Carolina Hurricanes Ghost Busted in Philadelphia
Carolina Hurricanes score 2 first, but ultimately fall to the Philadelphia Flyers 6-3
The Carolina Hurricanes headed into Philadelphia tonight looking for another win. The Hurricanes emerged triumphant last game against the Calgary Flames with a 3-2 final score. Tonight Carolina looked to continue their winning ways in Philadelphia against the Flyers who were 1-2-1 coming into the game.
The Carolina Hurricanes came out to start the first period with a couple good cycles. The Hurricanes play didn’t lead to a lot of shots, but they definitely controlled the play against the Flyers and drew a penalty. Nothing would come from the man advantage, and things started to turn after Bryan Bickel took a dumb penalty by boarding Nick Cousins. Lack made some great saves during the kill and kept things even for Carolina. The Hurricanes rebounded after the penalty, controlled the play, and pressed the reeling Flyers into taking another penalty to end the period.
Philadelphia fell behind to the Carolina Hurricanes in the second period with a shot from the point. Justin Faulk, helped beautifully by Jordan Staal’s screen, put one past Steve Mason while still on the power play. Faulk’s goal was his second of the year. The Canes quickly followed this goal up with a nice tic-tac-toe passing play from Sebastian Aho to Joakim Nordstrom to Jordan Staal on the right side. Staal buried it giving the Flyer’s goalie Steve Mason no chance on the shot. After those two goals, though, it was all downhill for the Carolina Hurricanes.
Brandon Manning scored on a great move that pulled Eddie Lack out of position. Less than three minutes later, Jakub Voracek tipped one in off the rookie Ivan Provorov’s shot and tied the game. Two more goals by the Flyers followed against the Carolina Hurricanes. Matt Read tipped another Provorov shot a few seconds after the end of the Klas Dahlbeck penalty for interference. Later, Andrew MacDonald fed a streaking Shayne Gostisbehere who slotted one in on Lack’s blocker side for what would ultimately be the game-winner. With less than two minutes left in the second, Victor Rask passed to Lee Stempniak coming off the bench and the Carolina Hurricanes top line got on the board for the first time.
In the third, the Carolina Hurricanes earned some good chances. Ultimately though Steve Mason stood tall and denied the Hurricanes’ best shots. The Flyers scored two more times in the period to make the final score 6-3. Each goal resulted from bad penalties taken by Noah Hanifin and Elias Lindholm. Near the end of the game Jeff Skinner and Wayne Simmonds got into it in front of the benches, and both would be ejected from the game. At that point, the game was practically over and the ejections had no effect on the final score.
Related Story: Carolina Hurricane's Player Power Rankings
Matty B’s Game Keys:
Here’s where we get to the good stuff. Where I tell you what the Cane’s did right, or in this case, what they did wrong.
1. Bad Penalties
The Carolina Hurricanes took a lot of penalties tonight especially in the last two-thirds of the game. Klas Dahlbeck mistimed his check and drew an interference penalty that led to the game-tying goal only seconds after the kill was over. Noah Hanifin took two bad penalties in the third that pretty much killed all the Hurricanes momentum because he misread the play and was caught flat-footed both times. The Flyers scored on the second one and put the game out of reach
2. Clearing Out The Slot
Three goals were scored tonight by Flyer’s standing in or around the crease. Two were tip-ins and the third was off a rebound. All night, Philadelphia put bodies in front of the net that the Carolina Hurricanes failed to clear out and they paid for it.
3. Secondary Scoring
The Hurricanes are getting consistent scoring from their top guys, but besides Teuvo Teraivainen and Viktor Stalberg, nobody else has notched one goal. When are guys like Lindholm or Nordstrom going to start chipping in? Overall the Canes supporting cast was largely invisible tonight