Briere's goal lifts Flyers over Hurricanes in OT

PHILADELPHIA -- Danny Briere needed one shot to make up for a tough day.

Briere's goal 1:47 into overtime gave the Philadelphia Flyers a 4-3 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes at Wells Fargo Center on Saturday.

Briere skated up the ice along the left wing, avoided a defender, went around the circle and ripped a shot that hit the right post, bounced off goalie Cam Ward's back and into the net.

Briere and the rest of Philadelphia's top line struggled in regulation, and he even took seat on the bench for a while in the third period.

Good thing for the Flyers that coach Peter Laviolette put him back out on the ice.

"Our line struggled, there is no doubt about it," Briere said. "There (are) going to be nights like that where it's just not going to go our way. Tonight was one of those nights. It wasn't working, we were turning the puck over coming out of our zone with the way they were pressuring us. We didn't do a very good job as a unit, but the other lines were playing extremely well, so that's why it's a team.

"Those other players are there those other times to bail you out, but we will get back on track. It was just a bad game on our part. At the end though, we got the job done."

Jakub Voracek, Matt Read and Brayden Schenn also scored goals for Philadelphia, which is 24-4-4 against the Hurricanes since 2003.

The Flyers went 3-0-1 on a four-game homestand and are 5-6-1 one-fourth of the way into the season.

"We wanted to find our identity," Read said. "We don't want to be homers, but we want to win every game at home and get as many points as we can while we're at home. Getting seven of eight is good, but now we've got to find our legs and get it together on the road."

Joe Corvo, Jiri Tlusty and Jeff Skinner scored for Carolina, which fell to 5-4-1 after snapping a two-game winning streak.

"I think you can see guys coming together," Skinner said. "Obviously, we've been together for quite a bit now with the shortened training camp. You don't have that time to sort of get to know each other, especially with us having a lot of new guys coming in. I think it's good to see everyone coming together. I think guys are feeling pretty good about themselves and playing with each other."

Ward got the Hurricanes a point on the road with a big save on Read's shot at the end of the third period.

The Hurricanes bombarded Ilya Bryzgalov with a barrage of shots early in the third period before Corvo got his first goal to tie it at 3 with 12:02 left. Corvo blasted a shot from outside the right circle that sailed through traffic and past Bryzgalov.

"He's a veteran guy and coming in here it's a hard place to play, and we need to elevate his game and bring that experience to our back end," Hurricanes coach Kirk Muller said. "I thought he had a really good game, his best game of the year."

Just 15 seconds after Skinner scored to tie it at 2 in the second period, Voracek put Philadelphia ahead 3-2. Voracek streaked down the center and deflected Schenn's crisp pass from the left wing over Ward's shoulder. Bryzgalov got an assist on the goal for starting the break with a pass to Schenn.

Skinner made a nice move to score his sixth goal after Bryzgalov stopped his first shot. He got the rebound, went around the net, pirouetted and flipped it upstairs to beat the slow-moving Bryzgalov.

The Flyers went up 2-1 on Read's team-leading fifth goal 1:33 into the second period. Read took advantage of a turnover by Eric Staal and snapped a wrister from the right circle into the top-left corner.

Carolina struck first, scoring just 17 seconds in on Tlusty's goal. Bryzgalov stopped Corvo's one-timer, but the puck kicked out front to Tlusty, who lifted it over Bryzgalov's shoulder for his first goal of the season.

The Hurricanes then killed Philadelphia's 5-on-3 advantage, but Schenn scored to tie at 1 with 6:08 left in the period. Kimmo Timonen blasted a slap shot from atop the left point that hit the blade of Schenn's stick and slipped past Ward.

"The past four games I've been trying to make more plays, carry the puck a bit more," Schenn said. "I felt like we've had some good chemistry over the past couple games and tonight it clicked. Just build off it, don't get too hyped and just keep going."

NOTES: Carolina's Tim Wallace received a five-minute major and game misconduct for a boarding penalty on Tye McGinn in the first period. ... The Flyers begin a season-high six-game road trip on Monday at the Toronto Maple Leafs. ... The Hurricanes are four games into a six-game trip that is their longest of the season. ... Ward made his third consecutive start since replacing Dan Ellis in the middle of Carolina's 5-3 loss to the Flyers last Saturday. ... The teams met one more time on April 20 at Carolina. ... Read, who leads Philadelphia in points, scored his first goal against a team other than the Florida Panthers. ... Former Flyers center Peter Forsberg, an NHL MVP with the Colorado Avalanche in 2002-03, was at the game.