Even in retirement, Rod Brind'Amour still can fire up the Carolina Hurricanes. Fittingly, the game-winner came from one of his celebrated former linemates.
Erik Cole scored with 3:03 left to lift Carolina past the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 on Friday night.
Chad LaRose and Jeff Skinner scored early goals about 2 minutes apart for the Hurricanes, who played before a packed house and seemed inspired by a pregame ceremony to retire the No. 17 jersey worn by Brind'Amour, their former captain.
Carolina allowed the Flyers to rally late but used Cole's clutch goal to deny Philadelphia its second straight season sweep and a 10th straight win in the series.
``Maybe it was perfect timing to have Rod Brind'Amour's night tonight just because of the inspiration that he gave to us players with his speech,'' All-Star goalie Cam Ward said. ``It was an exciting night, and we wanted to make it extra special for Roddy to walk away with a win on his night.''
Jussi Jokinen found Cole with a cross-ice pass, and the Carolina veteran one-timed the puck past Sergei Bobrovsky's glove for the go-ahead goal. Nearly a decade ago, Cole and Brind'Amour joined Bates Battaglia to form the vaunted ``BBC'' line that helped carry the Hurricanes to the 2002 Stanley Cup final.
``We're trying to prepare ourselves for the ups and downs of what playoff hockey is like,'' Cole said. ``Momentum can change within a shift to a 5-minute span, a 10-minute span, a period, a
game, whatever. You just have to be able to have a short memory and just continue playing the same way.''
Braydon Coburn tied it at 2 with 5:11 to play after Blair Betts scored a short-handed goal for the Eastern Conference-leading Flyers, who had won two straight and 15 of 19 since New Year's Day and have the NHL's best road record. Philadelphia lost in Raleigh for the first time since 2007 and were beaten in regulation by the Hurricanes for the first time since 2006.
``Early on, they grabbed the energy of the building and the energy of the night,'' said Philadelphia coach Peter Laviolette, who coached the Brind'Amour-led 2006 Carolina team to the club's
only Stanley Cup.
If the standings hold up, this won't be the last time these teams see each other. Philadelphia - which won the previous three matchups by a combined 13-4 - entered with a comfortable margin atop the conference while the Hurricanes have steadily climbed to the No. 8 spot.
``They're probably one of those teams that we're going to have to get through to get to the Stanley Cup, so we've just got to keep pushing and keep beating the teams in front of us,'' Cole said.
Bobrovsky finished with 26 saves for the Flyers, who scratched captain Mike Richards late with flulike symptoms. It was his first missed game in more than two full years. Laviolette said it had his team ``juggling'' and may have contributed to its early two-goal hole.
