Final Score: Philadelphia 4, Carolina 2

Raleigh, NC (Sports Network) - Branko Radivojevic tallied a goal and an assist, as the Philadelphia Flyers skated to a 4-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes at the RBC Center.

Simon Gagne, Marcus Ragnarsson and Patrick Sharp each added a goal for the Flyers, who are 4-1-2 in their last seven games. Sean Burke started in goal after a two-game layoff and turned aside 26 shots in the winning effort.

"We got a lot of good play by some of our younger players," said Flyers head coach Ken Hitchcock. "I thought Sharp...and Radivojevic were good for us"

Despite the victory, the Flyers remained one point behind the Eastern Conference-leading Tampa Bay Lightning, who earned a big 7-2 win in Toronto on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the race for the Atlantic Division crown is still tight. Philly, with 98 points, did not gain any ground on New Jersey, as the defending Stanley Cup champions edged the Florida Panthers in overtime and sit six points behind with a game in hand.

Bret Hedican and Craig Adams accounted for the Carolina scoring, as the Hurricanes finished winless against the Flyers this season (0-2-2). Kevin Weekes allowed four goals on 25 shots in the losing effort. The Hurricanes failed to earn a point for the first time in seven contests (4-1-0-2).

After failing on one full power play and part of another, the Flyers jumped out to a 1-0 lead on Sharp's fifth goal of the season at the 12:41 mark of the opening period. Radivojevic picked up the puck behind the Carolina net and headed to the right of Weekes, but put on the brakes and shifted the other way. He then quickly spotted Sharp, who ripped home the pass down low.

Carolina responded less than a minute later. Former Flyer Justin Williams held control along the left half-wall and fed a pass back to the point, where Hedican blasted home a one-timer with 6:24 remaining in the first.

Before the midpoint of the middle stanza, the teams again traded quick goals, this time 1:34 apart.

First, Ragnarsson released a wrister from the left point off a pass from Alexei Zhamnov. Just seconds after takeoff, the puck appeared to hit the blade of Williams' stick, which caused a redirection that Weekes could not handle and the Flyers led 2-1 just past the seven-minute mark.

But soon after, the Hurricanes countered when Burke was caught out of position. Adams' seventh goal, assisted by Rod Brind'Amour and Ryan Bayda, from in close knotted the contest at two apiece.

"We still have to get a lot better in our own zone with the puck under pressure," Hitchcock added.

With 1:11 remaining in the second period, Gagne put the Flyers ahead for good, courtesy of a great pass from Donald Brashear. After fighting off a defender behind the goal, Brashear sent a crisp cross-ice pass from the low right boards that found the stick of Gagne and he lifted it in from the left post.

Before two minutes had been played in the final frame, Weekes was caught sleeping and the visitors capitalized. Joni Pitkanen's soft dump caromed off the back wall, and Weekes slowly skated behind his net to play it. However, the puck slid under his stick and led to an easy open-net goal for Radivojevic that sealed the victory.

"We made costly mistakes at the wrong time, and we didn't bury some of the chances that we had," said Carolina coach Peter Laviolette.

Game Notes

Burke moved into 18th place on the all-time win list with 303...The Flyers are 32-2-5-3 this season when they score at least three goals...Carolina is 2-9-3-1 in its last 15 home tilts...Philadelphia is now unbeaten in its last eight versus the Hurricanes (4-0-4), who finished scoreless on five chances with the extra skater...The Flyers missed on three power-play opportunities.