RALEIGH, N.C. _ Well, that was surely needed.
The Flyers, losers of seven of their previous eight games, took what they hope was a step toward securing a playoff spot Saturday night as they defeated Carolina, 4-2, at PNC Arena.
Blanked for most of the game, the Flyers scored three late goals and stayed in third place in the Metropolitan Division. If they lost, they would have slipped into the second wild-card spot.
Val Filppula, capitalizing on a pass from Wayne Simmonds, scored on a breakaway with 5:49 remaining to give the Flyers a 3-2 lead. It was his first goal in 26 games.
Michael Raffl snapped a 16-game goal-less streak and iced the win with an empty-net goal.
Earlier, Travis Konecny got behind the Carolina defense and tipped in Travis Sanheim's point drive with 11:41 left in regulation to tie the score at 1. It was Konency's 19th goal and fourth in the last nine games _ and it came on just the Flyers' second shot of the third period.
But the tie was short-lived.
Defenseman Jaccob Slavin skated around Raffl and put a left-circle shot past Alex Lyon on the short side, giving Carolina a 2-1 lead with 9:56 left.
A little less than two minutes after Slavin's goal, Jake Voracek scored on a pretty forehand-to-backhand move from in front, knotting the score at 2 with 8:02 remaining.
It was the first career point for Oskar Lindblom, who helped set it up.
Coach Dave Hakstol didn't have a morning skate because he wanted his team to conserve energy. He also changed three of his lines, but the Flyers' offense was stale until the latter stages.
Lyon played brilliantly and collected the win.
Trailing 1-0 with 12:23 left in the second period, Konecny was sent in on a breakaway by Radko Gudas, but Cam Ward swatted away the shot with his glove. A short time later, Sean Couturier, goal-less in his last 14 games, partially fanned on a golden opportunity in front.
The Flyers had two good scoring chances in the first period, but Ivan Provorov hit the left post on his right-circle backhander, and Raffl was robbed in front by Ward with 6:18 left in the session.
Carolina, which blew a 4-1 third-period lead in a 6-3 loss to Boston in its previous game, turned an innocent-looking play into the game's first goal.
Jordan Staal deflected Slavin's point drive through the legs of goalie Alex Lyon with 4:48 left in the first.
A minute later, Lyon made a pair of point-blank saves on Noah Hanifin, and he also made a tough stop on Derek Ryan with 2:45 remaining to keep the Flyers within 1-0.
Carolina had allowed six goals in three of its previous four games, but the Flyers _ who again over-passed to a fault _ could not solve Ward in the first two periods.
But they made up for it by scoring three times in a stunning 5:51 span in the final period.
