Flyers end Canes’ four-game win streak with 5-3 victory
Carolina Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour says there’s no margin for error in the Eastern Conference’s loaded Metropolitan Division.
“Everybody wins,” he said.
With that in mind, the Canes went into Thursday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers seeking both a fifth straight victory and a Metro Division win. After early goals from Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen, they had just the start they wanted at PNC Arena.
But the Flyers regrouped and won 5-3 as center Claude Giroux scored twice and had two assists, and rookie forward Morgan Frost had a shorthanded goal and an assist. Goalie Brian Elliott, after a rocky start, steadied to make 33 saves and the Flyers ended a four-game winless streak.
“We were sluggish much of that game,” Brind’Amour said. “We got going in spurts but we were never really able to get footing on it. It’s a frustrating game. You going to give up some goals but we felt (it) was way too easy on the goals. That’s the game.”
Giroux’s go-ahead goal, at 11:16 of the third, came after some hard work behind the Canes net by Travis Konecny and off a sharp pass from Frost, who was playing his second career game. It helped that Teravainen and defenseman Joel Edmundson collided below the goal line, stumbling and allowing Konecny, who had three assists, to get the puck to Frost.
Giroux scored the Flyers’ first goal in a four-on-four situation in the first period, and later cleanly won a faceoff against Teravainen to allow Frost a quick shot that beat goalie Petr Mrazek for his shorthanded goal in the second. That came after Mrazek iced the puck attempting a stretch pass on the power play.
“They’re a pretty good team and we didn’t play our best today,” Teravainen said. “It’s kind of tough. We kind of gave them two points, I guess.”
The Flyers, of course, would say they won the two points. Elliott, for example, had 19 saves in the second period. Giroux’s line, with Frost and Konecny, was terrific. Defenseman Ivan Provorov had a power-play goal on a blast from the point.
After the Canes pulled Mrazek for an extra attacker, the Flyers hunkered down in front of Eliott until Kevin Hayes’ empty netter in the final seconds sealed it.
The Canes trailed 3-2 entering the third period but Lucas Wallmark’s score, after a strong forechecking shift by the fourth line, tied it. Brock McGinn’s no-look backhand pass was on the mark and Wallmark finished.
“It’s nice to get a goal but when we don’t win it’s nothing,” Wallmark said.
The Canes (13-8-1) were energized and coming off a three-game sweep of road games, a franchise first in regular-season play, while the Flyers (11-7-4) were 0-2-2 in their last four games. But the Flyers, with a lineup of 11 forwards and seven defensemen, topped the Canes for the second time this season.
“We keep finding ways to lose to them and it’s never fun, so just got to be better,” Teravainen said.
The Canes jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first on the goals by Aho and Teravainen in an 80-second span, but the Flyers regrouped and tied the score by the end of the period, making the Canes chase in the defensive zone.
“The first period we played a lot in our end,” Teravainen said. “We couldn’t get pucks out. We were kind of soft.”
Aho scored at 3:23 of the first. Defenseman Brett Pesce pinched down the wall to keep the puck in the zone, Teravainen then finding Aho unmarked in the slot for the shot.
Aho’s team-leading 11th goal of the season also was his eighth in 10 November games as his line with Teravainen and Andrei Svechnikov clicked again.
Then, it was 2-0, Teravainen ripping a shot from the right circle on the power play off a Svechnikov pass for his sixth -- Svechnikov extending his point streak to six games.
At that point, it appeared Elliott might not last it through the first period. The Canes nearly made it 3-0 on a Warren Foegele shot in tight, but a review upheld the ref’s call of no-goal on the play.
Elliott then settled in and the Flyers tied it in a tightly-called period that had a 10-minute misconduct penalty against the Canes’ Joel Edmundson and an unsportsmanlike conduct call against the Flyers’ Jakub Voracek.
“We were a little sloppy overall, not sharp,” Brind’Amour said. “It’s tough. It’s not like we gave up a ton. We worked pretty hard at times but we just didn’t play smart today and it cost us.”
This story was originally published November 21, 2019 at 9:39 PM.
