Hurricanes recover to defeat Flyers in shootout

The Carolina Hurricanes recovered from blowing a third-period lead and defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 in the shootout at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia on Saturday.

Jackson Blake scored the only goal of the shootout – his first in the NHL – going backhand-forehand before slipping the puck past the left skate of Samuel Ersson in the fourth round.

“I was 0-fer (0-for-3) until tonight, so to get that one feels pretty good,” Blake said. “I think maybe I got a little lucky to get (Ersson) to bite there, but I’m happy it went in and happy we got the win.”

Nikolaj Ehlers, Alexander Nikishin and Seth Jarvis each scored, and Shayne Gostisbehere had two assists for the Hurricanes (20-9-2), who have won three in a row and six of eight. Pyotr Kochetkov made 15 saves.

“We let our guard down, and they got up a couple,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “I give the guys a lot of credit. I think after that, in the second and third, I really liked our game. We had a lot of good opportunities, didn’t give up a ton.”

Trevor Zegras had a goal and an assist for the Flyers (16-9-5), who have points in their past two (0-0-2) and finished a six-game homestand with a 2-2-2 record. Ersson made 18 saves.

“We kept their shots down, so there’s positives,” Flyers coach Rick Tocchet said. “But we have to start to learn that when teams put pressure on us, we’ve got to find the pressure; we can’t back off.”

The teams will complete a home-and-home series in Raleigh on Sunday.

Carolina took a 3-2 lead at 12:26 of the third period. Jarvis scored on a short breakaway off a pass from Andrei Svechnikov, deking to the backhand before slipping the puck in at the right post.

“I think we got a little (ticked) off,” Jarvis said. “We didn’t like where the game was trending. We started playing more simple, more direct, and I think it resulted in us getting more zone time and creating more chances.”

The Flyers answered 23 seconds later to tie it 3-3 at 12:49 when Carl Grundstrom kept the puck on a 2-on-1 and scored on a short-side snap shot from the right circle. He has three points (two goals, one assist) in four games since making his Philadelphia debut on Nov. 8 after a recall from Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League.

“I looked over a little bit, but then I saw I had an open corner there,” Grundstrom said. “It’s been a lot of fun, a great group of guys for sure.”

The Flyers took a 1-0 lead at 10:04 of the first period. Zegras skated the puck through the neutral zone and left a drop pass for Bobby Brink, who cut from the top of the left circle to the high slot for a wrist shot over Kochetkov’s glove.

Zegras pushed the lead to 2-0 at 17:34 when he drove the net and scored off Travis Konecny's backhand feed from below the goal line.

“I thought we got off to a good start,” Zegras said. “I think we (need to) build off that first period because I thought we were doing some good stuff.”

Ehlers cut the deficit to 2-1 at 9:11 of the second period. Gostisbehere intercepted a pass from Flyers defenseman Ty Murchison in the neutral zone, skated into the offensive zone and passed to Ehlers, who scored on a wrist shot from the top of the left face-off circle.

“That was the best line for us,” Brind’Amour said. “We were a little flat, and they came out and got the goal. Really all night, they were all around it, generating some good looks.”

Nikishin’s slap shot from above the left circle deflected off the left skate of Philadelphia forward Noah Cates and into the net to tie it 2-2 at 14:12.

Kochetkov improved to 5-1-0, making his second start since missing eight games with a lower-body injury.

“Tough first (period), I felt slow,” Kochetkov said. “In the second, I have a couple shots, and I start to feel the game a little bit. I felt actually it’s not bad.”

NOTES: Zegras has nine points (five goals, four assists) in his past eight games. … The Hurricanes are 15-1-0 against the Flyers since Nov. 26, 2021.