Canes blanked in opener

RALEIGH -- A hand-painted sign spotted Friday outside the RBC Center read, "The Quest for the Cup begins tonight."

That may have been true for the Carolina Hurricanes, but winning will have to wait for another day, another time.

The Philadelphia Flyers took charge of the season-opener, using stinging power-play goals by Jeff Carter and Mike Richards in the first 47 seconds of the second period and a near-flawless debut game in goal by Ray Emery for a 2-0 victory.

The Flyers, like the Hurricanes, believe they will be among the best teams in the NHL's Eastern Conference and one capable of making a run at the Stanley Cup. They added All-Star defenseman Chris Pronger in an offseason trade and brought in Emery, who spent last season in Russia -- a veritable hockey exile.

Emery, 27, earned his ninth career shutout in his first game with the Flyers while handing Carolina its first opening-game shutout in franchise history. The former Ottawa goalie, who helped the Senators to the 2007 Cup final, turned back 28 shots and got a lot of help as the active Flyers killed off eight Hurricanes power plays.

"Our power play was not as sharp as it should be, and them getting two power-play goals back-to-back to start the second was the difference in the game," Canes winger Ray Whitney said. "Specialty teams are always going to be a factor. Our power play just wasn't there."

The Canes' Cam Ward had 25 saves and was at his best in a scoreless opening period, turning back 15 shots. But the Canes couldn't find a way to beat Emery, clanging the post a few times and misfiring with Emery out of position a few times.

"We had a lot of chances," Canes center Eric Staal said. "[Ward] did his job and kept us in it. We needed to provide a little offense for him."

Staal did rip the puck past Emery in the opening period, but the goal was disallowed. It was ruled defenseman Andrew Alberts made a hand pass.

"I was trying to shove the puck out with my stick and it caught my thumb," said Alberts, who played for the Flyers last season.

Carter and Richards scored in rapid-fire fashion to open the second and deflate a crowd that included Carolina owner Peter Karmanos. The Canes' Sergei Samsonov was called for high-sticking with 29.4 seconds left in the first, a double-minor that gave the Flyers 31/2 minutes of power-play time -- with fresh ice -- at the start of the second period.

Philadelphia quickly took advantage of it.

Carter scored after Ward appeared to pin the puck under his pads, jarring it loose and knocking it in just 25 seconds into the period.

Richards struck 22 seconds later, streaking in front of the net and tipping a shot by Simon Gagne past a screened Ward.

"The first goal was a bad bounce off the backboards -- those happen," said Alberts, who put a vicious but clean hit on Carter in the first period. "The second was a deflected puck. Not much you can do about that."

Carolina coach Paul Maurice said his team picked up its play after the bang-bang goals.

The Canes had three power-play opportunities later in the second -- with Staal ripping a shot off the post -- and the third period was Carolina's best.

"After the goals were scored, we played better, we skated better," Maurice said.

Of the failure on the power plays, Maurice said Emery made some solid saves but noted, "We got enough of what we were trying to generate. We got a few more blocked from the blue line than we would like. ... But in terms of some of the shots we got in tight, we'd like to keep those."

The Hurricanes face another Eastern power tonight, taking on the Boston Bruins at the TD Banknorth Garden. The Bruins were blistered 4-1 by the Washington Capitals in their opener Thursday and may be still seething over their playoff series with the Canes last season that ended with a Game 7 overtime loss.

Canes defenseman Joni Pitkanen, who sat out the opener, may be able to play tonight. Pitkanen had knee surgery Sept. 10 but practiced this week.

"Boston had a tough loss at home the other night, too," Whitney said. "We know we're going to have an angry team in what they're going to be facing, so it's going to be a tough game, as well."