For the seventh time in their last 10 meetings, a matchup between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Carolina Hurricanes ended in a one-goal contest. Unfortunately, the overtime-inept Flyers couldn’t get the two points as Seth Jarvis finished off a one-time feed from Brent Burns for the game-winner.
Jordan Martinook and Scott Laughton each tacked on a goal within a 25-second span at the start of the second period before Jalen Chatfield wired a slap shot from the point about six minutes later to reclaim their one-goal lead. Travis Konecny wound up tying the game midway through the third period to force overtime before Jarvis sealed the deal with his 26th tally of the season.
Frederik Andersen made 31 saves for the victory, while Samuel Ersson made 30 saves as the hard-luck loser. Cam York played 29:01, registered five shots on goal and blocked six shots but was on the ice for all three goals allowed. His partner in Travis Sanheim saw 26:31 TOI, easily clearing everyone in ice-time tonight.
It worked once, so maybe it would work again as John Tortorella held out Sean Couturier for the second consecutive night as the Flyers traveled to Raleigh to play against the rejuvenated Hurricanes. After a gutsy performance on Tuesday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Flyers looked to make it two straight wins for the first time since February 10th and 12th when they beat the Seattle Kraken and Arizona Coyotes, respectively.
Tortorella ran with the same lineup meaning Couturier, Cam Atkinson, Denis Gurianov, and Marc Staal were withheld from the lineup. Samuel Ersson returned in goal looking for his 21st victory of the season.
As for the Hurricanes, it’s been another successful regular season campaign and they have been white-hot for a prolonged period of time as they have sported an 18-5-1 record since the end of January – outscoring their opponents 82-46 during that stretch. They then added Jake Guentzel and Evgeny Kuznetsov ahead of the trade deadline.
Offensively they are paced by Sebastien Aho‘s 27 goals and 75 points in 66 games, followed by Guentzel’s 60 points (8 points in 6 games with his new club), Seth Jarvis‘ 55 points, Martin Nečas‘ 48 points, and Andrei Svechnikov‘s 45 points (in just 48 games). Frederik Andersen earned the start tonight looking to improve on his 8-1-0 record, 2.17 GAA and .917 SV%. He was 4-0-0 since returning from a lengthy absence for blood clots and had only allowed 5 goals on 98 shots in that span for a whopping .949 SV%.
FIRST PERIOD
4:30 into the contest, it looked as if Owen Tippett scored the game’s opening goal after he was able to cash in on a loose puck in the blue paint after Morgan Frost‘s wizardry set things up. Unfortunately, the Carolina Hurricanes challenged the play for a potential offside and it was quickly overturned after Travis Konecny just made it into the zone before Frost.
Former Flyers forward Brendan Lemieux had a golden opportunity to actually score the game’s first goal midway through the period but was absolutely robbed by the glove of Samuel Ersson. He turned the puck over with a n0-look backhanded pass from behind the net that was intercepted by Martin Nečas, who found Lemieux streaking into the slot but Ersson got back just in time to make the stop.
At the 10:05 mark, the Flyers were guilty of taking the first penalty of the night after Frost was caught for a high-sticking minor. It might have been a lot worse as Tippett could have been called for a tripping minor during the delayed penalty call but the referees decided against it. A recently leaky penalty kill did a great job against the second-ranked power play unit of the Hurricanes, restricting them to just one shot on goal.
With 7:02 remaining in the period, the Hurricanes were found guilty of a too many men on the ice minor. Then 40 seconds into the bench minor, Jordan Martinook was nailed for a tripping penalty, giving the Flyers 80 seconds of 5-on-3 play. There was a lot of offensive zone time but not much urgency until the very end when Konecny rang one off the post among a few other chances.
The period came to a close with both teams tied at 0 and the Hurricanes holding a slight lead in shots with a 9-8 edge.
SECOND PERIOD
47 seconds into the middle frame, a very angry Travis Sanheim was called for a cross-checking minor after giving a couple shots to Jake Guentzel before the referees finally called it – and then another 2-3 after the whistle. After killing the penalty, Sanheim jumped out of the box and onto a breakaway but his shot was stopped by Frederik Andersen’s glove to keep the game tied.
Martinook and the Hurricanes eventually scored the game’s opening goal at the 3:56 mark of the period as they took full advantage of a Flyers turnover and defensive lapse in the neutral zone. Konecny tried dumping the puck further into the offensive zone with Sanheim aggressively pinching, however the Hurricanes batted the puck down and sent it forward as they jumped onto an odd-man rush. Cam York stayed with Nečas and Tippett took to Jordan Staal, but no one had Martinook as three white jerseys were caught in the neutral zone.
25 seconds later, the Flyers immediately responded thanks to Scott Laughton‘s breakaway opportunity. Bobby Brink won a puck battle in the defensive zone before he found Joel Farabee in the neutral zone as he deftly one-touched it forward to Laughton who broke loose past the defensemen and then tucked it past Andersen for his 12th of the season and second goal in as many games. Farabee’s assist was the 100th of his NHL career.
The Hurricanes reclaimed their lead with 9:17 remaining after Sebastian Aho set up Jalen Chatfield for a one-time bomb as he walked into the zone unmarked. It was another failed dump-in attempt for the Flyers who might rue their chances in such a tight game. The assist represented Aho’s 544th career point and moved him into a tie for 3rd place all-time in Hurricanes history with former Flyer Kevin Dineen.
With 3:47 left to play, Laughton’s shot from the faceoff dot hit Farabee straight on the head and he dropped immediately in obvious pain. He was helped off the ice by a trainer and went straight the locker room. Farabee returned to start the third period.
The period came to a close with the Hurricanes holding onto a 2-1 lead heading into the final frame of regulation as well as a 23-15 edge in shots.
THIRD PERIOD
After Konecny was stoned by Andersen and heading towards the bench, Andrei Svechnikov caught him high with a cross-check – he seemed to be targeting Sanheim instead – and headed to the box with 14:07 left. For the 12th time this season, the Flyers’ power play went goalless against the Hurricanes’ penalty kill – their 27th straight kill over their last 9+ games.
With 9:44 remaining, the newfound top line struck gold after some good down-low play before Konecny finished off the garbage from the side of the net. Konecny initially passed it to Tippett in the slot but he lost control of the puck. However, it got to Frost in the blue paint who tried a between the legs goal, but it ended up as a pass and found Konecny behind the net as he scored his first goal in seven games – his 28th on the season – to tie things up.
The rest of the period saw chances for both teams but the goaltenders kept the puck out of the net as we headed to overtime. The Flyers claimed the edge in shots – 33 to 30 – after firing 17 towards Andersen in the third compared to the Hurricanes’ 7.
OVERTIME
The Flyers’ overtime woes continued and a strange decision to not ice Tippett, Frost, and Konecny. Farabee had a great chance to end the game with an unmarked shot in the slot but his shot went wide and the Hurricanes jumped on an odd-man rush before Brent Burns found Jarvis for the victory.
UP NEXT
The Flyers embark on a back-to-back set – both on home ice – as they welcome the Boston Bruins (1:00pm ET, NBCSP) on Saturday.
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