The Philadelphia Flyers battled hard, but as is generally the case when these two teams face off, the Carolina Hurricanes prevailed with a late go-ahead goal to win, 6-4.
Martin Nečas scored the go-ahead goal with 29 seconds left in regulation after the Flyers tied the game twice in the third period from goals from Morgan Frost and Travis Konecny.
Konecny recorded his second 4-point game of the season, Owen Tippett scored a goal and added an assist, and Sean Couturier recorded 2 assists. Aleksei Kolosov made 29 saves on 34 shots for his third loss of the season, whereas Pyotr Kochetkov allowed 4 goals on 16 shots en route to his 6th win.
After seeing their winning streak come to a close, the Flyers jettisoned on a challenging 3-game road trip in the south, starting with their first matchup of the 2024-25 season against the Hurricanes.
The Flyers came out of their tilt on Saturday with a 3-0 defeat, their winning streak snapped, and Samuel Ersson on the mend with what was deemed a lower-body injury. To add on, Ryan Poehling was placed on IR earlier Tuesday after it was discovered that he would not partake on the road trip for undisclosed reasons.
In his stead, Nicolas Deslauriers drew back in, Egor Zamula replaced Erik Johnson, and Aleksei Kolosov earned the start. The Flyers also jumbled both their forward lines and defensive pairs in the process.
As for the Hurricanes, they entered the contest riding a 6-game winning streak and held an enviable 8-2-0 record. Pyotr Kochetkov earned the start, looking to improve on his 5-1-0 record, 2.51 GAA and .893 SV%, while Martin Nečas looked to add onto his team-leading 6 goals and 12 assists.
FIRST PERIOD
At the 6:15 mark, Andrei Svechnikov got the gate for a tripping minor, sending the struggling Flyers power play onto the ice, looking to snap their 0-12 rut. While aggressively pursuing the puck and forcing Jamie Drysdale behind his own net, Jordan Staal got called for a high-sticking minor, giving the Flyers a 5-on-3 for 68 seconds.
With 22 seconds remaining on the 2-man advantage, Travis Konecny scored the game’s opening goal as he finished off a deflection play after Matvei Michkov’s shot hit Owen Tippett in front and landed right to Konecny for his 6th of the year – his 4th on the power play.
With 5:35 remaining in the period, the Hurricanes tied things up with Jackson Blake scoring his 4th of the season. Jack Drury fed Blake with a nifty, no-look, behind-the-back pass from behind the net with Egor Zamula and Joel Farabee on his tail and Emil Andrae left in no-man’s land.
The period came to a close with both teams tied at 1 apiece with the Flyers holding a 10-8 advantage in shots.
SECOND PERIOD
With 11:04 remaining in the period, Eric Robinson gave the Hurricanes their first lead of the game after wiring a shot short-side. Martin Nečas added to his team-leading assist and point totals with the primary helper as he found the streaking Robinson on the wing after a careless Flyers turnover.
The Hurricanes then doubled their lead 54 seconds later after Jordan Martinook finished off a loose puck with an open cage to shoot at. After a strong shift in the offensive zone, Brent Burns whipped a pass to Jaccob Slavin before his shot attempt left a juicy rebound for Martinook to jump on.
The Flyers responded four minutes later at the 13:30 mark with a big goal from Tippett for his second of the season, snapping his 5-game goal drought in the process. After a good offensive zone shift and the Flyers jumping on a turnover of their own, Konecny patiently waited in the middle of the ice before he found Tippett on the wing as he wired a perfect seed of a shot over Kochetkov.
With 3:54 remaining, Sean Couturier was nailed for a tripping minor, sending the Hurricanes onto their first power play of the night. The 4th-ranked penalty kill of the Flyers survived against the 7th-ranked power play of the Hurricanes, who fired 3 shots towards Kolosov but were kept to the outside for the most part – a Flyers speciality this year.
The period came to a close with the Hurricanes holding a 23-14 advantage in shots through 40 minutes after a 14-4 edge in the middle frame.
THIRD PERIOD
78 seconds into the third period, the snakebitten Morgan Frost scored a goal only he would net, as he whiffed on the setup from Travis Sanheim but it deflected off his shin pad and into the open cage after the latter drew Kochetkov out of the crease. It was Frost’s first goal of the season after having gone 12 games without one to start the year. Konecny also picked up his third point of the night.
29 seconds later, the Flyers fumble in the neutral zone and in front of their goaltender as Jack Roslovic finished off the broken play. Andrae blew a tire just after the neutral zone, which allowed Sebastian Aho to go on a breakaway. It was initially thwarted but all hell broke loose with bodies in mass and Kolosov not being able to secure the loose puck.
After Tippett was brought down by Aho with no penalty called, Konecny forced a Jalen Chatfield turnover from below the goal line that went right to Couturier. The captain then dropped a no-look, behind-the-back pass of his own towards the net that was deftly deflected by Konecny through the five-hole at the midway mark of the third.
With 6:19 remaining, William Carrier was called for an offensive zone tripping penalty. It lasted 16 seconds after Kolosov made a pad save on the Hurricanes’ clearance attempt – instead of taking control of the puck – that then led them to regain control before Andrae got nailed for a holding minor.
As is always the case when these two teams play one another, the Hurricanes took the lead with a very late goal, this time with 29.3 seconds remaining. They pinned the Flyers in their own zone for a long time before Nečas finished off the loose change with bodies in and around the blue paint. It was fitting considering all the hard work the Czech star put into that shift.
Seth Jarvis then iced the game with an empty-netter from the neutral zone with a couple seconds remaining for his 4th of the season.
UP NEXT
The Flyers continue their road trip on Thursday when they take on the Tampa Bay Lightning (7:30pm; ESPN+/Hulu).
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