Hurricanes Return Home To Host Philadelphia
By Glenn Brewer
After a brief road trip through the sunshine state, the Hurricanes return home to host the Philadelphia Flyers. This will be the start of a five game home stand that will last till Thanksgiving week.
In fact, the lone road game for the remainder of November will be in Philadelphia against these very same Flyers. For the next 7 out of 8 games, the Canes will be home in Raleigh. A nice treat for the players and staff around the holiday.
In Florida, Carolina split against the Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning. A lackluster performance against the team that ended their season, the Canes came back with a strong performance in Tampa Bay.
The Flyers have had a solid start to the season under head coach, John Tortorella. Tortorella demands defensive zone responsibility and positioning from his teams. The expectation is to block shots and play physical.
This Flyers squad has a ton of youth and was not expected to compete for a playoff spot this season, but after 15 games they have 15 points with a 7-7-1 record. This is just 3 points behind the Hurricanes.
Philadelphia is 2-5-1 on the road this season and are coming off a three-game swing on the West coast. They defeated the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday by a score of 4-2 before making their way back east to Raleigh.
Ironically, the offense is led by the defense with Travis Sanheim leading the way with 14 points and 12 assists. Travis Konecny is the heart of this team and having a great start to the season with 9 goals and 13 points. He is also a scrappy player, that won’t shy away from the physical part of the game. Konecny leads the team with 32 PIM.
Former Columbus Blue Jacket, Cam Atkinson is off to a nice start in the goals department with 8 so far. Atkinson and Joel Farabee are tied with 12 points.
Another strong, young player to watch is Owen Tippett, who was a big piece of the Claude Giroux trade to Florida. Tippett has 5 goals and 5 assists this season.
Goaltending has been spread out so far this year. Carter Hart has gotten the majority of the starts with 8. Posting 4 victories, Hart has played steady despite trade rumors over the summer. He has posted a strong 2.52 GAA and .913 save percentage. The more rest for Hart the better, it would appear.
The remaining starts have been split between Samuel Ersson with 6 and Cal Petersen with 2. Both netminders have brought less quality than Hart but have grabbed 3 wins between the two.
The Flyers will present a physical, grinding battle for the Hurricanes and should be a good test for the toughness level of the team. Pyotr Kochetkov should see the start after shutting out the Lightning.