Riding a six-game win streak, the Carolina Hurricanes entered play on Tuesday looking to continue their dominant ways. The Canes battled through a tough game against the Washington Capitals on Sunday, getting three more points from Martin Necas and a pair of goals from Dmitry Orlov in a 4-2 victory. Tuesday night saw the Philadelphia Flyers in town, trying to turn their season in the right direction.
It was Pyotr Kochetkov's net again, marking the fourth straight start for the Canes' netminder. The rest of the roster remained the same, marking 11 consecutive games with the same group of 18 skaters. The Flyers turned to Aleksei Kolosov, making his second start and third appearance at the NHL level. Starting goalie Samuel Ersson left the Flyers' game against Boston early over the weekend.
After a long stretch of good starts, the Hurricanes were sluggish to begin the game. They found themselves on the wrong end of a 5-on-3 once again, allowing the Flyers to get on the boards first. Travis Konecny took advantage of a friendly bounce to deposit the puck into an empty net. The disadvantage began with a soft tripping call against Andrei Svechnikov but was compounded by a Jordan Staal high stick.
The fourth line would ignite the Canes late in the period, earning the tying goal. Jack Drury made an incredible pass from below the goal line to find Jackson Blake alone in front of Kolosov. Blake snapped it home, tying Flyers rookie Matvei Michkov with his fourth of the season. The Canes started to press late in the period, settling for a 1-1 tie after 20 minutes.
The Hurricanes looked to be separating from the Flyers after scoring twice in less than a minute during the second period. Eric Robinson squeaked a shot through Kolosov after receiving a pass from Necas to help Necas extend his point streak to seven games and give the Canes a lead. Jordan Martinook finally broke through 54 seconds later, putting home a rebound for his first of the season to push the Canes ahead by two goals.
The Flyers refused to go away. Owen Tippett roofed a shot off his back foot late in the second period to pull within one before Morgan Frost tied it early in the third. Jack Roslovic restored the Canes' lead 29 seconds later by jumping on a loose puck in the crease after Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov had chances. Again, the Flyers remained persistent. Jalen Chatfield turned the puck over after blanketing coverage from Sean Couturier, allowing the Flyers' captain to set up Konecny for his second goal and fourth point of the night.
The end stages of the game featured a lot of Necas. The Canes had a strong 4-on-4 shift to help swing the game back in their favor. While they didn't score, it led to several more dominant shifts in the offensive end. With 30.2 seconds left, it couldn't have been anyone else. Necas knocked down a weak clearing attempt and shot it past a downed Kolosov to put the Canes back in front. Seth Jarvis put it away with the empty-net tally, extending the win streak with an ugly 6-4 win.
This was a different type of win from the Hurricanes. We've grown used to seeing them storm out of the gates and dominate their opponents. Instead, the Flyers put up the best fight of anyone during this ongoing win streak. Konecny was a problem all night and the Canes had no answer for him. Still, they found a way to get two more points in regulation.
Two things can be true. Pyotr Kochetkov played his worst game of the season, but so did the team in front of him. The Canes held the Flyers to six shots in the final 40 minutes. Three of those six shots found the back of the net. The fourth goal was especially egregious. It was hardly moving, yet it found its way through Kochetkov's pads. I can't solely fault Kochetkov for how close this game was, though he certainly could've played better.
While Necas' heroics helped get the job done, this win was a testament to the Hurricanes' forward depth. All four lines scored a goal. Nine of the 12 forwards were on the scoresheet. Half of the goals were scored by players who weren't on the opening roster a year ago. The Canes' depth has been on full display through 11 games, allowing them to get off to one of the best starts in franchise history.
In the end, the league's second star of the past week was there to lead the team again. Necas is doing stuff for the organization that hasn't been seen in almost two decades. His game-winner completed his fourth straight multi-point performance and his seventh such game this season. After an offseason filled with speculation that Necas was on the move, he has come out and showed shades of his breakout campaign two seasons ago.
Up Next: The Carolina Hurricanes will conclude their four-game homestand on Thursday night with the Pittsburgh Penguins in town. Once that's over, the team will head west to begin a quick three-game trip. It'll start in Colorado on Saturday night before moving to Vegas and Utah next week.