The Philadelphia Flyers have been in the business of revenge games in the last week or so after dispatching the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings last week, before taking down the Carolina Hurricanes Wednesday night by a score of 3-1.
Carter Hart returned from his absence with a 31-save performance, Owen Tippett, Travis Konecny, and Ryan Poehling each scored for the Flyers, and the penalty kill was damn near flawless as they picked up their 3rd straight victory.
Tippett scored 110 seconds into the game with a hard one-timer that confused Pyotr Kochetkov, and Konecny then scored on a deflection near the end of the period before Poehling gave the club a 3-goal lead 29 seconds into the second period with a net-front goal. Stefan Noesen cut the deficit to 2 midway through the second period but Hart and the Flyers’ defense did their job, thwarting any comeback attempt.
Travis Sanheim played 28:31, Sean Walker was right behind him at 24:03, and Konecny paced the forwards with 21:39. Nick Seeler, Louie Belpedio, Scott Laughton, Sean Couturier, Morgan Frost, and Walker each picked up an assist.
The Flyers’ long road trip came to a close in Raleigh tonight as they faced off against last year’s Eastern Conference finalists in the Carolina Hurricanes. These two teams faced off earlier in the season in a game where the Hurricanes stole a late win after Teuvo Teräväinen scored the go-ahead goal with less than 4 minutes left to play. As for tonight, the Flyers entered the game on a mini 2-game winning streak after they exacted revenge on both the Anaheim Ducks and the Los Angeles Kings, looking for the same result against Carolina.
Bobby Brink remained a healthy scratch, Egor Zamula reentered the lineup for Victor Mete, and Carter Hart was making his first start in nearly 2 weeks after suffering a mid-body injury and then fighting an illness shortly afterwards.
The top line remained the same with Cam Atkinson, Sean Couturier, and Tyson Foerster, Morgan Frost was in between Travis Konecny and Owen Tippett, Ryan Poehling remained on the third line with Joel Farabee and Scott Laughton, and Noah Cates was in between Nicolas Deslauriers and Garnet Hathaway. The defensive pairs returned to status quo with Zamula paired up with Sean Walker and Louie Belpedio back with Nick Seeler.
As for the Hurricanes, they were third in the Metropolitan Division with a 9-6-0 record and had won 6 of their last 10 games, including a shutout in their previous game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Unsurprisingly, Sebastian Aho paced the club in points with 13 but was tied with Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Martin Nečas and Brady Skjei each had 12, and Seth Jarvis and Teräväinen had 10 apiece.
Pyotr Kochetkov was between the pipes with a 1-3-0 record, usurping Antti Raanta for the time being after pitching a shutout in his last game. Frederik Andersen remains on the mend with blood clotting issues.
FIRST PERIOD
The Philadelphia Flyers got things rolling very early tonight as they opened the scoring just 1:50 into the game courtesy of Owen Tippett’s 4th goal in his last 3 games and 6th on the season.
Louie Belpedio traversed the neutral zone before finding Morgan Frost along the boards as he entered the offensive zone. Frost carried zero hesitation as he one-touched a pass to Tippett for a one-time blast that confounded Pyotr Kochetkov with Belpedio acting as a moving screen.
With just under 10 minutes remaining in the period, the Flyers absentmindedly turned the puck over at their own blue-line, which allowed Jesperi Kotkaniemi to walk in all alone on Carter Hart but the goaltender got the last laugh with a huge blocker save. Egor Zamula tried making a move at the blue-line but instead he coughed it up to the Hurricanes’ joint leading scorer.
A minute later, the Hurricanes came right back after the Flyers iced the puck. Stefan Noesen – who always has something going on against the Flyers – whipped a hard pass from the boards to the blue paint where Jack Drury was situated all alone but his one-touch attempt was thwarted by the pad of Hart, keeping the score at 1-0.
With just 57 seconds left in the first period, the Flyers doubled their lead after a strong offensive zone shift.
Travis Konecny started the play along the boards as he whipped a pass into a mass of bodies. Sean Couturier was able to corral the puck and he tried a whipping play of his own that went wide of the net. However, Nick Seeler was the first to the puck at the point as he one-timed the shot with Konecny all alone for the deflection for his 10th of the season.
On the very next shift, Joel Farabee received a pass just outside the blue-line before feeding Owen Tippett for an abbreviated breakaway opportunity that was stopped by Kochetkov.
Nevertheless, their first period successes continued as the Flyers were staked to a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes.
At one point the Hurricanes carried a 6-2 shot advantage with the Flyers in a deep lull, however they ended the period strong and entered the intermission with a 12-9 edge in shots and 14-9 in the faceoff dot.
SECOND PERIOD
The Flyers jumped even further ahead just 29 seconds into the period after Ryan Poehling scored his first as a member of the Flyers, proving his head coach’s intuition by keeping him in the lineup in a more offensive-minded role.
Dmitry Orlov made a very bad play behind the net as he paused before trying to clear it along the boards but it hit Scott Laughton’s skate and rolled over to Sean Walker, who one-touched a pass to Poehling in the slot as he finished it top shelf past Kochetkov.
4:42 into the period, Zamula was whistled down for a delay of game penalty, sending the 9th ranked power play to work. The Flyers did a very good j0b at limiting their chances with just one shot finding Carter Hart, although it could have been worse with the referees missing a 2nd delay of game penalty – on Cam York – early in the man advantage.
Sean Couturier had an opportunity to make it 4-0 as he was walking in alone on Kochetkov but he decided to make an ill-advised pass that Konecny was not expecting. Under a minute later, the Hurricanes went down the other end and finally got on the board courtesy of – who else – Stefan Noesen.
As the tweet so eloquently put it, the passes were crisp and quick and eventually Noesen ripped a one-legged one-timer past Hart’s blocker for his 4th of the season. On the very next shift, the Hurricanes came within inches of clawing right back but Hart made the stop. Unfortunately, Seeler was called for hooking minor after a turnover right in front of the net by Walker.
The Hurricanes had the momentum after scoring their first goal but the Flyers weathered the storm and finally got some of their own. They killed the penalty with ease again but there were several shifts in a row afterwards where Hart had to stand on his head.
The Flyers entered the 2nd intermission with a 3-1 lead but the Hurricanes had a 12-7 shot advantage in the period and carried a 21-19 lead after 40 minutes.
THIRD PERIOD
After ringing a backhander off the post, the Hurricanes were awarded a power play shortly afterwards with York being the guilty party 4:16 into the final frame of regulation. The Flyers’ aggressiveness thwarted another Canes power play, keeping the score a 3-1.
With 11 minutes left on the clock, Travis Sanheim was high-sticked by Andrei Svechnikov, sending the struggling man advantage onto the ice looking for that insurance marker. Another power play, another powerless attempt as the Flyers continued to struggle with the extra man.
The rest of the period went exactly as the Flyers planned with a lot of neutral zone play, the defense was clogging passing lanes, and they were letting the clock wind down as much as possible. Kochetkov was pulled for the extra skater with over 2 and a half minutes to play. The Hurricanes had a few chances but the blocking for the Flyers was on full display as they neared 30 for the night.
Carter Hart earned his 5th win of the season with a scintillating performance in goal coupled with a few early-period goals from Owen Tippett and Ryan Poehling.
UP NEXT
The Flyers are off until Saturday afternoon but they return home for a back-to-back slate, starting with the Vegas Golden Knights on the 18th (1:00pm ET, NBCSP) as they look to exact revenge yet again for a 4th straight game.
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