The Philadelphia Flyers came oh so close on back-to-back days in completing furious third period comebacks but fell short by one goal on both occasions, this time by a score of 6-5.
Friday against the Carolina Hurricanes and entering the third period down by 4, the Flyers scored 3 goals in a span of 5 minutes and 25 seconds – 2 of which came while being shorthanded – but they weren’t able to collect the game tying goal despite a good effort with the extra attacker.
Samuel Ersson made his NHL debut and was pulled after allowing 5 goals on 22 shots, Carter Hart came in relief but was injured after allowing the 6th and eventual game-winning goal after Rasmus Ristolainen cross-checked Seth Jarvis into the goaltender. Hart left the game with what was deemed an upper-body injury and Ersson had to return back between the pipes.
Tony DeAngelo, Travis Konecny, and Scott Laughton each recorded a goal and an assist while Nick Seeler and Travis Sanheim were responsible for the other 2 goals. The Hurricanes got 2 goals from Jesper Fast in the first period that set the tone of the game, Jordan Martinook had a goal and two assists, and Andrei Svechnikov had a goal and assist to help the cause. Antti Raanta made 28 saves for his second win in as many nights and the Hurricanes entered the Christmas break on a 12-0-1 run.
After a deflating loss Thursday to the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Flyers were in action Friday against the surging Hurricanes who entered the game on an 11-0-1 stretch in their previous 12 games. The lines remained the same, with the exception of Nick Seeler returning in place of Justin Braun, which was somewhat surprising considering how well Morgan Frost, Travis Konecny, and Joel Farabee meshed in the latter half of the third period as they tried to complete their furious comeback. Head coach John Tortorella deemed Frost’s overall play as “brutal” and he put those 3 together in an attempt to shake up the lineup and get some offence going.
The big story heading into last night’s tilt was the NHL debut of Samuel Ersson, who was recently called up after Felix Sandström had to bow out due to an illness. For the Hurricanes, Sebastian Aho returned to the lineup after missing the last 7 games and Antti Raanta was tending the twine in back-to-back games after playing Thursday night in their 4-3 overtime victory against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
FIRST PERIOD
To start the game, the Flyers had the early chances and plenty of them. Cam York joined in on the rush with Kevin Hayes and Wade Allison but his shot just went wide, then James van Riemsdyk had a scoring chance in the slot that was stopped, right before Allison set up Scott Laughton on a breakaway that was taken care of by Raanta.
However, on the very next shift, the Hurricanes forced a turnover on Ivan Provorov, who tried sending an outlet pass from behind his net that was knocked down by Jordan Martinook. He pushed it towards Jesper Fast at the edge of the faceoff dot, who beat Ersson with a blocker-high shot for his 3rd of the season.
The goal was Fast’s first in 17 games, it was recorded on their first shot of the game, and unfortunately it was Ersson’s first shot on goal against in his NHL career, 3:57 into the game.
After Ersson had to make consecutive saves on Teuvo Teravainen and Brett Pesce, Travis Konecny was whistled down for slashing the stick of Teravainen, which the referees then conferred on and overturned the call. On the next shift, Martin Necas patiently held onto the puck as he entered the offensive zone before springing Andrei Svechnikov on an abbreviated breakaway by splitting a pass between Tony DeAngelo and Kevin Hayes that was then stopped by the glove of Ersson to keep the deficit at 1.
After DeAngelo made a sprawling defensive play to break up an odd-man rush, Morgan Frost then sprung Travis Sanheim who split the defence, danced and weaved his way through a couple bodies before sending a perfectly placed lofting shot over the glove of Raanta to tie the game with 8:57 remaining. It was his 4th goal of the season and the just their second shot on goal since the 3:39 mark of the period.
With 6:08 left in the period, the Flyers’ Frost – uh oh – was whistled down for a tripping minor, sending the 27th-ranked Carolina power play onto the ice in a tied game. It only took the Hurricanes 38 seconds to take the lead after Martin Necas’ point shot got past Ersson after the goaltender was being screened by both Provorov and Stefan Noesen for his initially seemed to be his 15th of the season – near the end of the second period, they awarded the goal to Noesen instead.
The Hurricanes controlled the puck the entire time after winning 2 offensive zone faceoffs, making quick work of their first power play attempt.
With 55 seconds left in the first period, Fast scored his 2nd goal of the game after Jordan Martinook was allowed to swerve behind the net with Rasmus Ristolainen and Nick Seeler playing laissez-faire. As he wrapped around the net, he sent it in front for Fast, who one-timed it past the young Swede. Ristolainen not only didn’t aggressively check Martinook but then he didn’t look behind him to cover his man – Fast – who was wide open in the slot.
The Hurricanes took a 3-1 lead into the intermission, a 14-5 shot advantage, the Flyers didn’t fire a shot on goal after the Sanheim marker – which was close to 9 minutes – and the Flyers only had 2 shots on goal since in the final 16 and a half minutes, but hey the opportunistic Flyers had 5 scoring chances nonetheless. Provorov and Ristolainen had terrible periods, which is putting it lightly, as they played way too slow in their own zone, made terrible defensive reads, and turned the puck over one too many times.
SECOND PERIOD
To open the period, Tony DeAngelo scored his second goal in as many games after the Flyers took advantage of a Hurricanes turnover in the offensive zone. They passed it back to no one, Joel Farabee went off to the races to corral the puck, and he waited, waited, and waited for the right pass and sent it to DeAngelo in the middle instead of sending a riskier pass to Frost or Tippett. DeAngelo fired a perfect snap-shot past Raanta, scoring his 6th of the season.
It was also a goal against his former team and the Flyers had now scored on back-to-back shots going back to the first period. The Hurricanes turned the other way with Martinook creating another scoring chance before Jesperi Kotkaniemi rang one off the post.
Morgan Frost had a brilliant scoring chance as he entered the zone with speed but his shot was stopped by the shoulder of Raanta. Andrei Svechnikov was able to not only clear the puck out of the zone but then on the ensuing rush he went down the ice with Necas before depositing a wrist shot past Ersson for his 18th of the season to re-extend the lead to 2.
Paul Stastny was the first one to the puck after Svechnikov’s clearance and as he entered the zone he stopped by the boards waiting for his reinforcements. He left it for Necas before dropping it back to Svechinkov who fired it through the legs of workout partner, Ivan Provorov, 5:57 into the second period.
But they didn’t stop there as 2:01 later Jordan Martinook – who else – deflected a Brett Pesce point shot past Samuel Ersson, who was then unfortunately replaced by Carter Hart.
The trio of Jordan Staal, Jordan Martinook, and Jesper Fast were unstoppable tonight and have been Flyer-killers for several seasons, worked hard behind the net before finding Pesce all alone at the point. No one aggressively went for the puck or Pesce, as he had a lot of time to corral the puck, wait for bodies to get in front of the net, and fired it through a maze of bodies as all 3 forwards had an attempt at deflecting it into the net but it was Martinook who got a piece for his 8th of the season. Ersson allowed 5 goals on 22 shots before being pulled.
With 4:04 remaining in the period, Nick Seeler was called for a tripping minor on Martin Necas. With 4 seconds left on the man advantage, Jesperi Kotkaniemi finished off a passing play past Carter Hart, who was pushed into the net and then was down on the ice immediately after.
Ristolainen, possibly having his worst game of the season, cross-checked Seth Jarvis into Carter Hart, which then made the Kotkaniemi goal that much easier. Carter Hart left the ice with an injury on the play, which brought Ersson back into the game.
The Hurricanes scored 3 unanswered goals again after the Flyers scored an early goal. They outshot the Flyers 29-15 after 40, were up 6-2, and there was still a full period left to play.
THIRD PERIOD
3:29 into the final period of regulation, Travis Konecny was tripped up by Brent Burns for the Flyers’ first power play of the night. It was a 3-on-1 opportunity for the Flyers with Konecny saucering a pass to James van Riemsdyk and Morgan Frost trailing behind him. Burns was sliding already trying to block the pass and collided into Konecny as van Riemsdyk’s shot was stopped.
The Flyers weren’t necessarily backing down from a fight trailing by 4 goals as they had some really good chances to start the period. Konecny was robbed on the power play by the glove of Raanta, then Kevin Hayes was stopped in tight by the same glove, before Nick Seeler’s point shot went top-shelf on Raanta, who was collided into by Calvin de Haan and Wade Allison, for his 3rd goal of the season with 6:59 remaining – with Ristolainen collecting his first point of the season.
28 seconds later, Travis Sanheim was called for a cross-checking minor, as the Hurricanes looked to go 3-for-3 with the man advantage. However, 14 seconds into the power play, Scott Laughton was sprung on a breakaway by Konecny – his second of the night – and went to his patented backhand move to finish the play through the five-hole for his 7th of the season, 3rd goal in 5 games, and 3rd shorthanded goal of the season.
Noah Cates had a shorthanded chance with 15 seconds left on the penalty but Raanta shut his five-hole, making a critical save with over 10 and a half still remaining.
With 9:14 remaining, Tony DeAngelo was called for a high sticking minor as he tried dumping the puck into the offensive zone and caught Martin Necas on the follow-through. The suddenly-dangerous shorthanded Flyers had 2 scoring chances from the onset of the penalty from Scott Laughton and Travis Konecny again, unfortunately neither shot hit the goal.
The Flyers kept rolling while shorthanded as after they won the faceoff outside of their own zone, Konecny found himself on a breakaway after Laughton won the draw, got one past the glove of Raanta, cutting the deficit to 1 with 7:36 remaining in the period and 24 seconds on the penalty for his 15th of the season.
A minute later with 6:34 left on the clock, Paul Stastny was called for tripping Cam York, allowing the Flyers a golden opportunity to claw their way back into a game that seemingly was over heading into the final frame. The Flyers fired 3 shots on goal but their power play once again didn’t have much flow as the Hurricanes killed off a huge penalty as they tried to regain momentum.
Right on queue with the momentum shift as Paul Stastny – the penalty taker – was robbed by the outstretched pad of Ersson as the Hurricanes had a little too much offensive zone time.
After the Hurricanes iced the puck with 2:42 left, the Flyers took a timeout as well as pulling Ersson for the extra attacker, and even though the Flyers had several chances – maybe their best attempt with the extra attacker – Antti Raanta made every save necessary as they held on for a 6-5 victory.
The Flyers outshot the Hurricanes 18-8 in the third period and were only outshot 37-33 after a dominating 40 minutes by Carolina, but once again their furious comeback was one goal short. Carter Hart was also ruled to have had suffered an upper-body injury and also was tagged with the loss.
UP NEXT
The Flyers won’t be back in action until December 29th when they take on the San Jose Sharks for the beginning of their annual wintertime West Coast swing.
