Hurricanes edge Flyers, sweep home-and-home in shootout

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Brandon Bussi made 24 saves and the Carolina Hurricanes edged the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 in a shootout to sweep the home-and-home series at Lenovo Center on Sunday.

“I just try to bring my best every game,” Bussi said. “I feel good right now. I feel confident. I feel like if I see the puck, I have a good chance to stop it. But our team made some great plays in front.”

Bussi improved to 11-1-0 to become the fastest goalie to 11 wins in NHL history.

Andrei Svechnikov won the game in the third round of the shootout, and William Carrier and Taylor Hall also scored for the Hurricanes (21-9-2), who have won four in a row.

Svechnikov cut to his backhand and roofed his shootout attempt.

“I just went from the left side and tried to make (goalie Dan Vladar) move first,” Svechnikov said. “Sometimes it could slide down (the stick), so it’s 50-50 sometimes. But I wouldn’t say it’s super hard.”

Both games in the back-to-back ended with the Hurricanes coming out on top in a shootout. Carolina topped Philadelphia 4-3 in a shootout at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Saturday.

“I thought we had a really good two periods. We just didn’t get enough lead,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “I thought in the third period especially, (Bussi) made countless timely saves and obviously in the shootout. That’s pretty impressive.”

Jamie Drysdale scored, and Trevor Zegras had a goal and an assist for the Flyers (16-9-6), who are 1-1-3 in the past five games and have lost three in a row for the first time this season. Vladar made 30 saves.

“We hung in,” Philadelphia coach Rick Tocchet said. “We had a bunch of kills. I think we had six penalties (in regulation). That’s tough. Once we started getting our legs, then we got some opportunities.”

Carrier gathered a loose puck in the slot and scored on a wrist shot through traffic to give the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead at 5:44.

Hall redirected a shot between his legs and past Vladar off an Alexander Nikishin one-timer on the power play to extend the lead 2-0 at 15:53.

Drysdale made it 2-1 at 19:07 when his shot from the left point went off the shaft of Carrier’s stick and into the net.

“This team never gives up,” Drysdale said. “Down one or two, we know we always have a fighting chance. We come in the room, we chat, we talk through it. We know we can be better.”

After a scoreless second period, Philadelphia tied it 2-2 at 18:08 of the third period. Travis Konecny drew Bussi out to the left post before passing across the slot to Zegras, who one-timed a shot into the open net from the right circle.

“It’s tough back-to-back, having a 5 p.m. game,” Zegras said. “I think (the key) was just finding the groove.”

Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin returned to the lineup after missing 29 games with a lower-body injury. He had three blocked shots in 14:31.

“It’s good to be back out there playing,” Slavin said. “My style is not very flashy, so it’s pretty easy. But (I had) a couple missed clears on the 'PK' there, so I’m knocking off some rust for sure. Our system makes it really easy. Guys are helping out all over the ice.”

NOTES: Philadelphia defenseman Cam York had four blocked shots in 24:39 in his return after missing four games with an upper-body injury. ... The Flyers were 0-for-4 on the power play and are 0-for-10 in the past five games. ... The Hurricanes lead the NHL with a 14-2-0 record (.875) when scoring first.