net. Obviously when you shoot pucks at the net, there's a chance for error, a chance for a rebound or a dropped puck. It's great to show our team that, shoot the puck and you'll be rewarded."

With another stellar performance in net against the 'Canes, Biron stopped all 17 shots in the first period, which saw all 20 minutes of play at even strength, and 40 of 41 shots overall to pick up his 12th win of the year.

Martin Biron fights off Carolina's Cory Stillman preserving a 3-1 Flyers win over the Hurricanes. (Getty Images)

"I was fighting to see the puck a lot more than reacting to it and it seemed to work," commented Biron. "We had success even though we gave up a lot of shots. We kept a lot of the shots outside. It doesn't really phase me if the shot clock says 40 because we try to limit their scoring chances and that's the big part for us."

After nearly 26 minutes of scoreless play, the Flyers put two on the board in the second period.

Derian Hatcher made his presence known in his first game back from Injured Reserve by recording his first goal of the season, giving the Flyers a 1-0 lead.

"I don’t care what you say but everyone enjoys scoring,” laughed Hatcher on getting a goal in his first game back since returning from knee surgery. “I was with the rush and went back to the point, then I came back down and whacked it in."

With just under five minutes to go in the period, Kimmo Timonen found the back of the net for his third goal of the year giving the Orange and Black a two-goal advantage. It ended up being the game-winner.

Entering the third period on the man advantage, Knuble recorded his team-leading sixth power-play goal of the year just 33 seconds into the frame leaving the Hurricanes a three-goal deficit.

The only blemish on Biron’s performance was a power-play goal at the hands of Cory Stillman, who found the rebound off of a shot by Rod Brind’ Amour, who was appearing in his 500th career game with the Hurricanes.

The Flyers have now posted three consecutive victories on the road and won four of their last five away from Philadelphia.

They return to the Wachovia Center in a Saturday night showdown with the Dallas Stars with the opening faceoff set for 7:00 p.m. on Comcast SportsNet and 1210 WPHT am.

FLYERS NOTES
With assists on Timonen’s and Knuble’s goals , Mike Richards has points in 10 of his last 11 games… Flyers have scored a goal in the second period in their last nine games… Flyers have scored nearly 50 percent (48.6) of their goals in the second period this season (36 of 74)…Flyers improved their record to 10-1-1 when scoring the first goal of the game.