Irbe Shuts Out Flyers

Sami Kapanen scored late in the second period and Arturs Irbe stopped 25 shots for his 27th career shutout as the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Philadelphia Flyers 2-0 Thursday night.

Irbe`s shutout was his third of the season and third in his last five games against the Flyers, who saw their four-game road winning streak stopped.

Bates Battaglia scored an empty-net goal with 12 seconds left to seal it.

Carolina has given up one goal or less in seven of its last 10 games to move to .500 (10-10-3-1) for the first time since Oct. 21.

Former Carolina center Keith Primeau had two good scoring chances in the third as he raced in on Irbe. He fired the puck wide on his first attempt and then was caught from behind by David Tanabe on a short-handed breakaway, with 11:12 remaining, as the Flyers failed to solve Irbe.

The game was a tight-checking match through 35 minutes until Kapanen scored 14 seconds into Carolina`s second power play with 3:22 left in the second period.

Kapanen`s fifth of the season, from in close, was set up by Ron Francis _ who moved within 14 points of Phil Esposito for fifth on the NHL`s career scoring list at 1,575 points.

Luke Richardson was in the penalty box for hauling down Shane Willis, who also assisted on Kapanen`s goal against the worst road penalty-killing unit in the league.

A potential short-handed goal by the Hurricanes with 30 seconds left in the first was disallowed when Rod Brind`Amour kicked the puck off a Philadelphia player and past Roman Cechmanek.

Sami Kapanen scored late in the second period and Arturs Irbe stopped 25 shots for his 27th career shutout as the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Philadelphia Flyers 2-0 Thursday night.

Philadelphia was 0-for-3 on the power play and is 1-for-28 with the man-advantage over an eight-game span.

Notes:
Francis` assist on Kapanen`s goal was his team-leading 12th power-play point of the season. ... Irbe had a 1.76 goals against average against the Flyers last season and beat them 1-0 on April 2. ... Battaglia`s goal extended his point streak to six games. ... Primeau remained a verbal target of the fans in his second game in Raleigh since being traded to the Flyers for Brind`Amour. Most in the crowd booed every time Primeau touched the puck.

(Courtesy Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2000.)

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Author: AP