January 02, 2015
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Brad Malone scored his first goal of the season and Eric Staal got his 10th and the Carolina Hurricanes held on for a 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday night.
Cam Ward made 20 saves for the Hurricanes, who won for only the third time in a month and scored as many as two goals for just the fourth time in the past 14 games.
Philadelphia, which got 24 saves from Steve Mason, fell to 6-12-4 on the road and 4-15-4 when allowing the first goal. Philadelphia didn't reach the 10-shot mark until the final five minutes of the second period and was outshot 26-21 overall.
Philadelphia captain Claude Giroux left with 15:15 remaining. Replays showed that Giroux may have suffered a cut to his left leg by the skate blade of the Hurricanes' Justin Faulk. Giroux has 13 goals and 30 assists this season.
Chris VandeVelde scored his second of the season for Philadelphia, taking a pass from Vincent Lecavalier and beating Cam Ward with 11:07 remaining to cut the deficit to one. But Ward and the Hurricanes held on.
The Flyers were playing the seventh game of an eight-game road trip that began Dec. 20 at Toronto. They won the first three games, but have lost the past four.
Carolina allowed no goals on three Philadelphia power plays, improving to 19 consecutive penalty kills.
Malone opened the scoring for Carolina about 14 minutes into the first period. He skated in on the left and beat Mason to the glove side for his first goal.
Zach Boychuk assisted on the goal, Carolina's sixth in six games. The lead easily could have been larger in the first period, but Brett Bellemore hit the post with 6 seconds left in the period. Mason stopped Jordan Staal and Jay McClement on one-on-one opportunities.
NOTES: Jordan Staal was in the starting lineup for the Hurricanes after his wife gave birth to a daughter, Abigail, at 2:22 a.m. Friday. . Jordan Staal now has two assists in two games back in the lineup after suffering a broken right fibula Sept. 23 in a preseason game. . The Hurricanes played without forwards Jeff Skinner and Alexander Semin. Skinner has flu-like symptoms, according to coach Bill Peters, who said Semin remained out of the lineup as he tries to return from a "variety of ailments and illnesses." Semin has played once since Dec. 7. . Philadelphia fell to 4-15-4 when allowing the first goal. Mason's record is now 6-12-6.
