Carcillo knocked in a rebound off Mike Richards' shot for his first goal of the postseason. The Flyers pounded Devils goalie Martin Brodeur all game and outshot the Devils 6-1 in the brief overtime.
Carcillo, who scored only 12 goals all season, was instantly mobbed by his teammates.
Claude Giroux and Richards also scored for the Flyers. Brian Rolston had two power-play goals for the Devils.
Game 4 is Tuesday night in Philadelphia.
Brodeur did just about all he could for the Devils to keep them in the game on hostile ice. But Carcillo, known more for his punches and suspensions than scoring, found just enough of a hole to knock in the winner.
The Flyers already had home-ice advantage. They can take control of the series with another win in front of their orange-clad fans Tuesday.
Brodeur was sensational in the third, stopping every kind of shot from the Flyers. Philly dominated the puck and made Brodeur work hard for all 12 saves in the period. His nicest may have been a sprawling kick save on Danny Briere with 6:30 left in regulation. All it really did was delay defeat.
Brian Boucher — who heard the sounds of "Boooosh!" echo throughout the soldout arena — was solid as well. Ten years after leading the Flyers to the Eastern Conference finals, Boucher's improbable second act is off to a flying start.
While the goals were nearly even, whistles were decidedly lopsided in New Jersey's favor. The Flyers were called for eight penalties to New Jersey's three through the first two periods. It was 9-5 at the end of regulation.
Rolston capitalized on two of those chances.
With defenseman Kimmo Timonen in the box for hooking, Rolston put the Devils ahead 1-0 on a nice fake-and-fire from the point in the first period.
Rolston, who scored 20 goals this season, again came through on the man advantage and this time he had some help. Dainius Zubrus set a perfect screen in front of Boucher — shades of Chris Pronger's plant for the Flyers in Game 2 — and the Philadelphia goalie never saw the long shot whiz past him to make it 2-all.
Giroux and Richards gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead. Timonen made a sort of slap-pass from the circle to Giroux that made it 1-1 in the first.
Richards gave the Flyers a short-lived 2-1 lead when Carcillo punched a loose puck out from behind the net to Richards for the goal. Turned out that was just the start of clutch plays out of Carcillo.
Boucher was bailed out early in the game when Braydon Coburn cleared a puck in the crease that was trickling toward the red line for a sure goal.
Carcillo has been suspended four times in the last two seasons — even serving one last year in the playoffs. He was docked two games in late March and most Flyers fans couldn't stomach seeing him on the ice.
Not anymore.
Notes
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman was at the game. … Brodeur was going for his 100th career playoff win … Pronger played in his 150th playoff game. … Members of the Phillies attended to root on the Flyers.