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Somewhere, Paul Holmgren has started drinking again.

Today we find Carts in the most unlikely of places: the goal-scoring column of a playoff stat sheet.

Three times. He was there three times last night.

That’s right, Flyers fans and other assembled minions, Jeff Carter scored a hat trick in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals, helping to give his team – the LA Kings, not the Philadelphia Flyers – a 2-0 series lead and tie the record for consecutive playoff road wins (7). 

Carter became the first King to score a playoff hat trick since Wayne Gretzky did it in 1993.

We’ll let that sit there for a minute. ^

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Carts was asked how this compared to the Flyers' run in 2010:

“It’s real similar. Same thing when we were in Philly there. We had to battle right down to the last game, shootout there to make it. And, like I said, when you’re in that kind of position, it just kind of rolls over into the playoffs. Whereas, you know, if we were locked in there with a little while to go in the season, you know, you might sit back a little bit, get a little complacent.”

 

So, you're telling me that, last year, the Flyers, who were "locked in there with a little while to go in the season," may have just gotten a little complacent… they weren't overrun with organization-killing players who needed to be traded away with, like, a decade left of their respective contracts?! GAH!

Poor Jeff, though– he missed out on the Flyers’ annual season-ending casino trip, when the team went to Revel last Friday night. Guess he’s still pretty broken up about the trade. I mean, the Stanley Cup Finals won’t get over until, like, mid-June. Who’s going to occupy his Sea Isle house until then?! 

Video of Carter’s hat trick after the jump.