Saturday night in Philly the Flyers lost game one of a home and home back to back series against the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 in the shootout. The Hurricanes are currently in sole possession of 1st place in the tightly grouped NHL Metropolitan Division. Just six points separate the top seven teams.
Carolina (42 pts) sits atop the Metro holding a one point lead over the New York Islanders (41 pts). The Capitals are one game out of 1st with 40 pts and the Flyers are now tied with the Devils (37 pts). The Penguins and Rangers are hot on their heels tied at 36 pts.
These two games against the Hurricanes are key to hanging with the pack. Saturday night’s contest was the final game of a six game homestand during which the Flyers earned 6 of a possible 12 points. Game one of this back-to-back came to a close just before 10PM as snow was just starting to fall on the Delaware Valley. A rematch will take place in Carolina just 19 hours later at 5PM on Sunday evening.
Game One
What went down
The Flyers played a fantastic 1st period in Saturday night’s matchup. Play was pretty wide open at both ends of the ice as things got underway. Recent call ups Carl Grundstrom and Ty Murchison were making their presence known physically. In fact the Flyers were finishing checks across the board all night long.
Bobby Brink opened the scoring 10:04 into the 1st period. Trevor Zegras left a drop pass at the top of the slot. Brink was patient with the puck loading his shot as his lane opened up. He shoveled a wrist shot that whistled past Canes goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov.
Late in the period deep in the Carolina zone Travis Konecny crossed behind the net then sent a nifty behind the back pass out front to Trevor Zegras who put the puck just over the blocker of Kochetkov. Ty Murchison made a beautiful sliding block as time was running down and the Flyers were headed into the 1st intermission leading the top team in the Metro 2-0. Not bad.
Canes Comeback
The Flyers continued to play with confidence creating chances and several odd man rushes. But you don’t get to the top by laying down after the 1st period. Carolina got stronger as the middle period wore on. Former Flyer Shayne Gostisbehere intercepted a pass in the neutral zone and skated in over the blue line with the puck. He dished a pass to Nikola Ehlers who dinged it in off the far side post past Flyers goaltender Samuel Ersson. Nice set up, beautiful shot, egregious give away.
Ehlers goal added fuel to Carolina’s momentum. They had the Flyers bottled up a bit in their own end. With 5:48 left in the period Alexander Nikishin scored a goal off of the skate of Noah Cates. It was not the fault of Cates or Samuel Ersson, it was just a very unfortunate bounce for the Flyers. Nikishin unleashed a blast that would have sailed well wide had it not been redirected.
With just over three minutes left in the 2nd Carolina went on the power-play. This was a huge penalty kill for the Flyers. Philadelphia head coach Rick Tocchet showed well deserved confidence in using Garnet Hathaway, Rodrigo Abols, and Carl Grundstrom in this key situation.
Towards the end of the period Owen Tippett took a shot off of what appeared to be the back of his hand and immediately went up the tunnel. He was already circling back to the bench as time ran out on the middle stanza with the game tied at two.
Give and Take
The Flyers were putting forth a solid effort in this game. They were cleaning up in the faceoff circles and blocking a ton of shots. They led the Canes in almost every stat going into the 3rd period.
The Hurricanes had the Flyers caught in a partial line change. Gostibehere sent the puck up along the boards to Andrei Svechnikov. Svechnikov sent a lead pass to Seth Jarvis springing him in all alone to beat Sam Ersson and give the Canes the lead 12:26 into the 3rd.
Just 23 seconds later Rodrigo Abols sprung Carl Grundstrom and Garnet Hathaway on a two on one break into the Carolina zone. Grundstrom chose to take the shot from the right circle beating Kochetkov glove side. Flyers Fans exploded.
From that point on things remained cautious through the end of regulation and the overtime. Both teams showed a ton of respect for the opposition’s offense and remained focused on keeping them at bay. Ersson was good down the stretch and into the shootout.
Shootout
The Flyers threw their best at the Canes through four rounds of the shootout competition. Zegras, Michkov, Konecny, and Brink. The Carolina netminder was not going to put up with any fast hands or fancy footwork. He challenged the shooters aggressively, successfully committing himself to the poke with very little regard for his positioning. He went all in and it was quite a display.
Ersson went just the opposite in his approach. Patient, solid positioning, and leaving nothing to shoot at. Finally Jackson Blake convinced Ersson to commit short side and wrapped the puck along the crease winning the race to the far side of the net. Hurricanes win 4-3.
Game Day Preview
Well, …you’re pretty much caught up. There’s a rematch in Carolina at 5PM today. Hopefully you had a safe trip home, a good night’s sleep, and a chance to shovel out today. Barring any surprises Dan Vladar should get the start between the pipes as these two teams go at it again. It’s Tocchet vs Brind’Amore, Flyers vs Hurricanes just in time for Sunday dinner while your boots dry out.
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