RALEIGH, N.C. - So Derian Hatcher comes off injured reserve and gets a huge first goal of the season on Father-Son Night at RBC Center and it powers the Flyers 3-1 win.

The Flyers flew all the dads down here to be with their sons. Eric Hatcher made the trip from Michigan to be with Derian.

Now let me allow Derian to tell you the rest.

“I don’t know who it was, but last night at dinner, someone said that all the dads should put in 10 dollars for the first goal of the game,” Derian recalled.

“My dad made a comment about he didn’t like his chances. I don’t know if they ended up doing it, but hopefully they did."

Eric Hatcher was smarter than that.

“I just suckered them in,” Eric Hatcher said. “I knew all the time. I won [$170] or something like that.”

Hatcher had 4 whacks at the puck with Nic Wallin all over him and he still go this goal.

"I don’t care what you say, but everyone enjoys to score,” Hatcher said. “I was just with the rush and went back to the point. I came back down and I whacked it in."

Can anyone explain how the Flyers are 3-0 against Carolina? Or how they have 30 points - one more than Carolina and are the 2nd seed in the Eastern Conference?

How can this team be so Jekyll-Hyde?

"I wish I knew," Danny Briere said. "We all do. We can't explain the inconsistency."

Mike Knuble says he know one reason, however, why the Flyers seem to have the Canes number this season.

“We’ve been able to match their skating,” Knuble told me. “We’re a team that can outskate a lot of teams. As a group, we skate really well.

"People think, typical Philly teams are big and strong and slow. But when you peel back the layers and look at our team, we have a lot of guys who skate well. If we get into a game with a lot of skating, we can match up with teams.”

I thought Marty Biron played very well. Had 40 saves. Saw the puck all night like it was a giant beach ball. The other night against Boston, it could have been a football and Biron would not have been able to stop it.

“I was trying to get in the position to see the puck because I know they like to put guys in the crease and across the crease,” Biron said. “I was trying to fight to see the puck a lot more than reacting to what was going on.”

BTW: From my angle in the press box, I thought Mike Knuble gave up that puck to Kimmo Timonen who had a better angle at an open net.

Nope. Knuble said he simply missed the net.

"It was an open net ... I was going for the net. I wasn't giving that one up. I couldn’t believe I missed it. Everyone said, ‘what the heck did you do?’ I just pulled it. I shot it five feet wide from four feet away.”


**

RALEIGH, N.C. _ Braydon Coburn got a two-year extension worth $2.6 million overall and $1.3 against the salary cap.

Flyers GM Paul Holmgren told me this morning he wanted to go longer but, in fairness to Coburn, neither side is sure where his offensive numbers will be in a year or two.

So, the Flyers may revisit this contract next year to go longer if the numbers are dramatically different. Either way, they have allowed some room for him to "grow" within the contract for the next deal.

“He’s a big guy and probably our best skater,” Holmgren said. “It would be a good race between him and Jeff [Carter]. Braydon spends a great deal of time studying the game. We’re excited to have him under contract.”

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Holmgren wanted to know how Ek got it before it was released. He beat me, too!

The next deal, he said, would be locking up Mike Richards. Those of you who saw my Sunday NHL notebook in the Inquirer know I took the Ryan Getzlaf deal and said it would be a good "comparable" for what the Flyers will have to give Mike Richards this summer.

Getzlaf got a 5-year, $26.6 million extension. GM Brian Burke didn't want to risk losing another Group II guy. Holmgren feels the same way about Richards. Let's face it, under this new CBA, someone would make an offer to Richards on July 1 if he were not signed by then.

“I don’t know how Ryan’s contract impact’s Mike,” Holmgren admitted. “There are some similarities here. They are the same age, same draft. Ryan has played for a team that won the Stanley Cup and played well last year. Mike had won everywhere he’s played. I guess there are some comparables here. We’ve talked with Pat Morris and we’re in preliminary discussions.”

I spoke to Richards' agent last week, Pat Morris, and he feels that Richards is more valuable to the Flyers than Getzlaf to Anaheim because Richards logs so much PK time.

“He’s a young Bobby Clarke,” Morris said. “He’s better than Getzlaf. He does more. He’s important to them on the penalty kill. Getzlaf doesn’t kill penalties. Mike does everything and he won everywhere he has played from Kitchener on up.

“We’ve had some informal talks and philosophical talks. There’s no question Mike is the Flyers’ best player this season. He brings character and heart just like Clarke did.”

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