Carter gets hat trick as Flyers rout Carolina, 8-1

RALEIGH, N.C. - Maybe the Flyers ought to take a couple days off more often.

Looking rejuvenated after a mini-break, the Flyers played one of their strongest games of the season Thursday as they routed Carolina, 8-1, at the sparsely filled RBC Center.

Jeff Carter had his second career hat trick - including two goals on the power play - and goalie Sergei Bobrovsky continued his outstanding play as the Flyers improved to 7-0-1 in their last eight games. They are 14-0-3 in their last 17 games against Carolina since Dec. 19, 2006.

"We should do that every week, if we're going to score eight goals," said a smiling Carter of having two days off early in the week, including a day of golf on a famous Pinehurst course. "It was nice to get a couple days of rest and just kind of get away from the game and be with the guys."

Bobrovsky made 35 saves and outshone Carolina wunderkind Jeff Skinner, the 18-year-old center who leads NHL rookies with 15 points. Skinner and Bobrovsky could battle for the league's Calder Trophy, awarded to the top rookie. A Flyer has never won the award.

Chad LaRose's goal ended Bobrovsky's bid for his first shutout with 11 minutes, 16 seconds left.

Like Carter, Bobrovsky thought the two days of team bonding - without any practice - jump-started the Flyers.

"We were fresh . . . and came out skating," Bobrovsky said through a Russian translator.

"I know a lot of guys before the game were saying they had lots of jump," said Danny Briere, who contributed two goals and an assist. "It's not too often in a season that you get to have two days off the ice. We've been working hard, and the practices have been long the first couple months. I think the two-day break was a perfect thing to get reenergized."

The Hurricanes were coming off a 7-1 trouncing of Edmonton Tuesday.

"We came in aware of the fact they had a lot of confidence," Briere said after the Flyers' biggest outburst since an 8-2 win over Pittsburgh in 2007. "In the first period, we came out ready to go."

The Flyers got third-period goals from Mike Richards (shorthanded), Scott Hartnell (an empty-netter after a bad clear by goalie Justin Peters), Briere, and Nik Zherdev.

All told, the Flyers were 2 for 2 on the power play, making them a sizzling 11 for 34 (32.3 percent) during their eight-game run.

Besides getting three points from Carter and Briere, defenseman Andrej Meszaros was plus-4, and Claude Giroux (two assists) and Hartnell contributed two points.

The Flyers built a 2-0, first-period lead on goals by Briere and Carter. They also hit the post/crossbar twice in the period and had another goal disallowed because it was ruled Hartnell deliberately kicked it into the net.

After Hartnell's disallowed goal - he was set up by Ville Leino's turnaround pass from the right circle - the Flyers scored a little over two minutes later to take a 1-0 lead. This time, Leino made a great feed from the left circle that Briere backhanded past Cam Ward with 12:06 left in the period. A lunging Briere was barely able to reach the puck.

"After what happened on Scott's goal, I was trying to get a stick on the puck, no matter what," Briere said.

"It was a total line effort. Ville was strong on the puck, and just like the first (disallowed) goal, it was a spin-o-rama, and he found me back door."

With 1:18 left in the period, Carter deposited a rebound after Ward turned aside Chris Pronger's drive. The power-play goal gave the Flyers a 2-0 lead.

"We weren't physical enough, weren't attacking enough," Carolina coach Paul Maurice said of a first period in which the Hurricanes were outhit, 20-10.

Jody Shelley had four of the Flyers' hits and finished with eight, while Andreas Nodl finished with six.

In the second period, a falling-down Carter tipped in a drive by Meszaros - who was originally credited with the goal - to make it 3-0. About four minutes later, Carter's third goal of the night gave the Flyers a 4-0 lead. Carter, on a two-on-one, beat Ward to the short side, sending the goalie to the bench in favor of Peters with 14:02 left in the second period.

Carter's other hat trick was on April 3, 2009 against Toronto; he did this one naturally, with three goals in a row. Or one goal for every day between the Flyers' last game.