Photo Credit: FNG’s Rob Windfelder
This game was all over the place as the visiting Carolina Hurricanes beat the Flyers by the final score of 3-2. Both teams had a very streaky outing as momentum shifted continually throughout the contest. At first the Flyers looked as if they didn’t stand a chance in this one. Carolina dominated the play outshooting the Flyers and keeping them bottled up in their own end.
Just under three minutes in Carolina opened the scoring with and nice tick-tack-toe passing play through traffic before Stefan Noesen beat Carter Hart through the 5-hole. The Flyers tied the score at one when Sean Couturier fed the puck to a racing Owen Tippett who skated it into the zone and beat Hurricanes goalie Frederik Andersen just over his glove. At the time of the goal the Flyers were being outshot 11-3 with just 4:51 left in the 1st period.
Less than three minutes later the Flyers scored on just their 6th shot of the game. Nick Deslauriers made this play happen at both ends of the ice. Big Nick threw a booming check in the Flyers end that broke the puck loose. He carried it up ice and fed a beautiful pass to Garnet Hathaway who put the puck between Anderson’s pads for his first goal as a Philadelphia Flyer. The Flyers got totally outplayed in the period and somehow were going into the first intermission ahead by a goal.
Play leveled off a bit and evened out during the 2nd period, unfortunately so did the score. Carolina’s Michael Bunting scored right off a face-off in the Flyers end. He beat Carter Hart just over the glove with a quick slapper from the top of the circle. The score would stay this way until late in the 3rd period.
Morgan Frost
Morgan Frost was back in the line-up tonight after missing multiple games as a healthy scratch. He started the game centering a line between Travis Konecny and Tyson Foerster. Frost looked good especially considering how long it has been since he has seen game action. He logged 17:02 in ice time and had 3 shots on goal. He set up a few nice chances and made some really nice entries into the Carolina zone. Frost was given a lot of power-play time which would seem like a real opportunity to make an impression, but we all know how snake-bitten the Flyers PP has been. They went 0 for 5 on the night.
Missed opportunities
It is not like the Flyers did not get their share of chances tonight. Every Flyer you would hope to see right in front of the net with the puck eventually had their shot at it but the puck just would not go in. Frederik Andersen did make some big saves, other times he was just in the right place at the right time. Laughton, Atkinson, Tippett, Konecny, Bobby Brink, Sean Walker all ended up with picture perfect opportunities that would materialize into nothing more than just that.
Carter Hart
Carter Hart was called on to make some big saves tonight. There were breakdowns at both ends of the ice by both teams all night long. Parts of the game were really intense with both teams taking turns gunning at each other offensively. Both goaltenders were outstanding at times.
At one point Hart made a nice save and mistakenly thought he had the puck covered with his glove. He didn’t. It was just sitting there in the crease next to him. He thought he had it, the ref thought he might have had it but it was clearly still very visible. It’s funny at that point someone on the other team is absolutely obligated to make a move for the puck which usually ends up with them getting punched in the back of the head. But you can’t leave the puck just laying there in plain site no matter who thinks it’s not actually there.
Anyone’s game
After a hard fought and quirky back and forth by both teams Carolina’s Teuvo Teravainen scored the final goal with just 3:47 left in regulation. It had been anyone’s game up until that point. After taking the lead the Hurricanes bottled the Flyers up in their own end and played keep away with the puck as time ran down. The Flyers could not get a chance to pull Hart for the extra attacker until it was too late.
Next up: Wednesday night November 1st the Flyers host the Buffalo Sabres at 7PM.
