Hurricanes claim 3-2 shootout victory over Flyers

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) The Carolina Hurricanes blew a lead in regulation. They weren't going to let it happen again in the shootout.

The Hurricanes beat the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 on Saturday after Nathan Gerbe and Chris Terry scored in the tiebreaker and Cam Ward stopped Claude Giroux to close out the victory.

Jordan Staal had a goal and an assist, and Elias Lindholm also scored in regulation to help the Hurricanes win a matchup of teams eliminated from playoff contention.

Sean Couturier sent it to overtime by scoring with 1:50 left in regulation. He also assisted on Michael Raffl's power-play goal for the Flyers, who erased a 2-0 deficit in the second period.

''It's never easy when you get scored on late, but you know, I didn't sense any panic,'' said Ward, who improved to 3-0 this season against the Flyers. ''I thought the overtime period, we had some looks. ... Good mental test for the guys, and it's important that we keep it going to finish out the season.''

After Gerbe and Terry scored their shootout goals, rookie Nick Cousins scored for Philadelphia. Ray Emery kept the Flyers in the game by stopping Victor Rask in the third round.

Ward then turned away Giroux's backhand.

''(Couturier) with a big goal, but it all comes down to the shootout,'' Cousins said. ''A skills competition. It was a tough one to take, but we're looking forward to tomorrow.''

The Hurricanes had won just four of their previous 16 games and were coming off a 6-1 loss at Florida.

Ward stopped 21 shots for Carolina, while Emery made 24 saves for the Flyers.

Philadelphia - which has earned points in five straight games - finished with a 10-20-11 road record.

''It's been two different stories at home and on the road for us,'' Emery said. ''I think that's pretty much the difference in our year. I don't know why, but we'll put that in the past and learn from it.''

Carolina improved to 5-7 in shootouts while the Flyers fell to 3-11 in the tiebreaker.

Couturier scored his 14th goal after a puck jumped Carolina defenseman Michal Jordan's stick and went straight to the Flyers center, who beat Ward from point-blank range.

That came after Raffl deflected his long wrist shot with 10:14 left in the second with 10 seconds remaining on a hooking minor to Alexander Semin.

''I thought we were in total control, up two and had some looks and could have gotten it to three,'' first-year Carolina coach Bill Peters said. ''And all of a sudden, late in the power play, they scored, which is obviously a frustrating situation, but I thought the guys did a good job of not sagging. ... We weren't quite as good for a little bit, but we just kept playing and doing good things.''

Lindholm and Staal gave the Hurricanes an early two-goal lead. Lindholm scored his 17th goal 11 minutes in when he put the rebound of Staal's shot past Emery.

Staal scored with 16:33 left in the second when he took the puck from defenseman Nicklas Grossman near center ice, skated into the circle and beat Emery with a wrist shot.

''They took it to us the first half ... I thought we carried the rest of the play in the second and over to the third,'' Cousins said.

NOTES: Philadelphia D Michael Del Zotto had two assists. ... Terry's four-game point streak ended. ... The teams wrap up their five-game season series Thursday in Philadelphia. ... The Hurricanes have one more home game left, next Saturday night against Detroit.

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