Carolina Hurricanes Show it’s Never Sunny in Philadelphia

Carolina Hurricanes are lucky to lead late in the third, but an unlucky bounce sends the game to OT where the Flyers win

What the heck are we witnessing this week, The Carolina Hurricanes are rolling down the stretch this week and gobbling up points in all four game so far.  After waking up in Philadelphia this morning, Carolina is ready to take on the Flyers and Wayne Simmons who has been on fire against the Hurricanes this year with 4 pts in 3 games.

Expectations for the night:

For some odd reason, Bill Peters went with Cam Ward tonight. Odd because when Ward was playing well he got back to back starts but lights out Lack still had to sit.  I guess he hoped that Cam Ward would play for his starting job or Management decided all this winning was messing up the Canes draft standing.

Players I was Watching

Wayne Simmonds: Flyers player of the year.  I normally don’t watch opponent’s players but this guy has been a beast against us this year.  He has actually been having a career year against everyone.  What I like about Mr. Simmonds is his play in the dirty areas and the Hurricanes weakness is that so-called area.  The young not so physical Canes defense really was having a hard time keeping Philly out of the middle of the ice tonight but did find a way to get under Simmonds skin. Hence, NO good stats from Simmonds and a -2 for the night.

Sabastian Aho –  Aho has been quiet as of late.  He has taken a lot of outside shots and I hoped to see a change in that pattern against Philly.  If you remember, Aho got his first NHL hat trick against the Flyers in their last meeting.  I thought playing the Flyers could jog old memories.  Sebastian ended up with an assist tonight, but he also committed brain fart that gave Philly the comeback win.

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The Game:

The Hurricanes started real slow in this one.  Carolina normally has good uptempo starts looked out of sync.  Philly jumped on them fast and hard with some really good opportunities right out of the gate.  Only good chance in the first came from Staal and Aho in the first minute of the game.

There was a time midway through the 1^st many Caniacs were expecting a Flyers goal but it didn’t emerge.  Carolina’s defense remained on their heels and that’s when Ivan Provorov got Philadelphia on the board with just a minute and change left in the 1^st.

https://twitter.com/NHL/status/843622266608979968

The 2^nd period didn’t get any better for Caniacs.  Just past the halfway mark of the game, down 24-7 on shots, Dale Weise picks up the garbage in front of Ward.

At this point, things needed to change so coach Peters started to change up lines.  It paid off right away with Jeff Skinner playing with Rask and Teravainen on the new line, finds the back of the net.

The Carolina Hurricanes kept the energy going the rest of the 2^nd period and with new life, Elias Lindholm found the net with a hard shot from the high slot area. Canes even it at two apiece

Down the stretch:

The 3^rd started out with Philly taking it to the Canes.  After an iffy call on DiGiuseppe for holding, Aho got a real bad call for delay of game when he chops the puck up over the glass.  It looked liked Aho was tripped before the puck left play but the refs said nothing.  Canes survived that mess of a 5 v 3 and 5v4 to start carrying the play.  Finally, the Hurricanes earned a chance on the power play and Jordan Staal makes Philly pay for Carolina’s third goal in a row.

But the 3^rd wasn’t over yet.  Flyers were given a late game power play, after Sebastian Aho was called for a faceoff violation after he played the puck with his hand.  Flyers pull the goalie and score with 43 seconds left.  Goal by Travis Konecny ties it up at three.

OT:

Again, a hard pill to swallow for this writer when not even a minute in AGAIN. Canes fall in overtime.

Final Thoughts

The Hurricanes did some positives to take from this game.

• What a hard fought comeback from two down to end up at 3-2 going into the last minute of the game.
• Although the Canes were Very outplayed, they kept on finding ways to find goals.
• The young defense keeps impressing, even Murphy and Dalhbeck.
• Elias Lindholm and Jeff Skinner are showing that they are team leaders.
• Cam Ward did have a good game despite being used as a practice dummy by Philly.

Next: Rebuild Right on Schedule

Negatives

• Team was slow, not very ambitious in front of the net.
• Sebastian Aho is making a lot of mistakes lately.
• The Hurricanes just can’t seem to find a way past the first minute of OT.

From this game, the Carolina Hurricanes move on to Miami and the Florida Panthers.