Carter scores twice as Flyers prevail

SUNRISE, Fla. - You could argue that Dan Carcillo's second-period fight woke up the Flyers and paved their way to a 3-2 victory over the Florida Panthers Tuesday night at the BankAtlantic Center.

Or you could say coach Peter Laviolette keyed the victory with another timeout that led to a goal.

Or you could maintain that Jeff Carter's two second-period goals were the difference as the Flyers remained atop the Eastern Conference.

All of the above contributed to the victory, just the Flyers' fifth in their last 12 games. They stayed one point ahead of Washington, which beat Montreal, 4-2, for its ninth straight win. The Flyers have two games in hand on the Capitals.

"Obviously teams have pressed up on the backside of us and they all won tonight," Laviolette said, "and you've got to keep winning games. I really liked our game tonight. We didn't give up a whole lot, probably seven or eight [good] chances against."

With Florida on the power play and 7 minutes, 28 seconds left, goalie Brian Boucher stopped Mike Santorelli from in close, protecting the Flyers' 3-2 lead. The Panthers controlled play in the latter stages, but the Flyers held on for the victory.

After surrendering 41 shots in Saturday's come-from-ahead loss to Atlanta, the Flyers tightened their defense considerably. They allowed Florida just 22 shots.

The Flyers blocked 22 shots, led by Braydon Coburn (five) and Kimmo Timonen (four). Florida blocked just nine.

"We talked about getting in lanes and closing fast," said Scott Hartnell, who scored the game's first goal, his 20th of the season, after Mike Richards faked goalie Tomas Vokoun out of position and fed the winger with a crafty pass.

"We did a good job of blocking pucks and keeping them to the outside," Carter said.

With the score tied at 2, Laviolette, whose mastery of timeouts has become part of his coaching identity, asked for a stoppage because he said his players were "gassed" with 4:44 to go in the second period. Seven seconds later, Carter finished off a backhand pass from Briere on a two-on-one break, putting the Flyers ahead, 3-2.

"Lavy looks like a genius every time," Carter said with a smile.

Briere said there was some confusion among Florida's defensemen on the play.

"I saw them jump down, I poked the puck, and when I looked up, there was nobody, so I just tried to get down as fast as I could," he said. "When I got to the blue line, I saw Jeff coming from the side, and I tried to suck their defenseman to me to chip it to him."

Trailing by 2-1, the Flyers seemed lifeless until Carcillo decisioned Mike Duco with 16:14 remaining in the second period.

Just 57 seconds later, Vokoun allowed a soft goal - Carter's shot bounced off the goalie's glove and trickled into the net - enabling the Flyers to tie it at 2-2.

"There's times when to fight, and times when not to fight, and I thought that was a good time." Carcillo said. "I kind of know [Duco] from when we were younger, and I asked him to go, and that was that."

The Flyers were flat before the fight. Carter scored two second-period goals (his 31st and 32d) shortly thereafter.

"It always feels good when you fight and the guys respond like that," Carcillo said.

The Flyers were coming off one of the most embarrassing losses in franchise history, Saturday's 5-4 overtime defeat to Atlanta. It was the first time since 1987 that they had lost after taking at least a three-goal lead into the third period.

Perhaps incensed by that loss, Laviolette shook up the lines, including the top unit of Briere, Hartnell and Ville Leino, and the defensive pairings.

Laviolette started with an all-center line: Claude Giroux with Carter and Briere. He had Richards centering Hartnell and Leino; and Kris Versteeg centering James van Riemsdyk and Carcillo. The fourth line was familiar: Blair Betts centering Jody Shelley and Darroll Powe.

Laviolette tried six different defensive pairings in the opening period, which ended with the Panthers ahead, 2-1.

"I'd still like to press a little more offensively," Laviolette said. "We still need to continue to put our foot on the gas."