POSTGAME 5: Canes Cut Down Flyers in OT, 4-3
The Philadelphia Flyers dropped their fifth straight decision since the NHL All-Star Break as they were defeated in overtime, 4-3, by the Carolina Hurricanes at the Wells Fargo Center on Monday afternoon.
The Flyers battled back from three separate one goal deficits but it wasn't good enough. Brett Pesce (4th goal of the season) scored the game winner at 4:42 of overtime.
The Flyers dominated the first period but Carolina got the game to intermission scoreless. Nino Niederreiter (15th goal of the season) and Gerry Mayhew (6th) traded off puck-luck bounce goals in the opening minute of the second period. Teuvo Teräväinen (13th) put Carolina ahead, 2-1, in the middle stages of the second stanza.
Patrick Brown (2nd) re-tied the game a little more than five minutes into the third period. Less than two minutes later, Vincent Trocheck (14th) restored a lead for Carolina at 3-2. Strong forechecking work and persistence paid off for the Flyers as Oskar Lindblom (7th) forged a 3-3 deadlock with just under four minutes left in regulation.
Martin Jones got the start in goal, replacing Carter Hart who was unavailable due to an eye infection. Jones stopped 27of 31 shots in a losing cause.
Frederik Andersen earned the win for Carolina. He stopped 38 of 41 shots.
The Flyers went 0-for-3 on the power play. The Hurricanes went 0-for-1 on their lone power play.
TURNING POINT
In overtime, Carolina controlled puck possession for the first two minutes. Giroux was stopped one-on-one by goaltender Andersen. With 1:20 left in OT, the Carolina goalie made a 10-bell save on a Cam Atkinson backhander.
Finally, with 18 seconds left in OT, Brett Pesce got a step on Travis Konecny to receive a pass from Trocheck and beat Jones to end the game.
MELTZER'S TAKE
1) Travis Konecny had a partial break on the game's first shift. Andersen made the save on the shot from the high slot. A shift later, Morgan Frost fired a shot on net from just above the left dot. Shots were 4-0 Flyers through 5:51. The Flyers were unable to get a shot on goal out of a 2-on-1 for Claude Giroux and James van Riemsyk. Moments later, a crazy carom off the end boards nearly bounced off Teuvo Teräväinen in front.
Isaac Ratcliffe made a nice read, jumping up to poke the puck past Brett Pesce. The shot attempt hit the crossbar. At 10:43, the Hurricanes finally registered their first shot on goal (7-1). Jones made a routine save. Moments earlier, Carolina mistimed a 2-on-1 opportunity.
Andrei Svechkinov took a completely needless cross-checking penalty on Claude Giroux near the boards in the Flyers' defensive zone. The Flyers were unable to capitalize.
With 2:20 left in the opening period, Scott Laughton stepped out from behind the net to create a scoring chance. JVR attempted a followup.
2) Playing for the third time in four days, the Hurricanes seemed to have heavy legs in the first period. The more rested Flyers were quicker to the puck throughout the opening frame and racked up a 12-2 shot on goal advantage. Overall shot attempts were 20-12 (62.5 team Corsi) in favor of the Flyers. Scoring chances were 9-1 Flyers (4-0 high-danger). The bottom line, however, was that Philly was unable to put a single one in the cash register.
3) Two fluky bounces -- one in favor of the Hurricanes and a second to the Flyers' benefit -- canceled out in the opening minute of the middle stanza. At the 24-second mark, a funky carom off the stick of Jaccob Slavin came out in front and was tipped across the slot by Jesper Fast to Niederreiter for a point-blank goal. At 59 seconds, Mayhew attempted to backhand cross-crease pass that went off the stick of Sebastian Aho into the Carolina net. Assists were credited to Justin Braun and Ivan Provorov.
Mayhem Mayhew does it again. #CARvsPHI | #BringItToBroad pic.twitter.com/IECbekxsBK
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) February 21, 2022
Martin Necas was called for interference at 1:07 of the second period. Once again, the Flyers were unable to convert it into a goal.
The Flyers continued to dominate puck possession, with an 8-4 shot edge through 11 minutes. The rest of the period favored Carolina.
At 12:13, the Hurricanes grabbed a 2-1 lead off a Flyers' coverage breakdown. Keith Yandle was beaten wide. Then Claude Giroux failed to pick up his check (Teräväinen) over the middle and the Finn's shot off a Svechnikov feed went off Seeler's shinpad and into the net. Aho also received an assist.
Carolina went on their first power play at 13:58. Seeler was penalized for hooking. The Flyers had a 2-on-1 shorthanded chance, and trailerTravis Sanheim was stopped on a great save by Andersen.
With Frost tied up in a board battle in the defensive zone, Ristolainen and Fast exchanged shoves at cross-checks before receiving coincidental roughing minors. During the ensuing 4-on-4, most of the time was spent in the Carolina end (with no shots on net) but the best scoring chance belonged to Carolina's Vincent Trocheck.
The Canes had a push in the latter stages of the second period.
4) Second period shots on goal ended up 13-11 in Carolina's favor (22-15 Flyers through 40 minutes). The Flyers had a 6-4 high danger chance edge in the stanza but Carolina had the 2-1 edge the only place where it really mattered: the scoreboard. In his return to the Flyers lineup, Patrick Brown registered four shots on through two periods.
5) The Flyers had three of the first four shots on goal in the third period. The best early scoring chance, though, belonged to Carolina's Niederreiter after a misplay behind the net by Sanheim.
A great play down low by Ratcliffe created the game-tying goal for the Flyers. After Ratcliffe swooped around the net and used his long reach to his advantage, Brown got the payoff at the opposite post to knot the game at 2-2 at the 5:19 mark. Ristolainen got the secondary assist.
Welcome back, @PattyBrown36! #CARvsPHI | #BringItToBroad pic.twitter.com/TjQ9ecBgTM
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) February 21, 2022
The Hurricanes wasted little time regaining the lead. Flyers defenseman Sanheim lost a puck battle behind the net. The puck went to the point. A \high-tip later, and the puck went to Trocheck, who quickly untied the score at 7:15. The assists went to Necar and Cole.
At 10:30, Necas took an awful interference penalty on Seeler. The Flyers once again failed to cash in. The Canes were unable to finish a 3-on-1 as the penalty expired.
As Frost was creating a potential scoring chance for Brown from behind the net, MacEwen was grappling with Ian Cole. They dropped the gloves at 13:35 and MacEwen won a lopsided bout.
Lots of good forechecking work by the Flyers created the eventual goal that made it a 3-3 game. Philly finally got the payoff as Lindblom poked the puck over the goal line from the doorstep. The assists went to Konecny and Sanheim at 16:07.
Fighting to the finish. #CARvsPHI | #BringItToBroad pic.twitter.com/pHS17tmeBz
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) February 21, 2022
Third period shots on goal were 14-10 in the Flyers' favor (36-25 Flyers through regulation). High-danger scoring chances were 5-4 Flyers (14-8 Flyers through regulation).