PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- Martin Biron made 34 saves to record
his second shutout of the season as the Philadelphia Flyers
defeated the Los Angeles Kings, 2-0, on Wednesday.
All-Star Jeff Carter scored a power-play goal late in the second
period and assisted Simon Gagne's empty-netter for the Flyers,
who have won five of their last six contests.
Erik Ersberg stopped 18 shots for the Kings, who played without
captain Dustin Brown for the second straight game.
Brown, who ranks second on the club with 23 goals and 48 points,
did not travel with Los Angeles because of the impending birth
of his child.
Biron turned aside 12 shots in the first period, 13 more in the
next and nine in the third to complete his 25th career blanking.
Biron's only other shutout this season came on November 21
against his former team, the Buffalo Sabres.
"I don't know of too many teams that get to the playoffs with
only one guy pulling the load," Biron said. "We try to push
each other. Tonight, it just seemed to go my way and that is
the way we want it to be."
"I met with both of the (goaltenders) earlier in the week and
told them that they'd both get a chance to play and that we need
them that they need to be our best players," Philadelphia coach
John Stevens said. "I think the last two nights they have
been."
Carter delivered a pass to Joffrey Lupul, who drove to the net
and fired a wrist shot that Ersberg stopped. But Carter banged
in the rebound with 3:49 left in the middle session for his
team-leading 36th goal of the season.
"It was a strong play by Lupul driving to the net," Carter said.
"I was just kind of hanging back looking for rebounds and I was
able to knock it in."
"I tried to jam the puck from the goalline," Ersberg said. "I
don't know if it he battled it out of the air, it landed on his
stick. I really didn't have time to see where it went."
Gagne netted an empty-net goal with one tick to play to seal the
win for Philadelphia (33-17-9), which pulled within four points
of the Atlantic Division-leading New Jersey Devils (38-19-3).
"All these games right now are big points," Carter said. "We
need everyone we can get. We were lucky to get two points."
The Flyers, who sit in fourth place in the Eastern Conference,
also still have a game in hand on the rival Devils.