After a loss to the reigning Stanley Cup Champions on Thursday night in their season opener, the Philadelphia Flyers looked to bounce back in their second road game against the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Flyers’ Noah Cates won the first face-off of the night. The team was unable to maintain much pressure in the first minute of the period though. Another face-off sent the puck down to Carolina’s end, providing Philadelphia’s forwards a few chances. The Hurricanes, however, stole all of the momentum after the opening minutes, relentlessly peppering Samuel Ersson with shots. A stretch pass gave the Flyers a bit of momentum back, but the team was unable to capitalize on their small window of opportunity. A takeaway by Matvei Michkov swung the momentum back to the Flyers a touch, before Travis Konecny was penalized for interference against Jalen Chatfield. Jackson Blake was relentless in his pursuit of a power play goal, but Ersson stood tall in his net. Despite finding themselves unscathed after the penalty kill, the Flyers struggled to force the Hurricanes into their own zone.
Shortly after, Egor Zamula went to the box for tripping Jackson Blake, putting the Flyers on the kill once again. The Flyers were able to kill their second penalty, but Blake would draw two more penalties before the period was over: one against Cates for slashing and one against Hathaway for roughing, which sent Blake himself to the box as well. To end a chippy period, Carolina took a sole penalty: Chatfield went to the box for tripping Cates. A face-off win by new Flyer, Trevor Zegras, eventually found Konecny, whose shot went wide and ricocheted off the boards, straight to Owen Tippett’s blade, for a nifty wrister, sending the Flyers back to their locker room up a goal.
The second period was just as eventful as the first, just with goals instead of penalties. A giveaway by Bobby Brink allowed Blake to crash the net and hand the puck to Logan Stankoven to tie the game. The Hurricanes controlled the next few minutes of play, keeping a strong hold on the Flyers’ zone and the puck. Ersson maintained his composure and kept the Hurricanes at bay. Not defeated by his earlier giveaway, Brink took advantage of a misstep by Alexander Nikishin, taking a pass from Cates to take the lead back for the Flyers. With some momentum swings both ways, the Flyers remained upright against the eighth-highest scoring team last season. However, after tallying some shot attempts on even registering two shots on goal, a poor giveaway by Jeff Luchanko gave way for Carolina’s Eric Robinson to skate the length of the ice and find Taylor Hall for the tying goal.
An energized Carolina team was aggressive in the next few moments, recording a few hits before Brink was finally able to get a shot towards Frederik Andersen. The game shifted back in the Hurricanes’ favor until K’Andre Miller, recently traded from the New York Rangers, was handed an interference minor. The Flyers had a strong power play, but could not find a goal to give them the lead. Yet another Flyers’ giveaway, this time by Konecny, gave Jordan Martinook a look that went wide, but eventually found Jordan Staal’s blade for the Hurricanes’ third goal of the evening.
Down a goal, the Flyers were searching for any purchase in the Hurricanes’ zone. Instead, they found themselves once again blocking shots and eventually a man down due to a roughing penalty on Michkov. The majority of the third’s first 10 minutes were controlled by the Hurricanes. The Flyers found some momentum again after a face-off win by Christian Dvorak. The visiting Philadelphia team was unable to control the puck for long, with the Hurricanes forcing the game back to them, even being on the penalty kill. Even after Chatfield tripped Cates, the Flyers could not control the puck.
Finally, they were able to bring the puck back to the Hurricanes’ zone, earning a few marks on the scorecard, but no goals yet. With four minutes remaining, Tyson Foerster worked his way to the left of Andersen, passing the puck behind the net to Brink. The right wing found Travis Sanheim, who then found the back of the net, tying the game at three goals a piece. The Flyers were able to keep themselves in control of the puck for the next few minutes but could not find the winning goal.
With the game tied, and neither team able to sneak the puck past the opposing goaltender, the teams would head to overtime: the first occasion for both teams this season. The puck went up and down the ice quite a few times in the five minute overtime. A few solid chances were present for each team. However, it was a shuffle in front of Andersen that drew him out of position and allowed Brink to net one past Andersen. Unfortunately for the Flyers, the goal was ultimately overturned due to goaltender interference, resuming play. Finding control of the puck, The Hurricanes crafted a brilliant play from Sebastian Aho to Seth Jarvis, who netted the true overtime winner.
The Philadelphia Flyers have earned their first point of the season—although they would have appreciated the second—and will look to increase their total in their first home game against the Florida Panthers on Monday, October 13 at 7 p.m.
