Coming into Saturday night’s game against Carolina, Philadelphia’s Simon Gagne had said that the Hurricanes would serve as Philadelphia’s first true test of the season.  The early season exam of two division leaders would tell you if head coach John Stevens’ team was indeed for real.

Guess what? The Flyers passed.  Philadelphia came from behind and squeezed out a 3-2 overtime win capped off by Gagne’s game winning goal just 48 seconds into the extra period.

The win for the Flyers (6-1) marked their fifth consecutive this season. It’s the first time Philadelphia has picked up five straight victories since the ’05-’06  campaign.  You can also add four home wins in a row to the Flyers resume.

“We want to be a tough team to play against at home”, Gagne said. ”Last year overall was pretty much all negative. We were an easy team to beat at home but now I think we want to send a message to teams that when they come in here, it’s going to be difficult to get those two points.”

Philadelphia jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Gagne beat Carolina goalie John Grahame off a feed from teammate Daniel Briere just 5:12 into the game. The Hurricanes would strike back on the power play after a wraparound carumed up in the air on the right side of the Flyers goal and was corraled by Carolina center Jeff Hamilton.  Hamilton quickly zipped a pass to Eric Staal whose shot sliced past Martin Biron.

Biron’s streak of consecutive shutouts ended at two but the netminder held the Hurricanes at bay for most of the night. He did not allow a goal over the final 38 minutes of play.

The Hurricanes would jump in front in the second period after former Flyer Justin Williams found himself alone on the doorstep and deflected a shot from Corey Stillman past Biron. The goal for Williams was his third of the year and came just 2:11 into the second period.

Philadelphia caught a break later in the second, as Gagne diqued toward the left side of the Hurricanes net and centered a pass to Briere. Williams had no choice but to hook the Flyers point leader. Philadelphia went on the power play for the final 22 seconds of the period and the end result was a Mike Richards game-tying goal with 18:28 left in the third.

After Richards’ tally, the goaltenders brought the two teams to a stalemate up until Gagne’s goal.  Biron stopped 42 of the 44 shots he faced and Philadelphia was able to kill a delay of game penalty on Jeff Carter to send the game into overtime.

“It’s tough to win in this league when you’re down after two periods,” Biron said. “To be able to do it that way is something we take pride and we’re excited about.”

Philadelphia won despite being outshot 44 to 32. Gagne’s game-winner came on an interesting sequence of events. Flyers defenseman Darien Hatcher had the puck on the left side of the boards and tried to find a cutting Briere. Briere lost his balance and couldn’t grab the puck. Hatcher quickly sped over and spotted Gagne in front of the right side. It marked his 400th career point.

“It was kind of a weird game,” Briere said. “We played a really strong first period. They got the momentum and took it to us in the second. We came strong early in the first half of the third and they came back in the second half. But in the end we found a way to win and that’s what’s most important.”

With the win, comes a huge wave of momentum.  The Flyers start an eight-game road trip on Wednesday at Florida. School is in session and Philadelphia has moved itself to the head of the class in the NHL. But can the Flyers remain there? Stay tuned.

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Alright, now that we’re finished with the journalistic side, here are some thoughts:

1.  If this team gets to the playoffs, Biron is the type of goaltender that will win this team a series. At one point tonight in the second period, former Flyer Rod Brind’Amour rocketed a slapshot right at Biron.  He just snatched it out of the air and the crowd let out an ooooooooooooooo that seemed to say “Did he really just do that?”.  Watch out for this guy come postseason. He will be dangerous and he gives the Flyers what they’ve sorely been missing for so long. A good shutdown goalie is an invaluable asset come playoff time.

2.  The Flyers balance continues to amaze me. It’s tough to understand exactly how well these guys play together until you actually see it in person. I saw several sequences tonight were there four or five passes before Philly took a shot. Those four or five passes didn’t signal hesitation but instead the fact that they wanted to find the seam in the Carolina defense to get the best look possible. Philadelphia had just two players score 20 or more goals last season (Gagne had 41 and Knuble ended up with 24). This year you might see five or six guys do it.

3.  If you ever want to appreciate how hard someone works, stand next to Daniel Briere for two minutes. He’s listed at 5 feet 10 inches and 179 pounds but I’d be surprised if he’s 5 foot 8 165. The guy seems to be everywhere on the ice and I got to see more than just his ability to score points.  Carolina was on a breakaway in the first period and Briere zipped down the ice and put a stop to it as if it was just another day at the office. Yes, he gets paid to do this but it’s easy to appreciate someone that does even the little things well. Money well spent by the Flyers.

4.  The energy in the Wachovia Center tonight felt something like that of a playoff game. It’s nice to see that kind of excitement from Flyers fans again. Let’s hope the road trip is just as kind as the four game homestand.  Being in the locker room afterwards, it’s clear that these guys are having fun. Gagne and Briere were all smiles and Gagne even cracked a joke about Derian Hatcher’s ”lightning” speed on his feed to Gagne for the game-winner. One of the scoreboard ops at Wachovia told me how impressed he’d been with Hatcher this season. I’m pretty sure I see why. Then again, having a nice complement in Jason Smith and a goaltender who is lights out also helps too.

5.  Flyer Hall of Fame goaltender Bernie Parent was in the house to commemorate the 40th anniversary (actual date was yesterday) of the Flyers first game at the nearby Spectrum. I’m not old enough to have been fortunate enough to see Parent play (other than what I’ve seen in highlight films) but I have a feeling he was pretty impressed with what he saw tonight from Martin Biron.

6.  I’m tired. Have a good night folks. Let’s Go Birds!

 Matt Martucci is a sportscaster who covers the Flyers, Eagles, Phillies, and Sixers for ESPN Radio 1450 in Atlantic City. He resides in Philadelphia and is also the play-by-play voice for Saint Joseph’s University Women’s Basketball as well as a fill-in play-by-play voice for Hawk Men’s Basketball.  Visit his website at www.mattmartucci.com and e-mail him at mwmartuc@gmail.com