Laviolette likened the feeling of leaving Turin to being eliminated from the playoffs. The only difference was, that season, his NHL team didn't bow out. The Hurricanes went on to win the Stanley Cup.
Slap shots
Goaltender Michael Leighton was named the NHL's second star of the week yesterday for his four performances last week. He posted a 4-0-0 record with a 1.98 goals against average and .925 save percentage in home-and-home sweeps of the Devils and Canadiens. Leighton is 12-3-1 with the Flyers since he was nabbed off waivers from Carolina on Dec. 17. Chris Pronger (third star, week of Nov. 9) is the only other Flyer to earn the award this season . . . Team Canada executive director Steve Yzerman officially told Jeff Carter that his services would not be needed for the Olympics and he was sent home yesterday morning. Carter flew to Vancouver early Sunday morning in case Anaheim's Ryan Getzlaf couldn't skate in the Olympics because of an ankle injury.For more news and analysis, read Frank Seravalli's blog, Frequent Flyers, at http://go.philly.com/frequentflyers.