Photo Credits: FNG’s Rob Windfelder
At the end of the 1st period Carolina was up one to nothing. Shots were tied at ten apiece. The Hurricanes had seemed more than happy to attack from around the edges. Jalen Chatfield had lobbed a shot through traffic from the blueline that eluded Flyers netminder Ivan Fedotov 30 seconds into the game. By the end of the game the shots were 37-19 in favor of Carolina. The Flyers just slowly fell apart as the night went on.
The Flyers had three power-plays in the 1st period that they failed to capitalize on. Matvei Michkov had a nice chance at the side of the Canes net getting multiple whacks at the puck but goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov held tight to the post denying the attempts. The Flyers killed the only penalty they were called for in the entire game.
Ryan Poehling tied the game with a shot from the slot 2:13 into the 2nd period. It was at that point that the Flyers started to fade into the night. They had three additional shots during the rest of the 2nd period, and a total of four in the 3rd. There were no penalties to either team during the final two periods. There was not a whole lot of anything. There was no passion or urgency and the Flyers allowed Carolina to outplay them until the score was eventually out of reach.
Melt Down
The game went into the 3rd period still tied at one. Just over a minute into the period Sebastian Aho scored on a wrist shot through traffic. Fedotov seemed to have it trapped but the puck dropped through his legs and dribbled into the net.
Jordan Staal deflected a Dmitry Orlov shot from the point passed Fedotov at 6:02. Less than a minute later Jack Roslovic picked up a puck right in front of the Flyers net and made a nice move to pull the puck around to the far side and put it in the net at 6:57. That quick the Flyers were down 4-1 and they did not seem to have the energy to put together a come-back effort.
Both Travis Konecny and Sanheim had flashes of offensive aggression but for the most part the Flyers were going with the “too many passes approach”. No one seemed to want to be the one to fire the puck. When they were in what seemed like good positioning there would often be yet another pass that did not connect.
Ivan Fedotov had some real standout moments during this game. He made a couple big planking saves to cap off the second period. He faced a couple two on ones and stoned Eric Robinson on a flat out breakaway. Despite giving up four goals he was voted 3rd star of the game. He remained in his net until the final horn. The Flyers did not go for the extra attacker as time was winding down.
There’s no way to sugar coat this one. It was a dreadful outing for the Orang and Black. They did not seem to have the energy to put up much of a fight against the mighty Hurricanes. The Canes don’t need to worry about selling tickets in Philly so they were satisfied to put the score out of reach and then toy with the Flyers until the required amount of time was spent on the ice.
Next Up: Flyers host the Blackhawks Saturday afternoon at 1:00.
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